The former Wisconsin cornerback felt a tinge of sadness

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It’s been a few months , but Derrick Tindal still isn’t sure why he wasn’t in an NFL camp this spring or summer.after going unwanted, but that feeling was quickly replaced by another emotion.More Badgers coverageTop Tweets: Former Badger TJ Watt has impressive four-year transformationTop Tweets: Former Badgers QB Wilson plans to play for … a long timeBadgers RB Taylor named to preseason all-Big Ten teamEx-Badgers TE Traylor training, waiting for next NFL opportunityEx-Badgers star Hayes having fun during latest NBA audition“I felt more relief,” Tindal said, “like I didn’t have to do it no more. All the hitting, all the everything, it was some weight lifted off my shoulders.”Tindal was definitely eyeing the NFL after four years at Wisconsin. He participated in pro day, and although he wasn’t overly happy with his showing there, Tindal’s agent had him convinced he would be a late-round draft choice. And if he happened to go undrafted, then certainly he’d be signed as a free agent.When that didn’t happen, and as he realized he wasn’t even going to get a chance to try out for a team at a rookie minicamp, Tindal wondered if his injury history was holding him back. While he missed only three games in his four years at Wisconsin — and started 38 of his 52 games — he broke a wrist as a junior and fought through an ankle injury as a senior.But with his body of work — six interceptions, 26 passes broken up, making All-Big Ten teams his last two years — Tindal thought he had at least earned a chance“When all the free agents were getting picked up I was like, yeah man, I did all this, all this through the injuries … I didn’t do nothing at all?,” Tindal remembered thinking. “I didn’t do nothing to deserve a chance to walk it up to rookie camp? I was like, I ain’t going to keep beating myself up about this, I have to do something I really want to anyway.“I did ask why at first, but then it was then almost sad, then it wasn’t like I was missing anything. Yeah, the money probably, but I’ll find another way to make that.”While his agent mentioned the possibility of the Canadian Football League or one of the arena leagues, those had no appeal to Tindal. He was done with football, period. Besides, Tindal has greater plans.It all begins for Tindal with a book. Or should we say books.A noted superhero and comic book enthusiast, Tindal has written a graphic novel (although , he notes it is not, as one might expect, about a superhero) and has grandiose plans beyond that.The book, entitled “Taletrius Johnson: The beginning of the end” — the main character is named after Tindal’s cousin, Taletrius Bradley, who was killed in a car accident last year — is written, but Tindal, who admits he’s no artist, is waiting on the drawings to be completed by others.That hasn’t stopped Tindal from starting to write his second book. And he has plans for more. A lot more.“I have other book ideas. I’m probably not going to be able to write all these books myself, you feel me? I have other ideas, other pitches, to feed off my book,” Tindal said. “I have two more other characters that have their own solo books that can mix with my book. I’d like to sign someone to write those books for me and take over that character. But basically I have to get (the initial one) published first and do good with that book.”But Tindal isn’t just focusing on books (although everything eventually ties back to them). He still has two semesters to complete at Wisconsin — he’s majoring in human development and family studies — in order to get his degree, which he plans on applying in the real world right away.Tindal has worked with kids in the Madison area while in school. He envisions himself founding an organization to help underprivileged children, whether it’s helping them obtain scholarships to college, teaching them football with a camp (it will be free, but promotionally tied in with his brand) or showing them aspects of life they might not have known existed — such as reading and writing comic books.Tindal aims to start his mentoring in Wisconsin but wants to get to South Florida “as quick as I can.”Tindal grew up in the Boulevard Gardens neighborhood of Ft. Lauderdale, an area that, per Tindal’s previous comments, doesn’t present kids with many opportunities outside of sports or the street life.His goal: give kids from that neck of the woods the opportunities he never had.“That’s what I want to do (get kids out of his neighborhood). Teach kids, manage their life,” Tindal said. “I never wanted to be just DT the football player, you feel me. I always read comic books, I always loved comic books. And I never thought it was cool when I was young to read comic books. And who knows, if I was to have started to write when I was younger I probably wouldn’t even been playing football. I would have found other interests.“But I definitely want to show kids, especially from rough neighborhoods, that it ain’t just football, it ain’t just music or the streets. We got different ways. I feel kids follow whatever is cool. A lot of kids look up to me , a lot of kids see me as cool, (he can) show them ‘He made a book, why can’t I? Why can’t I be a doctor now?’ Anything.”To his point, Tindal’s books should relate to his audience. After all, that’s who he’s written them for. Some of the plots Tindal uses are taken from his life, his friends or people he’s known.“I’m trying to get a different view, a view from our side of things when it comes to superheroes and gods and stuff. It’s a twist to a different kind of superhero,” he explained. “I write it like me and my friends talk to each other. I use the slang we talk to each other. Not like curse words, but like the slang words we say to each other, the different meanings. I want to put a dictionary in the book so people know what I mean when the words are being used.”For now, though, Tindal waits. And goes to class. And relaxes, something he didn’t get to do much of when he was playing football, what with the early morning workouts, practices, traveling and games.“Basically (he’s) learning how to be a normal student at stuff, just sitting back chilling,” Tindal said.Like many people, Tindal spends his Saturdays and Sundays watching football instead of playing it. He enjoys watching his former teammates play all weekend, but especially likes listening to announcers call Badgers games.