The story of Falcons linebacker Brian Banks’ road from being wrongfully convicted of rape to the NFL is one that’s been told many times and the universal response has been that Banks is easy to root for after losing 10 years of his life before finally having his name cleared.
It’s even easier after listening to him on this week’s edition of Rich Eisen’s podcast. Banks sat down with the NFL Network personality and talked about what it was like to have your life turned upside down because of someone else’s prevarications. It’s a candid and compelling conversation which we’d suggest than anyone interested in Banks’ story check out.
One of the most interesting segments came when Banks discussed how he dealt with his anger at being convicted of a crime he did not commit. Banks admitted to “eating himself alive with negative energy,” but said that he finally came around to a more productive mindset when he realized that those responsible for his plight didn’t care if he wound up destroying himself. Banks decided to channel his energy to football instead.
“A lot of people ask me, why am I not angry? Why am I not disappointed? Why don’t I want revenge? I feel like, you can be angry, but now you channel that energy and what you direct it towards is up to you,” Banks said. “Instead of me sitting on my back with my hands out, asking for somebody to pay for what’s happened to me, I feel like the best revenge is success. So I chose to put on a hardhat and go to work rather than put on a sad face and complain.”
Again, the whole interview is well worth your time and it reinforces the feeling that Falcons fans won’t be close to the only ones rooting for him to achieve that success when camp gets underway.