if i was going to buy cocaine, i don't think i'd get it from jimmy johns


"why would he do something like that?"
"what was he thinking?"
"doesn't he understand what kind of opportunity he has?"
"how many chances can one guy be given?"
"why, jimmy?"

i don't know.

these and other questions have been asked since news broke that failed university of alabama mega-recruit, jimmy johns, was caught selling cocaine to the entire tuscaloosa police department tuesday. the first thing that i wondered was probably racist, but i wondered this. i wonder if a (alleged) partially literate, athletically gifted, black athlete really thinks in terms of chances when it seems as if no one has ever told him there is a limit to how many he actually gets. that was my initial, (most likely) racist thought. after stewing over it, i should and could just as easily drop the "black" from my question and the thought remains the same. it's not just black athletes that get preferential treatment. depending on what school is recruiting you, depending on what need you could fill for some pro sports team, it doesn't matter if you are black, white, american, european, etc. for someone, some school or some organization to rationalize long lists of misdeeds away if you can still benefit their cause at hand. could be football, could be basketball. could be baseball. wrestling. soccer. all of it is relative to who deems what important.

in this state, football is important. you don't have to follow alabama football closely to know johns' story. mr. football in mississippi comes to bama with all the promise in the world. he's going to be the next this or the next that. blah. blah. blah. turns out he had a pretty serious attitude problem and didn't get along very well with coaches/authority figures. he wasn't going to get a solid chance at playing quarterback, so he pouted. he couldn't take control of the running back position because he was never really a running back. and so, this spring, nick saban put him where the team needed help most. linebacker. don't worry about learning plays or schemes, jimmy. don't worry about blocking for your quarterback. see the ball. go get the ball. just hit somebody. and by all accounts, he could hit people pretty good. one ex-teammate said of johns that he was the most "talented" football player he had ever been around. and this came from a guy that played in the sec for four years. unfortunately, he didn't have a lick of sense. he had less of an education. and he didn't seem like he trusted anyone enough to listen when they told him he was making poor and selfish choices.

as it relates to the team, bama may have just rid itself, passive-aggressively, of it's last shula-era troublemaker. let's face it. jimmy john's was not going to be an all-sec performer. he would have been a serviceable back-up and he'd be really good at jumping up and down when he came on the field to get the crowd jacked, but the tide is not losing a special piece to the gameday puzzle.

his story, though, and those like his remain fascinating to someone that doesn't live in that world. the world where rules don't apply to you. or in extreme cases, rules are rewritten for you because you are just that damn good at one sport or another. it must be an amazing ride while it lasts. you can totally see how someone, especially some young person, that comes from limited means and education could get sucked into the make-believe world of big fame, big money and little accountability.

but what happens when the machine spits you out? where will this guy or guys like him be in five years? it's not like alabama football fans will care. who will? it's an interesting question. one that, honestly, i am glad that i never had to answer because i was too nonathletic (read: white). lord knows how many stupid temptations i succumbed to ten or so years ago that had nothing to do with the sports that i have always loved a little too much.

turns out jimmy johns wasn't much better at selling cocaine than he was at living up to his football "potential". here's hoping things get better for him after he gets out of jail.

and here's betting that they won't.