Well, you can’t say Colts wide receiver LaVon Brazill didn’t understand what was coming.
When he failed a drug test last year and was suspended four games, he said he knew he couldn’t slip up again.
“It’s either money or marijuana,” Brazill said last July before training camp, via Phillip Wilson of the Indianapolis Star. “I know any of you would choose money any day. . . .
“No more of this. No more of this. This is out of my life and I’m done. This is it. No more, no more from me. No more out of me. Like I said, I got to keep working hard every day and just put this in my past and go work on my future.”
That future won’t be for at least another year, as yesterday’s third-strike suspension will cost him this season and a $570,000 salary.
While it’s easy to portray Brazill as a pothead or a doofus who can’t get out of the way of a train he knows is coming down the tracks, it’s also interesting to pair the reaction to his owner, who has also dealt with some substance abuse issues.
Jim Irsay is still awaiting trial for his March arrest for operating while under the influence, and did a stint at a rehab facility and has spoken openly about his struggles with prescription pain medication (which he’s still taking).
But Irsay has generally received more sympathetic coverage there, with Wilson’s co-worker Bob Kravitz describing him as “a sick, sick man,” who “desperately needs help.”
Kravitz subsequently scored a one-on-one interview with Irsay.
But when it was time to weigh in on the latest Colts situation, Kravitz’s tone wasn’t quite so therapeutic.
“Either Brazill has an addiction problem or he’s really, really REALLY dumb,” Kravitz tweeted. “Don’t know which, to be honest.”
It’s possible, of course, that Kravitz is right about Brazill’s mental capacity.
But it’s also impossible to miss the difference in treatment the player and owner receive, especially while Irsay awaits his punishment from the league.