Bad sports, good sports: Braylon Edwards gets a DUI

Posted on September 27th, 2010 by Alan Spoll

I try not to make Bad Sports, Good Sports the jerk-of-the-week column every Monday, but there are too many idiots in sports that make this difficult for me. Writing this column for the past year and a half has made it clear to me that there will never be a shortage of first-class morons on which I can focus. This week, Braylon Edwards is our man.

Early last week, Edwards, a wide receiver for the New York Jets, was pulled over in New York, initially because the windows on his Range Rover were too tinted. The smell of alcohol was clearly evident to the officer, who administered a breathalyzer test, which Edwards failed. It showed Edwards’ blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit, and he was arrested and charged with DUI. This incident is only the latest in a string of ugly situations involving Edwards over the last several years, including another driving incident that involved him driving 120 miles per hour on a highway, as well as an assault.

There are other ugly aspects to this situation. Early reports on Edwards’ reaction to reporters when asked about the incident stated he was more belligerent than sorry. Two other Jets players, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Vernon Gholston (now there are some names for you), were passengers in the car, showing their own staggering intelligence. The team managed to come out of this looking bad too, as the only punishment meted out was sitting Edwards for the first quarter of the Sunday night game against the Miami Dolphins. Yep, for the whole first quarter. You show him, Jets.

Drunk driving is a serious offense. If I wanted to be dramatic, I could call it attempted murder, as many lives were deliberately put at risk beyond that of Edwards himself. The punishment should have been more severe. I fully expect Braylon Edwards to make a future appearance in this column, and I would wager that it will not be on the Good Sports side of the ledger.

Bad sports, continued:

2) Denver Broncos wide receiver Kenny McKinley was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound early last week. He was 23, and was out for the season after knee surgery.

3) Albert Haynesworth, no stranger to this column, is still at it. This time, he compared himself to a slave because of the way he has been treated by the Washington Redskins. Yes, the very same Redskins who signed him to a $100 million contract a couple of years ago. Get a grip, Albert.

4) You don’t see this every day: Yankees pitcher Javier Vazquez hit three straight batters with pitches in the seventh inning of a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday. Now that’s impressive.

Good sports:

1) Northwestern High School in Miami, a perennial football powerhouse, made news this week by becoming the first top class-6A program in Florida to have a girl play for it in a varsity game. Jaline DeJesus appeared as a cornerback in the final minutes of the game. Good for her.

2) Stanford beat Notre Dame on Saturday, 37-14. That’s pretty cool on its own. Even better, Cardinal player Owen Marecic accomplished a pretty incredible feat in the fourth quarter, when he scored two touchdowns in just 13 seconds. Even better than that, he scored one of those touchdowns on offense from his fullback position, and the other on defense, picking off a pass while playing linebacker. I’m impressed.

Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday.

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02