43 Years Old. Damn.

Damn, Damn, Damn.

Defensive lineman Reggie White, who terrorized quarterbacks for the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles, has died of a massive heart attack at age 43, according to ESPN.

Reporter Andrea Kremer said that since leaving he game, he had suffered through his wife's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, and had been studying Hebrew in a search to better clarify his religious beliefs.

He left his wife, a son and a daughter. The family issued a statement thanking fans and reporters for their thoughts and asking that their privacy be respected.

White was nicknamed the "Minister of Defense" for his football prowess and his Evangelical Christian ordination.

A prolific sacker, he set records at the University of Tennessee that still stand. After school, he signed on with the Memphis Showboats of the USFL for two seasons, then joined the Eagles when the USFL folded. In 1993, after eight seasons in Philadelphia, he went to Green Bay for six seasons, helping them to two Super Bowls, including a victory in Super Bowl XXXI.

After retiring in 1998, he had a change of heart and signed with the Carolina Panthers for the 2000 season, but retired again after a lackluster performance that year.

In 1996, the Inner City Church in Knoxville, Tenn., where White was an associate minister, was burned to the ground in 1996. An outpouring of financial support, in part because of White's celebrity, helped to rebuild the church.

There is one inaccuracy in said report, though: the church was never rebuilt. All those slobs and schlubs from my home-state poured in money for the church of somebody on a four-years, sixteen-million-dollars contract, and for what?

For the associate pastor to spend on hookers and blow. (Oh! Score one for the lord... The lord of drugs.)

Not to disparage Reggie, but when a large former professional athlete dies of a heart attack at such an incredibly young age, isn't the spectre of steroid abuse a reasonable possibility? I'm not accusing him of using 'roids, only saying it seems to be something worth considering.

OPA! reading me the riot act in 3...2...1...

smells like steroids to me, allthough we'll hear that it was some sort of heart problems, which is code for steroids.

I'm no R.White apologist but I would be a little more responsible with those accusations if I were you.

Why? i mean, i don't want to disparage White in any way, but it seems at the very least that there's something odd about a 43 year old man dying of a massive heart attack.

Why? Because Reggie White was never the kind of player who seemed like a steroid abuser. Not to say that things that he did to himself while a player might not have contributed to his untimely demise (cortisone, amphetamines, Krylon, etc.)

Also consider Genetics, a pre-existing condition or, shit, Cocaine (its a hell of a drug).

The point is, pointing to steroids is WAY to easy of a scapegoat. We're not talking about Ken Caminiti here.

All that being said.......Pretty fucking disturbing...

This is pretty sad. Wasn't Reggie a preacher or something?? Or I am mixing this up?

Associate Pastor, per the article Monty pasted above

This was no heart attack--it was a hit by the Gay Mafia.

Plus he was a racist and homophobe.

I'll take Bruce Smith over him any day.

incase you havent noticed, this is a music message board, not a tv show, newspaper or magazine, theres no need to be responsible with my thoughts. when a professional athlete dies of a heart attack at 43, logically, steroids sirens should be going off in everyones head.

not to be racist or anything, but don't black males have a higher risk of heart disease than any other minority?

if you really think any of that is true, i really feel bad for you.

no need to be responsible with one's thoughts? that is utterly ridiculous.

people die suddenly of heart attacks at fairly young ages pretty often. a pharmacist i know just spent two weeks in the hospital as he suddenly had chest pains. he had 95% blockage in two major arteries and was completely asymptomatic. it was genetics. just b/c reggie was a pro athlete doesn't mean we should automatically associate him with steroids. football has a pretty strict testing policy and the guys that use in football get suspended and get caught for the most part.

your baseless accusations and assumptions are really quite sad.

professional athelte + death of heart attack = steroids? i don't know.

douche bag + keyboard = bateman

Somebody's a grumpy frumpus tonight.

Plus, Reggie was a very, very big man. Steroid-fueled or not, that can not help your cardiovascular health.

not just tonight.

always.

and forever.

like cats the musical much so much more cringeworthy.

Sleep apnea is being blamed

for my being awake?

or for reggie's disgustingly sad steroid use