DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Josh Gordon Arrested in North Carolina

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yea but you didn't answer the question. what made you stop? believe it or not I was blissfully unaware of pot and drugs 2 month ago. more to it what made you start?

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Dude? You want me to believe your head is so screwed up without intoxicants? Whoa....

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Chris Carter on ESPN right now.. thankfully he's such an awesome guy who is here for Gordon...

"If you were the Browns, what would you do?"
"Release him"

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Carter has frequently said the best thing that ever happened to him was getting released by his first nfl team (the team is escaping me right now) because it got him to wake up and kick his drug habit

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As someone who this September will celebrate 20 years clean and sober I can say that one of the most frustrating things I encounter among other sober people is the notion that the path they took out of addiction is the ONLY path there is. He comes from the "dog's nose in his own doodoo" school of sobriety. It works for some people, it didn't work for me. I thrive from love and support, feeling like I'm not alone and people are in my corner. Loneliness, isolation and being shunned make me drink and drug harder and longer. It's largely about timing and the person's internal weather and external pressures when the light does finally flicker on. I've sponsored lots of guys over the years and I very much come from the school of "whatever works for you". It most often DOES involve some version of separating yourself, at least for a while, from people & places that are destructive to your constructive aims. I've told many sponsee's over the years it's largely about positive momentum. It get's easier and harder and easier and harder BUT the overall trajectory is easier over the long run.

Look, these threads always devolve into a philosophical debate on the nature of addiction and the definition of addiction, the interpretation of fairness of the rules of the NFL work place and all our own projected feelings from personal experiences about squandered opportunities and lost youth in the face of our own past demons, blindness and stupidity.

The way I see it is this... we still have NO idea the nature of his suspension. There's a bunch of rumors about it being pot, it being a missed test that later came up clean etc etc. We still know nothing. The DUI while speeding on the other hand is a very good indicator to me that this kid is in serious denial and a very good candidate for a downward spiral, the negative momentum. It might get plead down and not effect anything but his PR but if I'm with the team that DUI is, in fact, the thing that rings the loudest bell for me. I wouldn't claim to know how to handle it with Josh because I don't know Josh. I think DQuell is closest to the truth... those people closest to him need to rally around him and try to get him evaluated, try to intervene. Just releasing him or making him grovel is probably not the best way to go. But again, I don't know because I don't know Josh. What I do sense is that he doesn't have any positive momentum and there's a ton of negativity around him. He's got to be feeling it. If I'm with the team I'm trying to reach out, convince him to engage with a professional who understands his psychology and his position and can figure out the best ways to help him out. There's no way to do that from 40,000 feet. I hope there's someone in the Browns and in his circle who know engage him and understand this stuff. Good luck to him.

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