Kyle Rudolph announced his retirement in September, meaning he has more time to spend with his family during the fall. But it sounds like his family wouldn’t mind seeing him back on the field for a few reasons. PopCulture.com spoke to the 34-year-old former tight end, and he shared how retired life has been for him.ย
“It’s good. So there are times where my wife certainly is like, ‘Hey, look, we have our routine at home. Don’t come screwing it up now that you’re retired,’” Rudolph told PopCulture in late November. “But just being around my kids more, my daughters are 7 now, and certainly they remember going to football games and they understood what I did and why they were there. And it’s funny because a couple of times throughout the course of the fall, we might have football on Sunday and my daughters will be like, ‘Dad, we miss you playing football and we wish you were still playing. We wish we could still go to your games.’ And then either myself or my wife will be like, ‘Yeah, but Dad’s home more now. Don’t you love that?’ And they go, ‘Yeah, we do love that you’re home more now.’”
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Rudolph, who spent most of his career with the Minnesota Vikings, is keeping busy as a media personality. But he’s also continuing to give back to the community as he’s partnered with Medtronic for its “Blue Baloon Challenge.” Rudolph is helping spread awareness of what it takes to manage diabetes.ย
“For me, it was one [a cause] that I was extremely excited about,” he said. “Diabetes is something that I think a lot of people, it may not directly affect them, but they know someone that it directly affects. And November being National Diabetes Awareness Month and having a godmother who is my aunt, who was a type 1 diabetic, was diagnosed, I believe, at 9 years old. Growing up, I always heard the stories about my aunt and the struggles that she had as a kid being a type one diabetic, because this was back in the ’80s, early ’90s, at a time where medicine and technology certainly weren’t at the level that they’re at now.ย
“And I’ve come across a few other good friends throughout my time as an NFL player who have balanced the struggles and challenges that come along with being a type one diabetic while trying to be a professional football player and a professional athlete.”
“So when the opportunity came up, and really the whole theme of this Blue Balloon Challenge, and getting people to balance a blue balloon while they do things in their daily life. I felt like it really hit home to me because I’ve seen that balancing act from specifically my aunt, but also a few other people throughout the course of my life.”
