I am not sure what is more common that the issue of alcohol in the NFL, but I am open to hearing it. Whether it be the athlete or the executive, it seems that the NFL can not operate without someone acting like, or actually being, a drunk.
While Major League Baseball has struggled with steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, the NFL mostly scoffs at the idea of handling it. Instead, inebriation, either through repeated head trauma or through alcohol is the cross the NFL must carry.
In the last year alone there were at least seventeen incidents involving players being arrested for DUI, public intoxication, or other assorted alcohol related offenses. Seventeen! And this does not even include the January 22, 2013 arrest of Dallas Cowboys' defensive linesman Jay Ratliff who was popped only a few months after team mate Josh Brent killed his team mate Jerry Brown. An important note in the Brent case, this was not his first DUI offense either. Instead, he was arrested during his college playing days and clearly did not learn his lesson then.
Don't think I only blame the players because the executives have gotten in on the action too. As you watch the Super Bowl and think about the various alcohol ads, don't forget that your Denver Broncos have an executive who had a 0.246 Blood Alcohol Concentration, or three times the legal limit anywhere.
Maybe it is my career choice, but I have seen gallons of blood over the years spilled on our highways because of the gallons of alcohol that consumers didn't control. These personal choices have real and serious consequences and it would be nice if the NFL would stop talking about alcohol abuse and start doing something about it.
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