Jay Cutler didn't plan on being a role model.

[lawdog93]

Jay Cutler didn't plan on being a role model. Now he has no choice.
by Rick Reilly


Is your 401(k) suddenly a 201(k)? Did the election turn your yard full of signs into a political graveyard? Need something to feel happy about in life?

Take a look at Jay Cutler's BlackBerry. The Broncos quarterback will let you if you ask. His PR guy sends him e-mails, dozens a week, like this one:

Dear Sir:
We believe Jay saved our son. Sam is a high school freshman who plays football. He'd lost a lot of weight, but we did not know if it was from the intense summer workouts or not. He was drinking a great deal of water, eating a lot and still losing weight (25 pounds). We read an article about Jay and made the appointment. Sam was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and sent to the hospital. He hopes to be back at practice soon. We just want Jay to know the great impact he's had on our lives.


Which is crazy, because when Cutler first hit the NFL, he seemed like the last guy to help anybody.

Shy and mop-haired, he led the league in shrugs. He looked like he had terminal influenza. The bags under his eyes had bags. And yet he'd sleep 10 hours at night and three more after practice. He lost 35 pounds in the 2007 season alone. He couldn't concentrate. He was starting to look like the biggest bust since Lindsay Lohan. And that's when he found out he had diabetes. Or rather, it had him.

"At first I thought, I can beat this," he says. "But after two weeks, I was like, Why me? Why do I have to poke myself 20 times a day? You feel sorry for yourself. Then I came to grips with it. I realized it wasn't going away. And I realized I wasn't the only one."

Rick Reilly: Jay Cutler didn't plan on being a role model - ESPN The Magazine