rob konrad had quite a scare

[sufandu]

This was in the comments. Some of these are pretty good.

"Ten other facts about the swim:
10. Not reported yet, but actually found on the beach with Konrad were two great white sharks, a tuna, and a marlin. Konrad considers it a semi-successful fishing trip.

9. Konrad did not actually fall off the boat. He swam out nine miles towing the boat on a rope in what he calls his "Normal Wednesday workout."

8. Witnesses said, 20 minutes after Konrad reached shore, an exhausted Aquaman also climbed onto the beach, shook Konrad’s hand and said, "Good race. I’ll catch you next time."

7. An airplane actually spotted Konrad during the swim, but he waved it off from a rescue attempt. Rob Konrad is not going to be rescued by any Jets.

6. Rob Konrad is actually working for the US Navy as an underwater mine disposal asset.

5. Konrad could not allow fellow Syracuse alum and Dolphins running back Larry Csonka to have the best boat related story. The gauntlet has been thrown down for kicker Olindo Mare, now.

4. Witnesses also said, 45 minutes after Konrad reached shore, an exhausted Chuck Norris also climbed onto the beach and said, "Good race. I’m never trying to beat you again."

3. Konrad did not actually swim the nine miles, he cleared the water out of the way for nine miles, making a path for Ricky Williams.

2. Konrad knew, with this swim, he would prove 10 years after retirement, he was still a better power runner than the Dolphins’ Daniel Thomas.

1. Konrad did not fall off the boat, the Kraken actually pulled him under. There is no more Kraken."

 

[ImperialOrange]

[QUOTE="xc84, post: 1252528, member: 15Think of the millions of swimmers in Florida each year and the fact that only about 25 people get attacked by a shark each year... and in the first decade of this century only 5 fatal shark attacks in the US and only one of those in FL.[/QUOTE]

Granted but those millions of swimmers arent miles from shore in open water.

 

[SUGIANT]

Whether you're a 5 year old, or Michael Phelps, wear an life jacket.

Did it say somewhere he didn't?

 

[Eric15]

Did it say somewhere he didn't?

The article didn't specify, I meant it more as a general statement.

Konrad was an absolute fool to go fishing that far out alone, I can say that for certain.

 

[Symphony Steve]

"Rosie Ruiz is my co-pilot."

Gonna go out on a limb and say this didn't happen. Once, when I was 18 and in the best shape of my life, I swam two miles at the pool, 144 laps. Of course, I got to push off the edge each lap.

There is officially no bleeping way he did this. Especially since football muscles and swimming muscles are hardly compatible.

 

[rocklloyd]

NunesMagician.com ‏@NunesMagician
Rob Konrad Story Comment of the Day http://www.nunesmagician.com/2015/1/8/7516821/rob-konrad-is-an-absolute-swimgician…

There are quite a few classic comments in that post

 

[CusefanATL]

he is havign a presser today

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/12/us/konrad-long-swim/index.html

 

[Rocco]

Still cannot believe this. He is a freak.

68-70 degree water for 16 hours
8-10 foot waves
salt water swelling you up
extreme body exhaustion
taking on mouthfuls of saltwater...

The odds of survival were microscopic and he made it.

He should be our next HC.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Jeff Darlington ‏@JeffDarlington 3m3 minutes ago
Rob Konrad says he was in the water as rescue helicopters circled above, but they never saw him. He realized he was on his own. Incredible.

Jeff Darlington ‏@JeffDarlington 2m2 minutes ago
Rob Konrad was later diagnosed with hypothermia, severe dehydration and rhabdomyolysis, which is a breakdown of muscle fibers.

Jeff Darlington ‏@JeffDarlington 4m4 minutes ago
Former Dolphins FB Rob Konrad says, as he fights back tears, he was indeed 9 miles offshore when he was forced to begin swimming to shore.

Jeff Darlington @JeffDarlington · 2m 2 minutes ago
Konrad says he spent 16 hours in the water. “I shouldn’t be here,” he tells a group of assembled media in South Florida.

Jeff Darlington @JeffDarlington · 37s 37 seconds ago
Konrad says he was bit by many jellyfish and circled by a shark while he was in the water — but shark eventually left. Is this Life of Pi?!

 

[CuseLegacy]

Jeff Darlington ‏@JeffDarlington 5m5 minutes ago
After 10 hours, fishing boat had lights on and was 50 yards away. “When the boat didn’t see me,” Konrad said. "I had to get my mind right."

Jeff Darlington ‏@JeffDarlington 2m2 minutes ago
Konrad followed sun west during day then followed lights on the shore. “I have 2 beautiful daughters,” he says. “I was hitting that shore."

Jeff Darlington ‏@JeffDarlington 2m2 minutes ago
Rob Konrad says he eventually heard waves hitting the shore: “It was a beautiful sound.” …When he hit the shore, he couldn’t walk at first.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Jeff Darlington @JeffDarlington · 39s 39 seconds ago
Konrad's wife is now taking questions from assembled media at this South Florida news conference: “It was a miracle that he made it home."


And I bet she is never letting him go out in a boat again.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Jeff Darlington @JeffDarlington · 2m 2 minutes ago
Rob Konrad has two daughters — 8 and 10 years old. Konrad was a 2nd-rd draft pick in 1999. He played six NFL seasons. He’s 38 years old

Jeff Darlington @JeffDarlington · 55s 55 seconds ago
Rob’s wife, Tammy Konrad, said she began to panic when her two daughters started to ask before going to bed, “Where’s daddy?"

