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For Fitz, Mom still influences choices

Larry Fitzgerald was always close with his late mother, Carol, and he’s made a couple of decisions of late that were impacted by his relationship. To begin with, Fitzgerald said that, as the only member of his family without a college degree after younger brother Marcus got his recently, he will be going back to get his degree.

He already has an endorsement deal with the University of Phoenix, and given Fitz’s long way to a degree – he said he’s still more than 80 credits short after attending the University of Pittsburgh for his freshman and the first semester of his sophomore year before being drafted – the University of Phoenix’s online classes actually work well into a schedule that includes playing in the NFL and traveling the world. He’s a communications major.

“There is no telling when my career is going to end and I want to make sure I have something to fall back on,” Fitzgerald said dead serious, which is a little funny since he’s already collected at least $50 million in his career. “(A degree) is a good security blanket and something I promised my mother a long time ago that I would do. The longer it gets away (from my college days) it’s going to get harder and harder to finish, so I want to start taking some classes and get some of the credits down.”

His other choice is to be an NFL spokesman for breast cancer awareness. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and after his mother succumbed to the disease, he wanted to use his high profile in continuing the fight to find a cure. He’s one of the NFL players who will be wearing some pink gear in a game (Oct. 11 against Houston) for the movement. Some other players will be taking part, but Fitzgerald was sporting the pink wristbands for a photo shoot Wednesday (along with a ball with the breast cancer awareness logo), and he’ll have pink gloves and pink shoes too. Definitely a color that raises awareness – you can’t miss it.