|
with friends like you guys, this dude is 100% guaranteed to be out of the league in a year. let's review the facts.
- josh gordon has an enormous substance abuse problem. he's been hit with repeated violations in both college and the NFL. he's been suspended three out of his four NFL seasons. two months after coming off a 12-game ban, he just had two beers that cost him his job for a year. that alone is the definition of an enormous problem. addiction takes a lot of forms. it's not always about getting hammered every night, it's also about making poor decisions about your usage, even just occasionally. in other words, it's not just the frequency you use, it's also the CIRCUMSTANCES under which you use. (those of you saying "he's not an addict, he just keeps making bad decisions, pay attention). if substance abuse keeps repeatedly affecting your job negatively, if you lose your job for a year due to substance abuse, YOU HAVE AN ENORMOUS SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROBLEM. if you're unclear about your current probation and decide to have those two drinks anyway without checking, YOU HAVE AN ENORMOUS SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROBLEM.
- the NFL is NOT being hypocritical on alcohol, and the NFL is NOT singling josh gordon out. NFL players are more than welcome to drink alcohol. NFL players who get arrested for alcohol-related violations like a DUI have demonstrated that they have a problem being responsible with it, and thus trigger a probation that bans them from drinking alcohol. this policy was agreed to by josh gordon's union. if he feels the NFL is being too harsh on him, he should work for a different organization that's willing to look past his repeated history of substance abuse and that has a more lenient policy on alcohol for former DUI offenders. perhaps that car dealership he was working for is hiring.
- it's funny how he keeps having a really, really good reason for having banned substances in his body. "it was secondhand smoke, my doctor prescribed it, i thought the ban expired, the NFL is the real problem here." also funny how hundreds and hundreds of NFL players (even those who are "only" 23) manage to successfully keep these substances out of their bodies. i'll let you guys argue the semantics of whether or not he's an alcoholic, whether or not he's an addict, but he sure needs to start acting like one. he needs to act like he can't even be around anyone who's smoking weed, like he can't take even one single sip of alcohol, because there's a good chance that those things could spiral into extremely negative consequences for him. oh, look, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT JUST HAPPENED. TWICE. label him however you want, but dude needs to be in A.A., stat.
- "I am not a drug addict; I am not an alcoholic; I am not someone who deserves to be dissected and analyzed like some tragic example of everything that can possibly go wrong for a professional athlete." you guys can say he's owning up to it, he's taking responsibility, he's bashing himself all you want. but until he faces reality about that statement right there, all the rest is just noise. dude should be setting NFL records right now. he has the talent to easily be the best receiver in the league. but he's had three of his first four seasons cut short due to substance abuse violations, and he's one strike away from being out of the league at the age of 23. when it comes to substance abuse, he is absolutely a tragic example of everything that can possibly go wrong for a professional athlete. "i smack clowns with nouns, punch herbs with verbs..."
|