Posted Thu Oct 4th by Monty
If you haven’t heard the news regarding Travis Henry and his recently failed drug test, scroll down or check out the summary here. He’s now suing the league over a technicality in the testing procedure, and the league has sidestepped the temporary restraining order. Now it’s up to a federal court to look over the Collective Bargaining Agreement and determine if the specimen will hold up in a court of law.
That’s not the most pressing issue here. The real question is this – HOW FREAKING STUPID DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO SMOKE A JOINT TWO WEEKS TOO SOON?!
The NFL’s Substance Abuse Policy is pretty simple – first violation is a warning, second violation incurs a four-game suspension, and third incurs a year’s suspension. The policy also includes a provision for violating players to be rotated out of the system after two years. Clean slate after two years’ good behavior. Henry was last suspended for four games in September, 2005, after the third game of the season. One report indicated that he would be rotated out of the substance abuse program after week 3 of this season. Another report indicates that his rotation out of the drug program would have taken place on October 1st.
Henry filed his papers to restrain the league from using his sample on September 20, indicating that he had to have puffed the magic dragon some time before that. But he played in the Broncos’ Week 3 bout against the Jaguars on September 23. Whichever report is more accurate (and given ESPN’s recent track record, I’d trust the former), it doesn’t matter – Henry was at least a week early in toking up.
Frankly, what a moron. What a disappointment. As a Broncos fan, it simply pisses me off. He talked about the excitement of joining the Denver Broncos, yet he blew this opportunity the moment he put a joint to his lips.
After nearly two years of sobriety, and leading the league in rushing yards through four games, he was days away from being in the clear, and he blew it. It’s just plain stupid, selfish, and nothing short of a betrayal to the coaches, players, and fans who accepted him in Denver. Whether he wins his case or not, I couldn’t care less – this level of stupidity belongs nowhere on the football field, especially not my team’s.
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