Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson says he was a bully as a kid, but has since learned to deal with anger issues and invites others to do the same.
In a revealing piece on Derek Jeter's new website ThePlayersTribune.com, Wilson opens up about how he overcame his violent tendencies.
"I used to beat people up," Wilson writes. "Truthfully, I used to beat people up a lot. Many of you readers probably think I have been Mr. Goody Two-Shoes my whole life, but honestly, I was a bully growing up. In elementary and middle school, I threw kids against the wall. I rubbed their heads in the dirt at recess. I bit them. I even knocked teeth out."
Wilson goes on to describe how faith helped him turn his life around and start living for others instead of himself.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the piece is Wilson's frank discussion of the difficulty some NFL players have separating the aggression they display on the field from how they are expected to act off of it.
"But if we start being honest about our pain, our anger, and our shortcomings instead of pretending they don’t exist, then maybe we’ll leave the world a better place than we found it. For those of us in the NFL, there’s no excuse for violence off the field."
