A long time coming, Bengals outside linebacker, David Pollack has officially retired from football. I'm sure everyone remembers that play that ended his career a distant year-and-a-half ago and the silence waiting for him to pop back up. I'm sure that we're all comfortable his life will be just fine without pads. It's a shame too. He was going to be one hellva player. At least he has his wits about him and sound reasoning to move on.

A quick David Pollack update.

There is no update. A decision nears though on whether he should return to football or not. Returning, most likely in a defensive end capacity, would give the Bengals one hellva rotation at defensive end. From Antwan Odom to Robert Geathers to one of the most celebrated defensive ends in SEC history.

But with each day that passes, you get the impression, even though reports are that he's medically cleared, that he'll hang them up for more spiritual purposes.

We can't understand what David Pollack is confronted with. Not many people have the opportunity to make life-changing choices -- a reset button of sorts. The announcement won't come indefinitely. But his decision to play or retire could be very soon.

I have a source close to the situation that it's entirely possible that David Pollack could either retire, play or sit another season -- sorry, that's a reference to Pro Football Talk. As it seems, Pollack's return seems more and more likely. His weight is back to football shape. He's working out with trainers. If he doesn't play again, he'll likely move back to his Georgia digs. Here's hoping that he makes the choice best for him -- which I'm sure he's pondering now.

David Pollack's recovery is one step closer...

Pollack surgery successful [Enquirer]

The future for David Pollack, as he says, depended on whether or not he required surgery. If he did, then his career was "likely" over.

Bengals' Pollack faces possible career-ending neck surgery [Reuters]
Surgery puts Pollack's career in doubt [Bengals.com]
Career may be over for Pollack [Enquirer]
Pollack's career finished? [AJC.com]

Muddled with Reggie McNeal's goal to match Michael Irvin's resume, David Pollack finally had his Halo removed Thursday.

Pollack's stabilizing halo removed [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

The David Pollack situation is really a sad story. His rookie season was filled with frustration early, but ended with tons of promise. He held out during training camp and struggled to adapt from defensive end to outside linebacker. He finally got to start regularly late in 2005 and really started to shine. He started training camp this season with a hamstring injury and slowly recovered. Then as the season just started into the second game, he breaks his neck and now it's 50/50 on whether he'll play another down.

ESPN showed the process last week during NFL Countdown.

David Pollack and his family will find out if he'll play football ever again on December 13th.

Pollack: Decision soon [Enquirer]
David Pollack: The road to recovery [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]