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268 sats \ 14 replies \ @kr 16 Apr \ on: CJ Wilson / @Str8edgeracer AMA AMA
thanks for doing this AMA!
i’m curious to know more about how you were introduced to the straight edge lifestyle, did it evolve over time or was it an immediate decision?
I have never drank or done drugs or used tobacco in my life. This was a result of seeing a lot of bad stuff in my family and at school, as well as on tv as a kid. Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry getting in trouble and falling off their career path for doing coke was a cautionary tale in the late 80's when I was just a little leaguer.
It was easy to see that even players who had it all could self destruct, and I just wanted to avoid that. I made a commitment to never let anything get in the way of my progress when I was 10 years old (1990) before I ever knew what straightedge was...I didn't even know about the punk rock angle until I was 15-16.
it was never trendy for me- I really wanted to succeed as a baseball player and that was the ultimate goal for me that led me to what I really wanted in life...as an 8 year old I saw success as:
cool house
porsches and ferraris
super hot wife
it was pretty simple that baseball was my best chance!
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This one might be a touchy subject and if you don't feel like answering by all means ignore it! Does baseball have a pill problem? I remember clearly the complete travesty of the Tyler Skaggs situation but baseball seemed to make it appear isolated to just the Angles is it much more widespread?
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It is probably still a problem. Skaggs was a tragic example of what happens under a 'don't ask don't tell' scenario.
The angels teams I was on were really wild in terms of permissioned alcoholism. The rangers teams were much more hard working in the weight room, and it seemed like a few of the guys were stoners on the rangers over the years...but the angels teams had more dudes that would slam booze.
the angels culture has been very lazy for over a decade...my first spring training we didn't even have a real weight room to use which was FUCKING CRAZY. this was 2012.
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It seems that Art really does need to sell that team. Skaggs was just a few years older than me and I had just had my third neurosurgery having to deal with the pain pills and was shocked that it could happen to a professional athlete. To me, it really made all athletes much more human than I tended to think.
With the weight rooms, I guess that is one of the many reasons why these crazy teams the Angels have put together over the years with Trout, Ohtani, Pujols, etc. just did not perform.
Do you think Rendon is just misunderstood by the public and baseball beat writers or is he really as arrogant and out of touch as he seems?
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Rendon is introverted and Arte's attitude is to control the press so the stories always look worse than they are...last year they were hiding that he had a broken leg!
Arte does this to try and protect the trade values of the players...which is really stupid IMO.
Same with contract shape...they will pay the player too much at the end of the contract instead of normalizing it on an average.
I remember telling them it was stupid they wanted to pay me more in the 5th year than I made in the first 2 years combined...but they insured my contract and got it all paid back by insurance when I got hurt and missed time so maybe I was dumb...
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they did the same with Albert, same with Trout's deal etc.
But in the mean time, they could have signed Sabathia, Cole etc but didn't pony up.
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in regards to the arm injuries..
I used to watch all those cheesy marital arts Jean Claude Van Damme movies when I was a kid.
I would go in the backyard and kick the tree, punch stuff, rub a baseball bat on my shins and workout like kickboxer in order to try and 'be tough'
my pain tolerance became super high from that as a 10-14 year old and I never really had an issue with 'pain pills' as a result. I knew that it was a matter of life and death to not get hooked on drugs and I saw oxy or vicadin type stuff as a huge problem.
So, when I got surgery, got my wisdom teeth out, etc I didn't take anything. It became a challenge (like breaking a wood board, but mentally) so I would just get super duper angry and determined, grit my teeth and get through the pain.
When I got older, I started learning how to meditate to calm myself but also to accept that pain is real, it's a process, and it is not in itself an injury- just a somatic response.
an example of this is the chemical burn thing from fight club. I think that movie was from around 2000 so that concept helped me a lot when I was recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2003.
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Thank you for the insight! I have a few medical conditions that are rather... crappy to say the least. Naturally, they don't have a cure and one in particular has resulted in me needing three neurosurgeries. I have watched some of the people I was close with who have these conditions get stuck on the oxy, gabba, and even patch fentanyl and pass so I love your insight into this topic! I tried to get off oxy with the last one before my craniocervical fusion was set and that kinda screwed up my recovery for a bit.
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I think Gabapentin for example is a great theraputic for nerve conditions. It's especially valuable when combined with anti inflammatory stuff in the bony joints like the knee and elbow...for instance with Diclofenac- it soothes arthritic pain and allows for more normal motion.
I don't know how it would work as a non-topical pill, that could be wild as it then goes into your whole body.
I don't think you're dealing with anything easy if these are your choices and medications.
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Yeah lol life through me a Kershaw 12-6 curveball big time! I am learning to adjust even though it's been 8 years since the first neurosurgery. When they went into my head through the base they roughly cut all the nerves across the entire back of my head which really did help with all of the initial healing.
When I tried gabba for the nerve pain it is safe to say I did not have a great reaction so I had to cut it out. Even though what I am saying sounds awful compared to how messed up I was for a couple of years (the condition is rare and not a lot of dr.s know how to look for it or how to treat it) the surgery gave me my life back. It's not perfect but it is so much better than it was before.
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I will actually go to the hospital back home and have them give me a pain bolo before I take opioids... I am jealous of the people who didn't have the emotional crazy reaction I had because otherwise, it would have been great for the nerve damage I have from what I hear!
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