Cousins & Kids
I didn’t think I’d be writing my first ‘Eagles-in-another-drug-scandal’ piece until at least January, and I actually had another blog ready to go (which I’ll now post early next week). But as a shirtless Ben Cousins flashed up on my TV screen, being escorted into the back of a cop car, I thought, ‘what a shame’.
It’s a shame that he will probably now be forever implicated, however incorrectly, with Chris Mainwaring’s death. It’s a shame he will probably be suspended from the AFL. It’s a shame he will suffer further estrangement from those who have supported him. It’s a shame he will face, I’d imagine, a pretty serious criminal charge. And it’s a shame because, really, it’s probably not all that warranted.
For all the scathing press he’s received Ben Cousins has never tested positive to a drug test. His stint in a Californian rehab centre was, while probably strongly advised by his club, essentially his choice. And despite some rather notorious acquaintances, to date the extent of his criminal behaviour is limited to traffic offences. Hardly the modern-day bushranger the press, or his gregarious tattoo, would have you believe.
However, I am not totally naïve. Cousins allegedly refused to provide a sample for drug testing, which probably means he was high; something almost confirmed by him driving around without a shirt at midnight on a Tuesday. So to be arrested and charged with something like, driving under the influence seems fair enough: The way in which Cousins has been singled out and vilified, however, is not.
Cousins was not stopped at a drug bus, or in a random traffic stop. His car was surrounded by organized crime squad members who handcuffed Cousins and searched his car for over an hour in full view of any on-lookers. They apparently did find an ‘unknown’ amount of some prohibited drug, yet two passengers in his car had already been released before the search took place. Cousins was then paraded around, not even allowed to put on a shirt. No offence to the W.A. organised crime squad, but I hardly think Ben Cousins is the lynch-pin in Perth’s drug scene: This wasn’t an arrest, it was a public humiliation.
Yes, he’s guilty of using recreational drugs, something I would guess 80% of Australians in their 20’s are also guilty of; big fucking deal. This is a country that routinely hosts massive dance parties where drugs are not just used, they’re a pre-requisite to enjoy the event: You think people like music over 160bpm? No-one likes that shit. But if I’m gonna be twitching for 6 straight hours anyway, at least let me do it in time with something.
Again, Cousins has never tested positive for anything, even though the AFL’s insistence on testing for non-performance enhancing drugs borders on invasion of privacy. Instead he went public about his drug usage, explaining, in not so many words, that he’s into it, but he wants to play, so he’ll go clean up. For some people this wasn’t enough because he didn’t seem ‘sorry enough’. Damn right. He wasn’t sorry because he didn’t have anyone to apologise to. There are plenty of people who use more drugs than Ben Cousins and they don’t get tested at work. They don’t cop shit in the media. They don’t get jacked by Organised Crime Squads. Perhaps we should be apologising to him.
Older members of society have no idea about today’s recreational drug use, or drug culture any more than their parents knew about the shit happening in the 70’s. And the same thing will continue to happen with my kids and Ben Cousins’ kids, unless of course they attend a NSW primary school.
What will happen now is that the Eagles will have to sack Cousins, the police will have to lay charges and we will have to be exposed to a never-ending series of ‘drugs-are-bad/Cousins-must-be-stopped’ stories by a media that is so driven by celebrity that it has no need for any basis in reality. And that’s the real shame.
I didn’t think I’d be writing my first ‘Eagles-in-another-drug-scandal’ piece until at least January, and I actually had another blog ready to go (which I’ll now post early next week). But as a shirtless Ben Cousins flashed up on my TV screen, being escorted into the back of a cop car, I thought, ‘what a shame’.It’s a shame that he will probably now be forever implicated, however incorrectly, with Chris Mainwaring’s death. It’s a shame he will probably be suspended from the AFL. It’s a shame he will suffer further estrangement from those who have supported him. It’s a shame he will face, I’d imagine, a pretty serious criminal charge. And it’s a shame because, really, it’s probably not all that warranted.
