Everyone is for drug testing until they are against it. And they’re usually against it when the
outcome effects them in a personal way.
That is the only explanation I can muster as to why so many
are sympathetic to Josh Gordon at the moment.
The mercurial Cleveland Browns receiver received confirmation this week
of the fate that was inevitable once he struck out swinging at the NFL’s drug
policy, a year long suspension. The
thought that this putrid Cleveland Browns team could be deprived of its only
playmaker for the season suddenly turned soft the noggins of fans and media
types alike.
Without belaboring to state the obvious, this team has more
than proven that it’s a perennial 4-5 game winner, even with Gordon. Things aren’t going to change in the near
future for this team’s fortunes for reasons well beyond the control of Gordon.
But as for what’s in the control of Gordon, that’s actually
hard to say. From all the evidence
presented, he appears to be a drug addict.
He’s now tested positive at least 6 times for illegal drugs, in college
and the pros. This is not about second
chances. It’s about seventh
chances. He’s more than worn out the
patience of those continuing to enable his demons.
One could argue forcefully that the only group effected
personally by the positive drug test result of Josh Gordon is Gordon himself
and his family. But the way the media
and fans are reacting it’s as if they’ve been kicked in the gut as well. Hardly.
Gordon is no one’s cross to die on. We all should simply ignore the embarrassing
and tone deaf second hand smoke defense that his legal team offered. The
outcome of the arbitration hearing was hardly in question. Well before he tested positive this time,
Gordon knew the tightrope he was walking and the consequence for tripping. Like any headstrong, immature, pampered
egomaniac, he thought he could beat the system.
He couldn’t and he didn’t. The
punishment he got he deserved.
Bill Livingston, a columnist for the Plain Dealer (assuming
the name hasn’t been auctioned off by the Northeast Ohio Media Group in order
to buy more servers for their digital strategy), has taken up Gordon’s cause as
a fan proxy by questioning the strictness of Gordon’s penalty given what are
the rumored “facts” of this case, meaning the relative levels of marijuana in
Gordon’s system and how other leagues use other levels.
It’s hard to avoid the most obvious pun by calling this line
of argument a smokescreen. But
Livingston’s been in a fog for most of his career anyway. The league and the union have a collectively
bargained drug policy and protocol. This
is what the parties voluntarily agreed to and the rules under which Gordon and
his co-workers operate.
The purpose of this argument about the relative levels is to
somehow give credence to the ridiculous defense that somehow this serial drug
user ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time and was victimized by exposure
to second hand smoke.
Gordon is no victim.
There’s a far more plausible and simple explanation. Gordon is lying. Indeed why would he even deserve the benefit
of anyone’s doubt? He has the most to
gain or lose in offering up an argument that isn’t even correct medically, let
alone practically. Gordon has been
caught smoking dope numerous times in college and the pros but suddenly he’s
reformed and just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time? Why would any logical thinking person think
that’s more likely than the far more likely scenario that Gordon once again
smoked dope and didn’t think he’d get caught?
Obviously Harold Henderson, the arbitrator in this case didn’t buy it
and neither should anyone else.
Indeed what’s most offensive in this case is Gordon’s abject
unwillingness to own his own misbehavior and mislead the team and it’s fans into
thinking that this time he didn’t do anything wrong. The reason guy’s like Gordon don’t seem to
ever learn is because they are surrounded by enablers, including gullible media
types and lawyers, willing to further a bullshit narrative in order to avoid
the real life consequences of bad actions.
The Cleveland Browns are a worse team without Josh Gordon
but the only person responsible for that statement is Josh Gordon. The unwillingness of the arbitrator to buy
into Gordon’s “defense” doesn’t make the arbitrator the bad guy here. Neither is the league nor the union to blame
for the outcome. Gordon simply can’t
learn the simple lesson of what it would take to stay in the league and for
that he now finds himself on the outside looking in.
It’s almost comical really how twisted the thought process
of others has become. Livingston, for
example but hardly the only example, goes down the path of noting the supposed
number of drug tests that Gordon passed already as, what, proof that he’s
reformed? I don’t think we even need to
stretch as far as the Lance Armstrong fraud to talk about how ludicrous it is
to make the argument about how previous positive tests portends
compliance. The reason Gordon was
subjected to such long term testing was precisely because he has a history and
eventually if a person hasn’t reformed he’ll get caught again. Gordon hasn’t reformed. He got caught again.
Gordon put together an amazing, record-setting season last
year while dancing on the head of a pin.
Where opposing defenses couldn’t trip him up, where a parade of mediocre
at best quarterbacks throwing to him couldn’t slow down his accomplishments,
all it took for Gordon to regress was an off season filled with more time then
he knew what to do with.
The decriminalization of marijuana may be your issue, have
at it. But that has nothing at the
moment to do with Gordon’s status as a multi violator of league rules. Gordon’s job, his life, is in jeopardy
because Gordon lacks the self control to change the course. Given his history, there’s no reason to think
that even this suspension will move his needle.
I think it’s dangerous to take up the cause of someone like
Gordon in order to further the larger debate about the relative dangers of
marijuana. It matters not at all whether
marijuana is legal in a few states and otherwise available by prescription in
most others. The same can be said for
most performance enhancing drugs as well.
The point, again, is that the league and its union voluntarily put in
place a set of rules on what substances are prohibited, what the testing
protocol for those substances should be, and what penalties would be assessed
for violations. It’s up to those parties
to decide if and when they want to change their rules.
Of course the other thing that’s getting people twisted up
in their shorts is the severity of Gordon’s penalty in the context of the
league’s kid glove treatment of Ray Rice for beating his then girlfriend and
dragging her out of an elevator in an Atlantic City casino. One of the local television stations even ran
a “fan poll” asking if the Gordon penalty was too severe compared to Rice’s. I’m
guessing they didn’t consult an expert in polling as the question answers
itself nor should they be surprised by the results. Of course a year-long suspension is more
severe than a two game suspension. Duh.
Rice ran afoul of the league’s personal conduct rules. His actions reflected poorly on the league
and that’s what put him in the crosshairs of the commissioner. There are no prescribed penalties for
domestic violence. It is case by
case. Roger Goodell may have done a
lousy job in exercising that discretion but it was his to exercise.
There was no discretion to be exercised in Gordon’s
case. His previous violations put him
down a path of progressive discipline with the next violation resulting in a season
long suspension. There was no dispute
that Gordon had dope in his system. Case
over. The only real mystery is why the
arbitrator waited so long to issue the opinion.
Perhaps he was on vacation.
I have no sympathy for Gordon and neither should anyone
else, at least in the context of the punishment meted out. My sympathy for Gordon extends to him
personally with the hope that he gets help for the problems that he clearly
has. But if he never plays another game
for the Browns or in professional football, it won’t impact anyone’s life but
his own and those for whom he’s supporting.
The
next step is his. What would make this
story better is if Gordon really uses his time away to make positive changes in
his life. Everyone likes a resurrection
story. With Gordon, though, there’s
reason to worry. He’s still in hard denial
about his actions this time and he didn’t learn any lesson from the previous
five (at least) positive drug tests.
There’s no reason to think he’ll learn anything meaningful from the
sixth.
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