For a second straight Sunday, the National Football League has to hold games on the heels of reporting player-caused fatality. Last Sunday, 25 year old Kansas City linebacker Jovan Belcher (pictured above) shot his girlfriend eight times at their home before killing himself in front of his coach, general manager, and other team officials at their practice facility. This week, Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent was driving under the influence and flipped his vehicle killing the passenger, his teammate Jerry Brown. I heard a quote today which I believe to be an apt description of the circumstances. Former NFL player and present commentator Tom Jackson said that despite popular belief, "The NFL is a microcosm of society." It's easy to view NFL players like their digital replicas on the Madden video games as nothing more than football playing images on your screen with no other purpose or attentions in life than playing up to the expectations of the fans. Ignoring the fact that we are all actually people (and therefore flawed) makes is easy to demonize and criticize them for on field play and ignore the fact that the complexities of life still affect these men off of the gridiron. People have off days, people have days of fatigue of aloofness, personal stresses or emotions can affect professional performance at times, pride often stops people from seeking help they may require. As quiet as it's kept, most teams have personal counselors available for any players who needs them. By all accounts from Chiefs players, Belcher was a model citizen in the locker room and an hard working, devoted teammate. If the rumors about the cause of the murder-suicide events are true, his girlfriend was late coming back from a Trey Songz concert and he became jealous enough to murder her. I can't believe that this level of rage emerged from this incident alone; although it is possible frighteningly enough. By reports, Belcher and his girlfriend were provided counseling by the Chiefs about their "financial and relationship problems." Is it feasible to believe that had they contacted the counselor earlier or been more honest at counseling about their issues that this may not have happened? I think it's possible. But instead this tragedy took place despite the fact that they actually made the hard step to begin counseling. Now because of this murder suicide, a young girl will never know her parents and whoever raises her will have a terrible story about them whenever she becomes old enough to ask. The NFL itself has a comprehensive substance abuse program available for any players willing to use it. Is it possible to believe that if Brent's ego allowed him to join the program, or use the NFL taxi service (yeah, the NFL has created a hotline for this very purpose), or bring a friend as a designated driver, his teammate would be alive and he wouldn't be in custody for intoxication manslaughter? It's a reasonable conclusion. But as with addiction and many other personal problems, it's difficult to admit that you have a problem which could cause death of someone close to you; often to a fault. This is especially true with alcohol, which is legal and often not considered an addictive drug. People use alcohol so casually that it becomes hard to determine what is truly a state of addiction and even how inebriated you are in relation to whether you are able to drive or not. I've wondered about that one and been more conscious of it myself as I've gotten older. Groupon had a personal breatalyzer on sale for cheap and I bought it just so I could examine that myself at home because if you're not 'out of control, world spinning, I can barely stand up' drunk, it can become hard to know exactly where you stand. Sounds crazy, but I did. It's worth the $20 to me to know how I feel at that point and avoid the possible DUI or tragedy which can follow. As a people, we have to be more conscious and deliberate handling our problems before they become the causes of tragedy. Hindsight is 20/20, but when your hindsight exposes you to the realities that your actions could have saved life, hindsight can also be very painful. I wouldn't ever want to have to live with that burden. Real talk...
No comments:
Post a Comment