Cody DeWeever
Bio
27 years old. Small town country boy that loves to write
Stories (5)
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My very first NFL game
Growing up in Northern Nevada, two teams heavily dominated the area, the San Francisco 49ers and, at that time anyway, the Oakland Raiders! Around age four, I became addicted to watching football and very quickly became a die-hard fan of the silver and black. They were always on television where I lived, and when I was growing up, they were regularly in the playoffs and fighting for the top of the division. The main thing that drew me in was their motto, "Commitment to Excellence"! When you analyze the history of the Raiders, it became apparent very quickly that it wasn't just a catchy motto; it was a way of life. Even after a decade and a half of irrelevance and poor play, they still have forty-four more wins than losses with a record of four hundred ninety-one wins and four hundred forty-seven losses since their inception before the nineteen-sixty American Football League season.
By Cody DeWeever3 years ago in Unbalanced
Do I blame my coaches for my concussion issues/ My football career overview
I absolutely do not blame my coaches whatsoever, I greatly loved playing football and would do it all over again If I could. From the age of six until 20 my coaches were all incredible men. I hold a great deal of respect for them all and I chalk up my concussions issues to the way football was still being played in the 2000's. Having coached at a young age myself just after my own career ended, I got a first hand experience of just how difficult their job truly was. Back then the knowledge about concussions just wasn't there. ESPN was still promoting and airing football shows like "jacked up" that glorified big hits on the football field. The bigger the hit the bigger the excitement from your teammates. Best way to get a loud pop? Helmet to helmet. You could accomplish it with shoulder pads as well, but not quite as often. Becoming and being a harder hitter was something I strived a great deal towards when I played. I never accomplished being the hardest hitter on the team, but I like to think that I did a decent job improving as the years progressed, but with that came added concussions and issues stemming from them. I was truly blessed to have avoided any truly major physical injuries, besides the concussions, throughout the years, only missing one game I was eligible to play in due to a messed up knee my freshman year. I didn't know the issues that post concussions syndrome would cause me however after my career ended. I get asked a lot about how many concussions I suffered and played through and I truly don't know. I can say I've been knocked out roughly 3 or 4 times that I can remember. Most of the guys that I played with or against can recount a time they hit somebody and the lights went out for a moment or flickered momentarily. I can vividly remember one bad hit from my junior year, my teammate Cameron and I hit helmet to helmet during the Oklahoma drill and my lights went out and came back on like an old television coming back on. Strange colors and all. I had no clue the repercussions those hits would have on my life. Back then it was "you have a headache, quit being a puss and man up." Plus being a lineman we all made it a point to show how many battle marks we had on our helmets from the other teams we played. The more battle marks you had meant the harder you hit and the tougher you were essentially. It was like the captain C for youth/ high school football, you know the more battle marks the guy had the better he probably was going to be and the harder he was going to hit. Not always the case, but enough to say it applied 80% of the time.
By Cody DeWeever5 years ago in Unbalanced
Hillinskis Hope
Hillinski’s hope is a foundation started by Kym and Mark Hillinski, after their son Tyler tragically took his own life January 16, 2018. At the time Tyler was the starting quarterback for the Washington State Cougars. He was a happy go lucky guy, but unfortunately nobody knew of the problems going on in his head. I find what the Hillinskis are doing for the athletic community to be super vital. As someone that suffered for the better part 6 years due to concussions with no real answers. We need to change the narrative surrounding concussions and make people aware that they are damaging to your brain. You need to be careful with your brain because once that goes I don’t care how physically fit you are or anything else, you’re in serious trouble. It’s nothing to take lightly and with the Hillinski family being advocates for athlete mental health, hopefully we can curb the amount of former football players, and athletes in general, that take their own lives. Their selflessness is inspiring. To take a serious tragedy and use it to help others is absolutely incredible.
By Cody DeWeever5 years ago in Psyche
Concussions
For 13 years I played the sport of American football. Mainly as a center and defensive tackle, so I took a lot of shots to the head. Every fall from the ages of 6 to 20 I played the sport I loved and studied more than anything else on this planet. Unfortunately participating in that sport also derailed my life in my early 20’s due to multiple and repeated undiagnosed concussions. I’m still dealing with some issues stemming from the concussions, but it’s improving by the day. Please if your son or daughter decides to play a contact sport, keep an eye on them. Do not let them continue if they’re not fit. I assure you that the hell that I’ve been put through isn’t worth it. Migraines, anxiety, depression, dark thoughts were all part and parcel in a normal day for me. Now at 26 I’m greatly improved and I couldn’t be more thankful, but I still have to be careful and be mindful of how my mind is reacting to stimuli.
By Cody DeWeever5 years ago in Motivation
A Fresh Start
2020 threw everything that it had at me. I lost my grandfather, not blood but I've known him my whole life, July 9th and I lost my father August 6th. My dad was a New York Firefighter/paramedic for the town of Newburgh, an hour east of Manhattan, for 20 years. He retired in the early nineties, but still lost friends in the towers on 9/11. My granddad served in Vietnam and took part in the nuclear tests. It ended up changing his blood type, I assume from radiation poisoning. He was a fantastic story teller and one of the greatest men that I’ve ever had the honor of meeting. Losing those two men really threw a wrench in my life and without question knocked me down to my knees. I went into a deep dark depression and it's taken six months for me to finally feel relatively good again. I've lost a hundred pounds going from 365 to 265, since July of last year. Although most was a healthy loss, at first it was because I struggled to eat after my dad passed away. He was easily my best friend and confidant so the loss was extremely hard on me.
By Cody DeWeever5 years ago in Motivation
