Four years after the Luck retirement, it's still a shock

It was a boring preseason game against the Bears. I was scheduled to talk to Chuck Pagano about another subject. And then everything changed.

Four years ago today (or yesterday, depending on when you read this), Andrew Luck retired from football.

I’ve been shocked now and again by things I’ve seen happen in sports, but no news ever inspired the kind of incredulity I experienced that night.

I’m sure you remember: The Colts were playing a preseason game against the Chicago Bears at Lucas Oil Stadium. It was a giant nothing of a game, one that involved a lot of players who would not go on to make the roster.

My job that night wasn’t to cover the game because, I mean, who really cares?

Rather, I had set up a post-game interview with Chuck Pagano to talk about the Snow Game up in Buffalo for an oral history in The Athletic. Pagano was Chicago’s defensive coordinator at the time. This would be an easy, pleasant night.

It was 9:28 ET, the third quarter, if I’m remembering correctly.

And there was the Adam Schefter tweet (that’s what we called them back in the old days):