I never would have thought that a professional athlete set to lead his country in the biggest tournament on earth could be depressed, but Robert Enke was. The German goalkeeper was clinically depressed according to his wife and psychiatrist and late on Tuesday, drove out to some railroad tracks and waited for a train to come. A man that had the chance to lead his country to the World Cup next summer committed suicide.
I didn’t know much about Enke, but I did know he was one of the top options in line to take the reigns and be the No. 1 goalkeeper for Germany after Jens Lehmann’s retirement after Euro 2008. From what I’ve read, Enke was a nice man and a good person, committing time to organization around Hannover, where he played his club football.
Needless to say, he will be missed, and it shouldn’t be by just the football community.