Brett Romberg waiting to hear from NFL club

He's out of football right now but Brett Romberg still has options.

The six-foot-two, 293-pound centre had a recent workout with the Baltimore Ravens and says the door remains open to a potential return to the Atlanta Falcons, the team that released the eight-year NFL veteran prior to the start of the 2010 season.

But the Windsor, Ont., native admits it's tough waiting for the phone to ring.

"Yeah, you kind of feel like a waste of skin a little bit," Romberg said in an interview from Atlanta, where he lives with his wife Emily. "It is a little discouraging but I think basically my whole career has kind of been a little discouraging so it's a little bit more of the same.

"I'm just waiting for an opportunity now but with what's going to happen next year and everything, a lot of decisions this year are going to be based upon business rather than ability."

The NFL Players' Association remains convinced the league's owners will lock the players out next year. The collective bargaining agreement between the union and league expires after this season and while the two sides are talking they remain far apart on a new deal.

Romberg, who turns 31 next week, was entering his second season with the Falcons. After a stellar college tenure at Miami, he began his NFL career signing as an undrafted free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars, spending time on the practice roster before being promoted to the active roster.

Romberg remained with the Jaguars until 2006 before joining the St. Louis Rams. In all, he has appeared in 42 NFL games, starting 18.
While Romberg would rather be playing, the down time has helped.

"Having had the last four weeks of working out and running and not banging my body, it feels a lot better," he said. "(The Ravens' workout) was my first time doing intense football drills like running and pulling and hitting bags and going against somebody and I moved really well, I felt real good on my feet. I'm sure I'd get back into it and after two weeks my body would feel like I just got into a car accident again, that's just the nature of the business."

In college, Romberg helped the Hurricanes reach two NCAA title games, winning one, and also received the Rimington Trophy as the NCAA's top centre. He was a finalist for the Outland Trophy, given annually to the top lineman, and was named a consensus firs team all-American in 2002.

He started his final 37 games at centre for the Hurricanes and never surrendered a sack.

But Romberg enjoyed rock star status at Miami for his punchy anecdotes to reporters, flashy vehicles and willingness to do just about anything once, including pinching an opponent's bottom during games. In fact, prior to Ohio State's 31-24 double overtime win over Miami in the NCAA title game Jan. 3, 2003 in the Fiesta Bowl, Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN The Magazine called Romberg "the best Canadian import since a case of Labatt's Blue."

Teammates weren't immune, either, as Romberg earned a well deserved reputation of being a practical joker.

Romberg admits he leads a calmer, quieter lifestyle now that he's married. Sort of.

"The wife has me on a leash, you know what I mean," Romberg said with a chuckle. "But when I get off, watch out.

"She cages me as much as possible. I've become a little bit more civilized. Not much but I kind of realize now in order to be somewhat of a professional person and maybe possibly hold down a job or career I kind of have to straighten up a little bit but I still go on my tirades."

Life in college, Romberg says, was so much simpler than it is in the pros.

"The kids now, they don't have a clue," Romberg said. "They're pretty naive when it comes to the outside world and how things work. It's such a great place in life right there that they have to make sure they look around when you're in it . . . because when it's over it's over and it's over quicker than you think.

"You're living off campus on whatever is relative to the cost of living in that town and you're making it work. Now looking back I don't know how the hell I did it. I don't know but it takes all the (crap) out of life. It's just attend class, have a great time and enjoy your youth and play some football while you're doing it."

That's not the case in the NFL, where life is much more regimented and the business side of the game often rears its ugly head.

"The relationship you have in college with your teammates, generally they're friends and that's something that is a life long bond because of the stuff you go through in college, the emotion and the time together is unbelievable," Romberg said. "For example, this weekend I'm going back to Miami and a giant group of us are going to the Florida State game.

"But in the NFL you go to work in the morning, the guy that sits beside you in the locker-room you complain to each other a little bit and then once the day is over you go home to your wife and kids or your wife or some guys go home by themselves. It's a brutal league."

Many people see football players living a glamorous life filled with money, expensive jewelry, exotic sports cars, huge homes and celebrity status. There is no denying the financial benefits of pro football but Romberg says looks can be deceiving because what fans don't see are the long hours of work and preparation — on and off the field — that are required daily, that the vast majority of contracts aren't guaranteed and don't offer long-term security. The threat of being released and losing a paycheque is very real.

As a result, players are often forced to play hurt to not only continue receiving a paycheque but also because there is no shortage of players available eager for a shot at playing in the NFL.

"Now, there are consequences," Romberg said. "It's a total performance-based league generally 95 per cent of the time. If you're not performing . . . then they start bringing in other guys to work out and possibly replace you.

"It (playing in the NFL) thickens your skin a few layers and definitely matures you a lot faster than you think. As I get older I can see the young kids coming into the league and granted I was there one time too, but coming out of college you are just so green, you don't know. And granted a lot of the kids that are drafted are guaranteed a spot on an NFL team that invests a lot of time, research and money into you. But you really don't have much longer than that first year, maybe two if you're a first-rounder to basically pick up the speed of what's going on and mould with the other guys."

Still, Romberg has a deep love for the game and feels he can play for another two years.

"My slogan was 'Eight would be great and 10 would be unbelievable,'" Romberg said. "To tell you the truth, going into this season I was thinking this might be my last year, especially with the lockout. If it lasted to October (2011) I'd be a 32-year-old man who hasn't played football in a year, year and a half and is going to try to get back and bang with kids who are 22, 23 or 24 year olds and I don't know if that would've worked out too well . . . but I do think I do have a couple of years in me. That's what I was told when they (Falcons) let me go.

"I love Sunday, I love the relationship and bond you have with the guys. That's what makes a lot of guys want to go to work everyday. Obviously anything you want to be good at and value you have to put in a lot of time and effort into. Yeah, I still do love it. But as much as I did in college? Nah, probably not."



(thescore.com)