“On the field you always kind of wonder, ‘I wonder what the commentator said about (a particular play)’,” Tindal said with a laugh. “It’s just fun watching it, sometimes the commentator talks crap and I talk crap to them even though they can’t hear me through the TV set.”Tindal still maintains relationships with his former teammates, including Nick Nelson (“I talk to Nick all the time,” he said) and Natrell Jamerson, both of whom were drafted this past year and landed on 53-man rosters. Both Nelson and Jamerson have told Tindal that from what they’ve seen, he should be in the league, too.But Tindal harbors no bitterness.“I’m really just happy to see them (in the NFL) ,” he said. “A lot people don’t believe me when I say this, but I’m really, like, OK without playing. I’m perfectly fine. I honestly haven’t felt this good in 23 years and I’m 23 now. I’m great.”Besides, a relationship with the league is all part of his master plan.“Hopefully I can get the NFL to run some of my commercials if I drop a movie in the future,” Tindal said in a half-joking, half-serious tone. “I don’t have no beef with them.”First things first, though: Tindal has to get the book into people’s hands, which not only includes having it completed with the drawings — it’s hard to have a graphic novel without them, after all — but also getting it published.Tindal doesn’t talk about his plan being an “if” but rather a “when.” If there’s two things he doesn’t lack, though, its confidence and optimism. Everything is set in motion, and it begins with his book.“It’s going to be fun for people to read,” Tindal said before adding, “I just hope people give it a chance.”He’s earned it. TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)Say goodbye to ”No risk it, no biscuit.” Bruce Arians, one of the NFL’s biggest personalities, is retiring from coaching after five mostly successful and usually entertaining seasons as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. The 65-year-old two-time NFL Coach of the Year, known for his Kangol-style hats, colorful vocabulary and wide-open ”no risk it, no biscuit” offense, announced the decision in an emotional session with the media on Monday. ”It’s been an unbelievable journey,” he said. ”The tears you see are really tears of joy and peace. I’ll miss the players. I’ll miss coming out of the locker room hearing the national anthem because it still gets to me.” Arians said he told the players of his decision Sunday after the team’s 26-24 win at Seattle and the players never leaked it to reporters. ”And they lied to you because of that,” he said. ”There’s really no greater feeling in the world to know your players have your back.” Of the reason for the retirement, Arians said, ”Family’s a big one.” He recalled last summer, when he was talking to his wife Christine at their lake house in Georgia , she told him their son Jake was turning 40. ”It hit me like a ton of bricks that I missed all that time,” Arians said. Arians, who spent more than four decades in coaching, has had health issues in recent years, including treatment for diverticulitis as well as a successful fight against kidney cancer last offseason. He said the Cardinals had the best owner in the NFL ”by far” and called general manager Steve Keim his ”little brother.” Keim’s voice cracked with emotion when he talked about his time with Arians. ”I don’t think there’s any doubt it’s going to be hard to replicate the kind of relationship we all had with Bruce and how special he was to us,” Keim said. ”There’s no doubt he’ll always hold a special place in my heart.” Cardinals president Michael Bidwill said ”we’ll miss him a lot.” Bidwill said the search for a new coach would begin immediately, and he had requests to other teams for permission to speak to assistant coaches going out Monday. But Bidwill said there will be no rush to fill the job despite the many other head coaching openings in the league. He noted that Arians was the last of seven coaches to be hired five years ago. ”And I’m glad we didn’t get caught up like it was a race or something,” Bidwill said. Arians won a franchise-record 50 games in his five seasons with Arizona. Counting his stint as interim coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Arians went 59-35-1 as a head coach, including the playoffs. Before that, he won two Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach in Pittsburgh, the second one as offensive coordinator of the Steelers team that beat Arizona in the 2009 Super Bowl. Arians first won NFL Coach of the Year honors for his work on an interim basis for the Indianapolis Colts in 2012 and again after directing the Cardinals to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth in 2014. He was 50-32-1 in five seasons with the Cardinals, including a 4-1 mark in Seattle. The Cardinals were 1-2 in playoff games under him. Arians’ best season was 2015, when quarterback Carson Palmer directed the league’s highest-scoring offense on a team that went 13-3 and earned the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Arizona escaped with an overtime playoff victory over Green Bay in the divisional playoff game, but was crushed at Carolina 49-15 in the NFC championship game. The Cardinals went 7-8-1 in 2016 and 8-8 this past season, winning three of their last four. Still uncertain is the status of Palmer and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Both are under contract for next season but Palmer turned 38 last week missed most of the season with a broken left arm. Fitzgerald said he hasn’t decided whether to come back for a 15th season. Fitzgerald finished second in the NFL this season with 109 catches. Keim knows that finding a new franchise quarterback is the top priority once a coach is in place. ”Really, five years ago we started with no head coach and no quarterback and I feel like that ended up pretty good,” Keim said. ”I think that’s the way we need to approach this this time around.” Arians began his coaching career 42 years ago as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech. He was an assistant to Bear Bryant for one season at Alabama before being hired as the head coach at Temple a job he held from 1983 to 1988. He developed a reputation for his good work with quarterbacks, including Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck. Arians said he was forced out at Pittsburgh, ”refired” is how he put it, and was ready to step away from the game when Colts coach Chuck Pagano offered him the offensive coordinator job. When Pagano had to leave the team for a time, Arians directed the Colts to a 9-3 record as interim coach. That opened the way to come to Arizona, finally getting an NFL head coaching job at age 60. He said he was planning to stay in the Phoenix area and that his foundation would continue its work for underprivileged children. He wants to stay close to the game and hinted at a broadcast job. ”Hell, I might be on your side,” he told reporters. ”I don’t know.” —

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