Jeff Darlington @JeffDarlington · 8s 9 seconds ago
That’s all from Konrad and wife. For now. The rest of this story, I’d imagine, will be coming to a theatre near you. That was incredible.

 

[RF2044]

CuseLegacy, thanks for posting those. What an incredible story.

 

[xc84]

I watched the press conference. He was still pretty choked up about his experience and seemed noticeably physically and mentally traumatized.

 

[dollarbill44]

"Rosie Ruiz is my co-pilot."

Gonna go out on a limb and say this didn't happen. Once, when I was 18 and in the best shape of my life, I swam two miles at the pool, 144 laps. Of course, I got to push off the edge each lap.

There is officially no bleeping way he did this. Especially since football muscles and swimming muscles are hardly compatible.

Clearly, you're joking right? Because you couldn't do it, no one can? What was your motivation? Were you swimming for your life? For the record, there are a lot of people that have swam farther. For example, 64 year old Diana Nyad swam the Florida Strait (103 miles from Cuba to Florida) in 2013. Granted, she trained a long time for it, but Konrad's swim was much shorter.

As for the muscles comment, I've never seen an anatomy chart that shows football muscles or swimming muscles. It's been a while since Konrad was a football player, so it's quite conceivable that he trains his body differently than he used to. I am friends with a former D1 OL who played at 6'3" and 275 lbs (this was in the very early 80s when guys weren't as big) who now runs a couple of marathons a year.

I think it is far from "official" that he didn't do this.

 

[AZOrange]

Clearly, you're joking right? Because you couldn't do it, no one can? What was your motivation? Were you swimming for your life? For the record, there are a lot of people that have swam farther. For example, 64 year old Diana Nyad swam the Florida Strait (103 miles from Cuba to Florida) in 2013. Granted, she trained a long time for it, but Konrad's swim was much shorter. As for the muscles comment, I've never seen an anatomy chart that shows football muscles or swimming muscles. It's been a while since Konrad was a football player, so it's quite conceivable that he trains his body differently than he used to. I am friends with a former D1 OL who played at 6'3" and 275 lbs (this was in the very early 80s when guys weren't as big) who now runs a couple of marathons a year. I think it is far from "official" that he didn't do this.

If he didn't "do this" wouldn't we be reading an obituary?

 

[CuseLegacy]

"Rosie Ruiz is my co-pilot."

Gonna go out on a limb and say this didn't happen. Once, when I was 18 and in the best shape of my life, I swam two miles at the pool, 144 laps. Of course, I got to push off the edge each lap.

There is officially no bleeping way he did this. Especially since football muscles and swimming muscles are hardly compatible.

So you are saying that my memory of swimming two miles, width of one of the Finger Lakes over and back, when I was 15 was all a figment of my imagination? Oh and I am definitely not athletic.

 

[tep624]

He had to have been wearing a life jacket, right?

 

[CuseLegacy]

He had to have been wearing a life jacket, right?

You would have to think he was, although I see people out on boats all the time without them.

 

[Symphony Steve]

I'm skeptical of the entire story. It may be true, I know some of you saw the press conference. Of COURSE, I 'm not applying my limited swimming experience as proof, but rather trying to provide context.

We had a couple of football players on our HS swim team, and it took them at least a month on average to retrain their muscles to swimming. Maybe he really did swim 9 miles in less than optimal conditions. Hell of a story, if true. Until it's undeniably true, I'll remain skeptical.

 

[tep624]

You would have to think he was, although I see people out on boats all the time without them.

I'm just thinking...in the water for 16 hours, that's a lot of treading too if you don't have a life jacket on. Nuts.

 

[javadoc]

I'm skeptical of the entire story. It may be true, I know some of you saw the press conference. Of COURSE, I 'm not applying my limited swimming experience as proof, but rather trying to provide context.

We had a couple of football players on our HS swim team, and it took them at least a month on average to retrain their muscles to swimming. Maybe he really did swim 9 miles in less than optimal conditions. Hell of a story, if true. Until it's undeniably true, I'll remain skeptical.

It sounds like he was in the water for a long time, based on the medical comments about his condition. Hypothermia, muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis), etc. Don't know how far he swam, but seems true that he was severely exerted.

 

[xc84]

I'm skeptical of the entire story. It may be true, I know some of you saw the press conference. Of COURSE, I 'm not applying my limited swimming experience as proof, but rather trying to provide context.

We had a couple of football players on our HS swim team, and it took them at least a month on average to retrain their muscles to swimming. Maybe he really did swim 9 miles in less than optimal conditions. Hell of a story, if true. Until it's undeniably true, I'll remain skeptical.

They were swimming in races. Konrad was swimming for his life and used a combination of breast stroke and back stroke most of the way.

 

[xc84]

He had to have been wearing a life jacket, right?

It was reported he was not wearing a life jacket.

 

[xc84]

It sounds like he was in the water for a long time, based on the medical comments about his condition. Hypothermia, muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis), etc. Don't know how far he swam, but seems true that he was severely exerted.

In the press conference, he needed some help to get down the stairs from the podium. He said when he hit the beach he could not immediately walk and crawled into some sort of "tunnel" to get warmed enough to try to go to a house. He called his landing on the beach was "bittersweet" when he found he could not walk and his condition was so bad that he felt he might not live unless he got some help quickly. He thought it was midnight at that point when it was 5 a.m.. so that incorrect assessment probably added to the despair.