Former Steeler Chris Hoke: 'I Am So Happy I Played Football'
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - Former Steeler defensive lineman Chris Hoke joined Joe Starkey of The Starkey and Mueller Show to talk about the end of the Steelers season and his former teammate Antwaan Randle El coming out and saying he regrets having played football because of the damage it did to his body and mind.
Looking back on his own career and if he regrets now having to deal with the aches and pains of playing in the NFL, Hoke was adamant that he loved every minute of it.
Hoke asked the rhetorical question, "Do I wish I never played football?" and answered his own question by saying, "I am so happy I played football."
I absolutely loved every second of football. I loved every second of playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I had to because of the way I came into the league as an undrafted free agent and how I had to survive for 11 years. I had to embrace every single detail of the game in order to be able to stick around. And so I have no regrets," he said. "I am so glad I played the game of football. It taught me so much in my life. I am who I am today because of football. I can deal with some of these pains the rest of my life just because I absolutely loved it."
Hoke also looked back on the Steelers season and the hit Vontaze Burfict put on Antonio Brown that knocked him out of the team's final game, a loss to the Denver Broncos.
"I thought it was awful," Hoke said. "I felt like he purposefully tried to take Antonio out of the football game. And people will say, 'Well, you know, he was trying to avoid it.' Well listen, look at the pattern of behavior throughout his time in the NFL and even in college. You look at last year when he was trying to hurt Cam Newton and Greg Olsen in the Carolina Panthers game in the piles trying to twist their ankles, trying to sprain and break their ankles. I mean, who does that?"
You can hear more from Hoke on these topics and much more below: