Forget the debate on whether weed should be illegal or not. Bottom line is these morons are put in a scenario where it's:
"If you stop smoking weed (or do it in the offseason and don't get caught in public with it), then we will pay you $50-100 million dollars"
And these idiots respond by promptly sparking one up. No sympathy IMO.
The reason you say that is because you do not feel that this is an addiction or an illness. That(illness) may or may not be true, but the hypocrisy here is what I am interested in. When the owner of the Colts is found with $18,000 in cash stuffed in a bag plus bottles and bottles of prescription meds, for that guy we want to get him treatment and treat this as a serious illness. But for marijauna we want to ban the guy from the league even though the owners of the teams are allowed to smoke crack, snort blow, inhale prescription meds at an alarming rate, it's just another day in Roger Goodell's "As The NFL Turns"
It's simple, everyone knows that marijauna is no big deal so enough of the grand standing and not feeling any mercy or pity because there really isn't any need for you to give any to begin with. Only the NFL suspends players for marijauna...think the NFL is the only league where players smoke pot?
I do not want to suspend him from the league but the difference is that the players union agreed to this.
They are solely the ones to blame and if they cared enough about this issue then they wouldn't have agreed to such a strict policy. 99% of the league's players think they are smart enough to beat the testing system so they voted in favor of a plan that only punishes stupid people.
It sounds great the way you frame this, I mean it.
I don't feel the players have or had much leverage, the owners wore them down big time in the las off season mini strike. The players have given in to a lot and behind the curtains, the players offered hgh testing/ban for the marijauna concession and were refused. I've heard it mentioned a few times in passing on the talk radio circuit.
I blame both the NFL and the NFLPA for the draconian drug policy but I agree the players have no leverage in this situation and that the majority of players think they can find a way to beat the test anyway. IMO the NFL's desire to have such a strict drug policy is a misguided effort to market the league as being drug free, which we all know is a complete sham for a multitude of reasons.
Because the players have to use all of their leverage to get a better percentage of the financial deal, they have almost none when it comes to the drug policy. This is something the NFLPA needs to completely rethink leading into the next CBA and I would hope, though not optimistically, that the NFL would engage in an honest conversation on the matter.
And we need to stop saying that the League is ill prepared to deal with these guys with drug problems. It's not really their responsibility to do so. It's their responsibility to run a clean game. If these guys are too stupid to put down the bong or the bottle, then they can make a living somewhere else. Probably with a broom or a mop once they blow all the cash.
You're right it's not their responsibility but I believe it's in the league's best interest not to lose talented players like Blackmon and Gordon.
Exactly. It's in the league's, and everyone else's, best interest to have Blackmon and Gordon doing what they do best, play football.
And what exactly is a "clean" game. If we are talking about PEDs, which is a whole different conversation then I would agree that it's the NFL's responsibility to run a "clean game" in terms of all players being on an equal playing field as it relates to PEDs.
When we are talking about recreational use of marijuana or alcohol (not DUIs), then I think it's a ridiculous suggestion that it's the NFL's responsibility run a "clean game." I know of lawyers, doctors, politicians, and all sorts of other professionals who partake in recreational use of cocaine, weed, alcohol, pills, and a host of other things. It doesn't stop them from performing their jobs and nobody blinks an eye. Yet, if they were in the NFL's system many of them would lose their livelihoods.
My point is not that we should feel sorry for guys like Blackmon and Gordon or that they shouldn't bear responsibility and suffer the consequences of the current CBA. The rules are what they are at this point and both guys know the consequences of their decisions and actions. The fact that they repeatedly make decisions that negatively impact their own careers suggest they have addiction and/or larger issues that need to be seriously addressed.
But the larger point, IMO is that the NFL's drug policy is needlessly draconian, hypocritical, and counterproductive for both the teams and the players. As I've said before DUIs and arrests for violent offenses or serious crimes should be treated very seriously and I have no problem with the suspensions that result from them. But the testing and suspension for simple marijuana and alcohol use is something that needs to be thought about much differently from my view.