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There are a number of reasons people around the world live and die with the sports teams they root for. Most fans would probably admit subjecting yourself to the emotional swings that come with supporting a team you probably decided to start cheering for based on where you lived as a kid is an irrational exercise in unnecessary pain and stress, but the highs that accompany the lows you have to deal with usually make it worth it.
With that said, you don’t need to have a vested interest in a particular franchise or player to understand why sports are so appealing. That realm has spawned a ton of the underdog stories even the most athletically ignorant people on the planet can appreciate—including many concerning some seemingly impossible comebacks involving people you can’t help but root for.
Only time will tell what the future holds for Damar Hamlin. However, the safety who wasted no time embarking on his path to recovery after collapsing on the field during a terrifying incident during a game between the Bills and the Bengals has already served as the source of inspiration for the countless people who will be in his corner every single step of the way moving forward.
It’s hard to think of anyone who understands what Hamlin has had to endure than Ryan Shazier, the Steelers linebacker who was at the center of a similarly awful scene when he made the tackle that left him temporarily paralyzed in 2017.
Shazier was thankfully able to defy the odds, as he put in a tireless amount of work to prove the doctors who said he may never be able to walk again very, very wrong. While the injury ultimately brought his NFL career to an end, the man who officially retired in 2020 has harnessed his platform and experience to help others who’ve endured major setbacks in life.
He’s also able to offer a fairly unique perspective on various developments around the world of sports on the Don’t Call It A Comeback podcast, which features Shazier and co-host Dave Dameshek exploring the kind of storylines that remind up why sports can be much bigger than the action that transpires on the playing surface.
I recently got the chance to chat with Shazier (the interview took place prior to Hamlin’s setback, although he recently discussed the situation on the podcast) in a conversation where he addressed why comeback stories are so appealing, the things that unite them, and much more.
BroBible: Ryan, thanks for taking the time to talk with me today. To kick things off, can I ask what inspired you to start the podcast and your approach to the stories you cover?
Ryan Shazier: Don’t Call It A Comeback is just a podcast that’s talking about the unsung heroes and the Cinderella stories. It’s talking about the players and teams that are written off and how they make amazing comeback stories.
You know, everybody likes a comeback story. Everybody likes the underdog. I think I am a great person to join the story and tell people how these comebacks happen while talking to people who are very close to them about how it happened.
Me and Dave Dameshek think it’s just a great platform where we can talk about comeback stories and how people were able to make them.
You obviously have an incredible comeback story. I think a lot of people tend to automatically associate “comeback” with “injury,” but as you just alluded to, there are really many different categories. I’m curious how you personally define the idea of a “comeback,” whether we’re talking about sports or life in general.
There are so many different types of comebacks.
Me being able to get back on my feet after being paralyzed—that’s a comeback. Geno Smith not being able to really play for six years and then now he’s starting—that’s a comeback. Tom Brady retiring and coming back to football—that’s a comeback. An athlete got hurt and has an amazing season, like Saquon Berkeley and Christian McCaffrey—that’s a comeback.
There are so many different comeback stories that you can think of, and that’s what we love about our podcast. There’s not a specific definition; it’s just whatever we think are the best stories.
In your book, your dad has a great quote where he says “A dream without sacrifice and discipline is just vanity.” I don’t necessarily want to call them “buzzwords,” but it also feels like those terms and others like “perseverance” and “determination” get mentioned whenever you’re talking about a comeback. Are there any other less obvious aspects you’ve sort of detected while examining these stories?
I think the biggest theme with comebacks in general is people who just won’t give up. I think it’s just the ability to continue to fight forward and push through all the adversity that you had to back where you want to get to.
I’m going to use Tom Brady as an example. He’s played 20-plus years and it was time for him to retire, but you could tell that he was going through a little adversity at home, which made him think, “Should I retire? Should I not retire?” At the end of the day, he said, “This is something that I love and I’m going to do this until I can’t do it anymore. I’m willing to fight what I have to fight to be able to play again.”
That’s one situation. You could also talk about Geno Smith. He got hurt, he basically ended up five or six years behind the rest of his peers, and then he got a new opportunity. He’s like, “Hey, I’m not looking back.”
I think one of the biggest things about comeback stories is just the ability not to look back.
If you’re going to start a podcast like this, you obviously know there’s something about the subject matter that appeals to a ton of people. I’d venture the biggest reason is being able to take comfort in knowing it’s possible to overcome the seemingly impossible, but do you think there are any other factors that make this project intriguing?
I think it’s compelling for a few reasons. On the podcast, we’re not just talking about sports. We talk about pop culture as well. We get to talk about different people’s lives and different people’s perspectives.
I think it’s exciting because we know what people want to hear about. We tell the stories, but we also have a good time. We do have times when we have conversations that might be a little bit more serious, but some days it’s more relaxed and chill and we’re just joking around.
To touch on the idea of taking solace in some of those stories, did you ever find yourself actively seeking examples of people who overcame adversity while you were recovering? I know some people who had similar injuries reached out to you, but did you find yourself doing any research or was it something you started to focus on more once you put the worst behind you?
This is just something I focus more on now. When I was rehabbing, I wasn’t really talking or looking into a lot of people who experienced similar recoveries. I was just really focused on just getting better.
That’s one thing that a lot of these comeback stories are about: just people trying to get better no matter what they’re dealing with. They’re just trying to get better. They’re trying to fight through.
That’s kind of what I was going through when I was dealing with my injury, and I think it’s amazing to understand what people had to go through to get to where they’re at. I think that’s why its’ really important to have these stories.
In your book, you also talked about how there’s a tendency—with the media and people in general—to focus on the feel-good aspects and progress of a comeback while sort of minimizing or ignoring the grimmer realities. How important do you think it is to not necessarily focus on those more negative aspects but at least acknowledge them?
I think it’s very important because the story wouldn’t be the story if you didn’t have the nitty and gritty. Like, my story wouldn’t be what it is if people didn’t understand the whole dynamic of my situation and seeing how I overcame it. I think that’s why we love these comeback stories because we actually break down the whole situation.
Before the World Cup, we talked about the United States men’s soccer team and broke down the ups and downs; how they qualified multiple years and then missed the cut after they thought that they had a really good team. Now, they have one of the youngest teams and show a ton of potential.
They might have lost after making it out of the group stage, but to me, making it to the Round of 16 with the third-youngest team in the World Cup is great progress. Now, it’s about how you can keep moving forward.
Adding all that context to it really helps out the comeback story no matter what the comeback story it is.
You’ve mentioned a few specific examples, but I’d love to know if there are any specific comeback stories you’ve come across that really resonated with you—either something you feel has gone overlooked or that struck a particular chord for some reason.
One that I really like to talk about is how Justin Verlander was able to come off an injury and then not only ended up winning the World Series but also won the World Series-clinching game.
He’s been in the World Series, but he actually never won one on the mound. For him to go out there and perform at the level that he performed at and cap it off like he did—while also being one of the best pitchers in the game this year—is special.
I’m an Ohio State guy, but you can also look at the Michigan Wolverines. Losing to the Buckeyes eight years in a row must have been difficult for them. I don’t like to talk that much about it because we ended up losing to them again this year, but I enjoyed talking about their history over the past decade and how far they’ve come.
At the end of the day, being able to bring my perspective and still appreciate things like that is what makes the podcast really fun.
Thanks again for your time.
Thank you.
Portions of this interview were edited for clarity.