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Dear Readers,
Nearly two years ago, I responded to a
letter from a reader who reported that he drank abusively
for years before he was able to lower his wall of denial
and acknowledge the basis for his previous personal problems:
He was addicted to the drug, alcohol. He sought treatment
and was enjoying over 15 years of sobriety. He went on
to write:
"I'm also a Giant fan. The Giants
have just signed a $16.88 million contract with quarterback
Kerry Collins. Today I read a quote of Collins' in which
he admits that 'alcohol certainly played a role in my
life, too much of a role...' but then went on to say,
'Doctors did not diagnose me as an alcoholic, but my focus
now is to be the best quarterback I can be and alcohol
plays no part in that.'
"I want to Giants to win but I also
hope that Collins and the his new team are not at the
same level of denial that I was in before I found sobriety......'Giant
Fan.'" ("How will the new Giant quarterback
deal with the problem?" The Suburbanite" March
10, 1999)
In my reply, I wrote, "Dear 'Giant
Fan,' I'm a Giants nut who has had season tickets
for nearly 40 years. For 16 of those years I have been
deeply involved in the treatment of addictive illnesses.
As a result, in spite of knowing only a small part of
Collins' past history, I do have a bias which leads me
to suspect that his statement to the press denotes some
level of denial by himself and, I also fear, by management.
Alcohol played a major role in his past problems, not
a usual occurrence when a person has no problem with the
drug. However, when an organization has a multimillion
dollar investment in a player, I would expect that there
would be a clause in the Collins contract which addresses
alcohol use.
"But, what really concerns me..if
Collins regains his "focus" and again becomes
worthy of having been a first round draft choice... perhaps
even leading the team into the playoffs... but continues
to screws up his off- field life, will the Giants deal
with him as they did with LT? Will they let him continue
to play if he becomes a valuable team asset or will they
recognize the fact that, if he does act up again, that
he probably is an alcoholic and insist on treatment for
the illness? Likely this would take him off the active
list for a while but it also could save his life. LT continued
to play supremely well even while actively using addictive
drugs and he has made the Hall of Fame but, it appears,
his personal life and his physical and psychological health
is in a shambles. He helped get our Giants to the Super
Bowl twice... but at what cost to LT? Chances are if LT
had gotten treatment early on ( yes, treatment does work!),
our Giants could still have won those Super Bowls and
LT could now be out there, free of the disease which,
if not arrested soon, will surely kill him.
"An alcoholic is a person who cannot
consistently choose if or when to drink
or when he/she does take a drink, cannot consistently
choose when to stop. The key word here is consistently.
An alcoholic simply does not receive the brain's signal
that " You have had enough, drink no more."
Collins insists that there is no room for alcohol in his
life. With his past history, even one drink is too much.
Which is more important to Kerry.....one drink or 16.88
million dollars? We shall see."
I'm writing this 171 hours before kick-off
in Tampa.... Another week and we will all know the results.
Either way, Collins is a winner. Only a recovered
alcoholic would under-stand that finding one's sobriety
is even more important than being quarterback on a team
which has made it to the Super Bowl. Collins has said
that the league's insistence that he go to rehab "changed
my life." Instead of partying, he now spends much
of his off-field time being involved in charitable activities
saying, "A large part of my motivation for these
causes comes from what I went through myself. My story
is an open book. And if someone....has encountered problems,
and hears about what I went through, and how I was able
to change my life, it might give them inspiration. I hope
it does."
Right on, Kerry. Keep up the good work.
You are living proof that treatment does work!.
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