Lions defensive tackle Nick Fairley has been arrested twice this offseason, once for marijuana possession and once for drunk driving, but at a youth kickball tournament today Fairley said he hopes people will focus on the things he does right off the field.
“Because I’m a great guy,” Fairley told the Detroit Free Press. “Simple as that.”
A person who possesses marijuana can certainly be a great guy. It’s a little harder to swallow the idea that someone who gets drunk and drives his car 100 miles an hour, endangering the lives of everyone else on the roads with him, is a great guy. But Fairley said people who know him know what kind of guy he is.
“I haven’t turned my back on none of my friends,” Fairley said. “I’m still friends with everybody that I’ve been friends with. Like I said, just surrounding myself with better persons, people that got my best interests at heart: people in the locker [room], players just picking me up.”
If Fairley is suggesting that some of his off-field problems have stemmed from not surrounding himself with good people, then maybe he should turn his back on some of his old friends. And Fairley will have to learn that saying he’s a great guy won’t be nearly as persuasive in changing people’s opinions of him as acting like a great guy.