Here’s wishing Josh Gordon strength
This one’s for Josh Gordon, and it’s got nothing to do with hooking up again with Tom Brady, though that’s a fabulous thought, recalling he was the Pats’ leading receiver (720 yards) when he abruptly left what would become a Super Bowl-winning team a week before Christmas.
He was 31, in his prime, a brilliant wide receiver on the receiving end of bull’s-eyes fired his way by the greatest quarterback of all time. He had it all.
And then he lost it all to the merciless foe known as substance abuse.
Jake Hess, a legendary gospel singer, could have had a Josh Gordon in mind when he sang: “We have this moment to hold in our hand and watch as it slips through our fingers like sand.”
Natick Rabbi Harold Kushner got even closer to the heart of the matter in a book he titled: “When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough.”
Anyone wondering how a bright, affable guy like Gordon could have succumbed to temptation knows nothing about the demonic power of addiction.
It’s as much of a disease as cancer or a bad heart, and when that disease is in the driver’s seat it can bring anyone to ruination.
Still, many view it as a weakness, a character flaw. They are so wrong. Back when Raymond Berry coached the Pats he had his best friend and former Baltimore teammate Don Shinnick on his staff as linebacker coach.
At the close of one season Shinnick, 53, vowed to drop 50 pounds.
“I have all these pants I can’t wear,” he explained. “But there are some things I just can’t give up. So instead of having seven cookies while watching TV, maybe I’ll have two. And here’s the thing about carrots; if you have a hankering for ice cream, carrots aren’t going to do it. Plus, what’s a carrot without some dip?
“I’ll be going to the Super Bowl. Dick Butkus has invited about 25 linebackers — me, Ted Hendricks, Jack Ham, Chuck Bednarik, Andre Tippett — to a cookout. Well, when they start passing around the ribs and desserts and hors d’oeuvres, well, we can’t be rude, can we brother?”
Then Shinnick laughed, but only for a moment.
The Patriots were dealing with drug issues at that time.
“Let me be serious,” he said. “It breaks my heart to see what these kids are doing to themselves. I want to put my arm around each one and say, ‘Son, you don’t need this stuff!’ But he could put his arm around me and say, ‘Coach, you don’t need that strawberry shortcake.’
“Whew. That’s something to think about, isn’t it?”
It certainly is. Things aren’t always as easy as they seem.
The NFL just ruled Josh Gordon can play again.
So here’s wishing him the greatest victory of them all.