Colts owner Jim Irsay hasn’t bailed out of jail yet, and already word is creeping out about what has apparently been a long and losing fight with drug addiction.
According to Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star, Irsay’s arrest for driving under the influence and four counts of drug possession was a “sad inevitability” to those close to him.
“He’s a sick, sick man,” one source told Kravitz. “He desperately needs help.”
Those around Irsay had been leaning on him in recent years to get help, or at least get a driver. But even as he withered physically, he resisted the suggestion anything was wrong.
He lost 70 pounds, down to 165, but explained it away by saying his doctor wanted him to lose weight to take the pressure off his bad back.
Kravitz paints the picture of a man very much in denial, and enabled by the many people he employed.
But it’s becoming clear that Irsay’s bizarre Twitter ramblings, which are easy to make fun of (trust us, we know), are also a hint at some of the issues he was dealing with, which are deeper than anyone was willing to admit or confront before he was arrested.