Next time you're thinking of crapping on a professional athlete for allegedly being overpaid and spoiled... maybe read this essay again to walk in their shoes for miles a day.

Wow, he sacrificed:

Empty pockets hindered travel, but the hardest days were the ones that led to empty stomachs. Groceries came from a now-defunct Waldbaum’s around the corner. On his most desperate days, Ward would haul a duffel bag to the store and collect the cheap essentials—pancake mix, milk, bread—before paying, sneaking back inside, and snagging luxuries like hot dogs and french fries. “He [wouldn’t] eat for two days and not say anything to me,” says Cameron Chadwick, Globe’s head coach. “He was one of those kids, he wouldn’t ask you. He’d just go without.”