Yahoo Lifestyle Bruce Arians says 'have a drink. Celebrate' if he dies on a Buccaneers' game day
Bruce Arians spent a year away from NFL coaching, in part to address health issues.
But health issues aren’t new for Arians, and in an upcoming interview he acknowledges they could come up again – in the most Arians way possible.
‘Have a drink. Celebrate.’
On the newest edition of HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” reporter Andrea Kremer checks in with Arians.
He tells Kremer that in every year he’s worked as a head coach, he’s made at least one trip to the hospital. While he’s lost some weight, and kept it off this summer, the 66-year-old knows it’s not guaranteed that he won’t have another health scare now that he’s with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Yeah, it might happen again,” Arians said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “But it won’t be that serious. I won’t miss work.”
Kremer asked why Arians seems to have such a “cavalier attitude” about his well-being.
“You can die at any moment doing anything. I mean, so why not do what you love to do?” he said. “If I die on game day, have a drink. Celebrate.”
‘Never dreamt I’d be back in it’
Arians admits that he never thought he’d be back on an NFL sideline after walking away from the Arizona Cardinals after the 2017 season.
“Stress. Blood pressure. Anxiety. All those things that go with it. What stress does to your body,” Arians lists, highlighting what he was dealing with.
“Did you truly feel it was the last time you were ever going to coach?” Kremer asked.
“Totally. Totally,” he said. “Never dreamt I’d be back in it.”
But it didn’t take long for Arians to realize that he needed football; Kremer noted that his wife of 48 years, Christine, said Arians was miserable last year without football, which he’s been coaching for over 40 years, since his days as a grad assistant at his alma mater, Virginia Tech.
“I was not happy, that’s for sure,” Arians said. “The fun is back.”
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