PA Season Ticket Holder
06-13-2003, 12:05 AM
ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Forgiveness is a difficult concept for the sports world. You do, or you don't. You can, or you can't. You are, or you aren't. Purely egalitarian, this world.
Thus, the great fascination with Oakland Raider center Barret Robbins and his relationship with his teammates and employer seems oddly misplaced. It's not about forgiveness.
It's about whether Robbins can block the middle linebacker on a third-and-2 at the other team's 17-yard line. Whether he can keep the area in front of Rich Gannon clear. Whether he can call out blocking schemes in a clear, unfoggy voice.
In short, it's about whether Barret Robbins can play.
For Robbins, of course, it isn't so simple. For him, being bi-polar and alcoholic "is at the top of the list,'' as he said Thursday at Raider World Headquarters. "I want to use every day to get better, to have my new life.''
For him, it's simple: Stay clean and on his prescribed medication and survive. Drink and go off his meds, and die.
Life doesn't get much simpler.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/ratto_ray/1567205.html
Thus, the great fascination with Oakland Raider center Barret Robbins and his relationship with his teammates and employer seems oddly misplaced. It's not about forgiveness.
It's about whether Robbins can block the middle linebacker on a third-and-2 at the other team's 17-yard line. Whether he can keep the area in front of Rich Gannon clear. Whether he can call out blocking schemes in a clear, unfoggy voice.
In short, it's about whether Barret Robbins can play.
For Robbins, of course, it isn't so simple. For him, being bi-polar and alcoholic "is at the top of the list,'' as he said Thursday at Raider World Headquarters. "I want to use every day to get better, to have my new life.''
For him, it's simple: Stay clean and on his prescribed medication and survive. Drink and go off his meds, and die.
Life doesn't get much simpler.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/columns/ratto_ray/1567205.html