There is really no reason to believe that him playing in the NFL would make it easier to beat his addiction. In fact, I think the pressure of millions of people sniffing your jockstrap every five seconds will take its toll on an addict. I’m sure it’s exhausting and tiring mentally, not to mention embarrassing (shame is heavily tied to relapse, at least from my experience seeing people that have it.)
Tough love and coddling...that’s just the exact equivalent of a rock and a hard place. I watched a family member (in-law) try both of them for fifteen years while his son relapsed over and over again. Expensive rehab clinics. Around the clock watching him. Tough love. Coddling and understanding. In the end, they all led to him reverting back to drugs and his father just feeling guilty, like he did the wrong thing. And the son is dead now...went to the ER last year from an OD. Was released from the hospital, OD’d the same day and couldn’t be revived. Ultimately having compassion is all you can do...you cannot do much to help addicts, and you just try to give them the support but they must find their own way. Many do not. Rewards (like money, fame) etc. rarely make a difference because it isn’t a rational choice to begin with. So it annoys me when many posters believe that “having more to lose” should make the addiction easier to overcome. Science has proven that willpower is an illusion for serious addiction.
What’s sad to me is that it takes a celebrity or athlete to bring more awareness to this disease and how hellish it is. Alcohol is still advertised and everyone is so damn in your face about it. Imagine knowing that alcohol is certain to either kill you or lead you to harder drugs they will kill you and just living one day. Friends texting you pics of their margaritas, referenced in pop culture everywhere you look, wine menus shoved in your face restaurants. Social gatherings assuming everyone must drink; championship Champaign toasts. Someone very, very close to me is an alcoholic, and it’s a terrible disease, and one that isn’t helped at all by societal customs. This person has chosen to move outside the city to a smaller town and forced to discontinue many friendships, else the result could be fatal.
