How do you spell STUPID

Padres · Post by **Padres** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:01 pm

Brewers pitching prospect Jeremy Jeffress has been suspended 100 games for a second violation of baseball's drug policy.

Jeffress, 21, is now one positive test away from a lifetime ban. The exact substance he tested positive for won't be revealed as part of the minor league drug policy, but he's admitted to marijuana use in the past. Jeffress was first suspended near the end of the 2007 season. A first-round draft pick in 2006, he was 2-1 with a 2.18 ERA in five starts for Single-A Brevard.

Substances are not revealed under the minor league drug program but Jeffress admitted in the past to testing positive for marijuana near the end of the 2007 season, while pitching for Class A West Virginia. He received a 50-game suspension at the time, which carried over to the 2008 season.

Later that year, Jeffress tested positive for marijuana in a club-administered test that did not come with a suspension penalty. Under baseball’s minor league program, players receive 50-game suspensions for a first offense, 100 games for the second and a lifetime ban for the third, for both performance-enhancing drugs and “substances of abuse.”

Because Brevard had only 75 games remaining in its 140-game season, Jeffress' suspension will carry over to the 2010 season.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/49267777.html

Royals · Post by **Royals** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 10:17 pm

I believe it's spelled r-i-c-k-y w-i-l-l-i-a-m-s

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:42 pm

You know, it's really easy to take shots at Ricky Williams and totally pointless. Ricky suffers from social anxiety disorder, the same thing that your ace Zach Grienke suffered from that made him suck. You want a stupid football player, how about Owen Schmitt getting a DUI one week after Stallworth gets sentenced.

Royals · Post by **Royals** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:26 pm

Ricky chose to deal with his problems by smoking weed, when he knew he was going to be tested. Which is s-t-u-p-i-d.

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:36 pm

See that's the thing. Someone with a psychiatric diagnosis doesn't make "choices" in that sense. There's a chemical imbalance in the brain that wrecks logic, in much the same way that a sprained ankle wrecks proper running form. Would you call someone with a sprained ankle stupid because they are limping so they're clearly too dumb to walk? It's a hot button for me because it's a big problem in professional sports, someone has an issue, they get no support from the team (generally the response is toughen up, which actually makes things worse), and they retreat to whatever self-medication available in desperation. Ricky's drug problems were as much the fault of the New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins as they were his own, and if you want evidence that Ricky A. has his shit together B. isn't really stupid and C. is a valuable contributor when he has the proper support network all you have to see is that Bill Parcells stuck with him. You think Bill Parcells is going to give a major role to 30 year old stupid pothead?

Royals · Post by **Royals** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 12:20 am

Athletics wrote:Ricky's drug problems were as much the fault of the New Orleans Saints and Miami Dolphins as they were his own

I don't care if Gandhi stands by Ricky, that statement is pure, unadulterated horseshit. There is only one person responsible for Ricky's actions, and that's Ricky. Going through personal problems, no matter how tough they are, doesn't make him not responsible for them and doesn't make anyone else responsible for them. The Saints and Dolphins aren't babysitters, they're not Ricky's momma, they're his employers.

As for Parcells, he's a douchebag who sees players only as a means to increase his own esteem and ego.

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:39 am

Absolutely, and it's well established that employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy working environment for their employees. When a player is having a serious mental problem, which he was, and the response from the employer is "tough it out, don't be a pussy, you don't have a problem," that is by definition not a safe and healthy environment. If an office building doesn't install an elevator and then gives the quadriplegic an office on the second floor would you blame the quadriplegic for being late to work? Go ask any psychologist about the rationality of someone suffering from severe social anxiety disorder and they will tell you it's non-existent. Ricky had a physiological chemical imbalance that was as much his fault as it was Jim Abbott's fault for being born without a right hand.

Royals · Post by **Royals** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:14 am

Actually, that's not an unsafe or unhealthy working environment, that would be an ADA violation. Discriminatory, but not unsafe.
SAD doesn't completely remove your rationale as you claim, it seriously impedes it in certain situations but does not remove responsibility for one's own actions. Ricky knew what he was doing, he used pot to try to solve his problem, which he knew he could get in major trouble for if he did it. When his employer failed to help him, he should have sought out help on his own, instead of lighting up which he knew could get him suspended. I'm not defending the "walk it off' attitude in sports, but he's a grown man, if your oss tells you they can't help you with a problem, then you find another way.

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 4:21 pm

First of all, SAD is seasonal affective disorder, which is a mild to severe depression in the winter brought on by a lack of sunlight. If you googled SAD and read the symptoms off of that your post might be correct. I don't know if you've ever dealt with serious anxiety before, but when someone is in the throes of it all they can think of is how to make it stop. Joey Votto (currently on the DL with anxiety disorder) described it as his chest tightening up and being unable to breathe. Many people having anxiety attacks end up going to the emergency room because they think they are having heart attacks. If you know something is coming that's going to make you feel like you're having a heart attack, and no one is there to help you, and there's one thing that's going to make you not feel that way, any other consideration pretty much goes out the window until the anxiety attack passes.