Sounds plausible. The rules in this area are complicated.
I think the League -- all leagues -- ought to be out of the business of testing for recreational drugs.
I completely agree here.
I mean, law is hard. Operating rule based systems of procedural justice is hard.
Whenever we see non-professionals do it, be it college judicial systems or the NFL's player conduct policy, well, we see what happens during amateur hour, and it ain't pretty.
So was Chandler Jones, who went on walkabout in a drug-induced haze during a playoff week over synthetic weed.
While Aaron Hernandez could have happened to any team, it happened to a "Belichick guy". Likewise
Alfonzo Dennard. Or LeGarrette Blount (LeVeon Bell weed incident).
Then you've got PEDs: Ninkovich. Rodney Harrison. Brandon Spikes. Brandon Bolden. Jermaine Cunningham. Brian Tyms (Adderall).
I will credit Belichick and his teams on a great many issues and dimensions, but when it comes to personal conduct regarding drugs, his players as a group have little difference from the league norms.
None of this makes any sense. As far as I can tell, I said "Belichick guy" and you broke out a slightly modified pre-canned rant about the concept that did not actually engage the point.
This post is basically an expression of reflexive response and the inability to think freely in the presence of certain stimuli.
It's likely a symptom of listening to too much sports radio, which is a problem, but a correctable one. I'm about 90% certain I'm responsible for having you made a member; don't disappoint me, eh?
(For what it's worth, I was insufferable for a period of time after first being put up for membership, so proud was I!)
Why is it OK to smoke weed and not get punished? If I tested positive for any type of drug, I get fired. Pain management is a BS excuse. It's a conscious choice to do this crap knowing the rules for it will get you popped. Athletes have plenty of time to do whatever they want when their playing careers are over with. It only hurts their playing time, wallets, and cost their teammates and coaches who will be without him for 4 games. I have no sympathy for athletes who do this.
If we rip the content out of this, it says other people should be fucked over because you have to play by shit rules.
Dude.
Well, except for using marijuana while driving a car or flying a plane or something. Otherwise, I agree. If this were a message board about whatever it is RedOctober3829 does for a living, and he was fired for smoking pot in the privacy of his own home, I'd post about how dumb it was to have fired him.
No. Those people get punished for using marijuana while driving a car or flying a plane or something. That's very different from getting punished for using marijuana while, say, not doing anything at all.
I get that it's easy to conflate concepts, but it's important that we not do so to stay focuses. When we don't, good people get fucked. In all of history, it has always been this way.
I hope we can try to be better.
Talking about whether Alan Branch is dumb for having run afoul of this system does not require disputing whether the system is dumb to begin with. I think everyone here agrees the system is dumb to begin with (if not, please speak up - there's probably a case to be made about setting an example for kids or whatever). But there can be criticism of Branch's actions without it also being support for the NFL's drug-testing system.
What clouds the issue is, we don't know how many tests he failed when, or how he got in the program. But if indeed he failed 4 tests including one during the offseason annual testing period, we can probably conclude he did dumb things (as in, counterproductive to his own interests).
It is good that you are aware that issues often get clouded with... all sorts of crap, really.
Take the lesson to heart, and maybe sit a few plays out--at least until you figure out how you're one of the ones doing the clouding, eh? (It's cool--just work it out, k?)
Per my understanding, if you aren't in The Program already, you have to be pretty dumb to fail an offseason drug test.
God help us all if being dumb becomes the standard for punishment.
And God help some more than others, then, I guess.
