If you’re keeping score at home, embattled Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper now has another named supporter, along with the growing legion of named and unnamed detractors.
Eagles center Jason Kelce, who was with Cooper at the Kenny Chesney concert which started Cooper’s parade of shame, said he didn’t think his teammate was a bigot.
“Riley was my friend before the fact and he’s still my friend and teammate going forward,” Kelce said, via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Anybody that really knows him knows he’s not a racist, . . . but sometimes he can get a little bit out of control. We were both pretty intoxicated on the day.”
While being drunk is one of the traditional excuses for dumb behavior — and Kelce admitted a hazy memory of the events of the night — it’s also not an insurance policy against stupidity.
It’s rare that a drunk invents words he’s never said before on the spot, and Cooper’s assertion he had never uttered the word in question still rings hollow a day later.
Kelce should be commended for standing by his friend, though he was smart enough to say he was “embarrassed” to be associated with the incident
And by saying Cooper can get “out of control” and immediately linking it to alcohol, Kelce also invited speculation to another possibility for the “outside assistance” the team is seeking for him.