Tonight is New Year’s Eve. Please heed these words. Think before you drink. Give your keys to someone who won’t give them to you when you’re drunk. Set up a taxi/Lyft/Uber to get home safely. Better yet, stop drinking or smoking before you get drunk or high. Please stay safe and well, and see you in 2022!
Source: WPLG Local 10
In the past several years, we have seen what happens when athletes mix alchohol and potentially dangerous situations together. The results are often bad, and in some cases, extremely disastrous.
Major League Baseball lost one of its rising sons, Jose Fernandez, because he went boating while intoxicated and ended up drowning this past summer. About a decade ago, former Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giant, Plaxico Burress, found himself shot by his own gun at a nightclub. Will Smith, former New Orleans Saint, was shot to death after driving accident where it was later learned Smith blood alcohol level was 3 times the legal limit. Former NHLer, Bob Probert, was found dead after years of struggling with alcohol and drugs. Hope Solo was arrested for domestic violence after a night of drinking.
For starters, athletes ought to be concerned with their health. Without her health, an athlete cannot perform their craft. Regarding their craft, alcohol impairs performance. According to Livestrong.com, it is the most abused drug in the world of sports. Alcohol impairs judgment, slow reaction time, lack of balance, poor eye-hand coordination, increases risk of dehydration and slows respiratory function. Further, alcohol decreases testeterone, affects one’s ability to sleep and negates the results of one’s workout despite the catchy advertisement by Michelob Ultra. To make matters worse, all of the above conditions increase the athlete’s chances of having a heatstroke, going into shock or having a heart attack or stroke.
So, why do athletes even place themselves in situations that will affect their performance and could negatively affect their career? Some may it just a way to release pressure; others will argue it doesn’t hurt their performance. One would hope athletes would want to not jeopardize themselves or their career and learn from fellow athletes’ mistakes. Because as my daddy use to say, “nothing good happens after midnight.”