UFC Commentator Joe Rogan Recalls an Experience That Killed His Football Career Right in the Bud: “But if I F***d Up and…”

Fans of Joe Rogan are well familiar with his love for sports, or more specifically, combat sports in general. Being a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu himself, Rogan’s views on these aspects are often from the perspective of an experienced practitioner.

Apart from this, Rogan also talks about quite a few other sports on his podcast. One such popular sport that he has often been critical of is American Football. The 55-year-old has occasionally talked about the sport and its negative effects on the physical well-being of its athletes. During episode 1969 of JRE, the UFC commentator once again discussed this with his guest, Sam Tallent. But this time around, it was more of a personal experience that Rogan recalled from his younger days, which interestingly, also gives an idea as to why he never chose to pursue a career in the sport.

Joe Rogan on not playing football as a youngster

As Rogan and Tallent talked about MMA and other related things, the guest happened to recall his wrestling days as a high school kid. This led to Rogan bringing up his personal experience as well when he recalled that one of his wrestling coaches tried to get him into football, too.

For Rogan, the idea of clashing with opponents that had a huge size advantage over him didn’t sound like a really bright idea, and he thus ended up declining the offer.

 “…there was a kid named Bobby Baker, he was 300 pounds. I was like, look at him and look at me. I go, I’m not letting that guy chase me and run me over.” he recalled.

Explaining that although he might not get out chased by a 300-pound individual, Rogan pointed out that a mistake from him could probably have ended badly.

“But if i f***d up and I got too close. He’s a bear. He was so big. He was so much bigger than everybody else. I’m like that’s just not happening.” he stated. In a way, his logical fear of stepping into a sport that was heavily favored for larger and stronger individuals led him away from a career in it. 

Coming from this perspective, his opinion on the sport during his past interactions on his show does make a lot of sense. The 55-year-old has, on multiple occasions, talked about the type of injuries that American football players have to go through.

Rogan earlier criticized college football in a previous episode 

During episode 1962 of JRE, Rogan had previously addressed the issue of low pay among college football teams with his guest, Eddie Huang. Criticizing the fact the young athletes were not paid for their worth, the UFC commentator raised an important question to his viewers.

“But if they pay them, and they don’t get rich. But who is getting rich? Where is the money going?” He asked.

Quite a legitimate question as well, considering that American football is among the most-watched sports in the country with an enormous fan base of its own.

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Ultimately, looking at Rogan’s experience as a young high schooler and the fact that collegiate leagues did not pay well, his decision to not take up the sport didn’t really come as a massive surprise for his fans.

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