For all the scathing press he’s received Ben Cousins has never tested positive to a drug test. His stint in a Californian rehab centre was, while probably strongly advised by his club, essentially his choice. And despite some rather notorious acquaintances, to date the extent of his criminal behaviour is limited to traffic offences. Hardly the modern-day bushranger the press, or his gregarious tattoo, would have you believe.
However, I am not totally naïve. Cousins allegedly refused to provide a sample for drug testing, which probably means he was high; something almost confirmed by him driving around without a shirt at midnight on a Tuesday. So to be arrested and charged with something like, driving under the influence seems fair enough: The way in which Cousins has been singled out and vilified, however, is not.
Cousins was not stopped at a drug bus, or in a random traffic stop. His car was surrounded by organized crime squad members who handcuffed Cousins and searched his car for over an hour in full view of any on-lookers. They apparently did find an ‘unknown’ amount of some prohibited drug, yet two passengers in his car had already been released before the search took place. Cousins was then paraded around, not even allowed to put on a shirt. No offence to the W.A. organised crime squad, but I hardly think Ben Cousins is the lynch-pin in Perth’s drug scene: This wasn’t an arrest, it was a public humiliation.
Yes, he’s guilty of using recreational drugs, something I would guess 80% of Australians in their 20’s are also guilty of; big fucking deal. This is a country that routinely hosts massive dance parties where drugs are not just used, they’re a pre-requisite to enjoy the event: You think people like music over 160bpm? No-one likes that shit. But if I’m gonna be twitching for 6 straight hours anyway, at least let me do it in time with something.
Again, Cousins has never tested positive for anything, even though the AFL’s insistence on testing for non-performance enhancing drugs borders on invasion of privacy. Instead he went public about his drug usage, explaining, in not so many words, that he’s into it, but he wants to play, so he’ll go clean up. For some people this wasn’t enough because he didn’t seem ‘sorry enough’. Damn right. He wasn’t sorry because he didn’t have anyone to apologise to. There are plenty of people who use more drugs than Ben Cousins and they don’t get tested at work. They don’t cop shit in the media. They don’t get jacked by Organised Crime Squads. Perhaps we should be apologising to him.
Older members of society have no idea about today’s recreational drug use, or drug culture any more than their parents knew about the shit happening in the 70’s. And the same thing will continue to happen with my kids and Ben Cousins’ kids, unless of course they attend a NSW primary school.
What will happen now is that the Eagles will have to sack Cousins, the police will have to lay charges and we will have to be exposed to a never-ending series of ‘drugs-are-bad/Cousins-must-be-stopped’ stories by a media that is so driven by celebrity that it has no need for any basis in reality. And that’s the real shame.
posted by the captain at 6:48 pm
7 Comments:
Buy the ticket take the ride. He did the crime now he can do the time. I could probably get another on in but...I can't wait for pictures on the internet of Cousins holding glowsticks where a football used to be, sorta like that conan video on Youtube. The funniest thing ever.
What will happen here is that he will show the kids out there who think he's a hero what the shit actually does to you.
Kids sit out there and think that you can just go to rehab for a month, then go back to whatever it is you were doing without any problems, clean as a whistle.
Instead, they will see that you should be more careful in the first place, and that you shouldn't make promises you can't keep.
Tough luck Ben, maybe it was overdramatised in comparison, but where else will examples come from?
Well whaddaya know, the police have dropped the charges...
I wonder how the Eagles are feeling now, you know, considering that they held a press conference to fire him and call him 'seriously ill' all before the police had even identified what the "drug" was in his car, let alone lay any charges.
I haven't seen an overeaction this a big since Lance Whitnall threatened to kill his brother cos he wouldn't invite his kid to the zoo. And they think Cousins has got problems.
I'm gonna have to disagree with you Captain. I may have been sucked in by Greg Baum and "Caro" but I don't reckon Ol' Powder Nose fully appreciates his situation.
At no stage has there has been a whiff of repentance and regardless of the fact that the charges were dropped the Eagles took Cousins back on a zero tolerance basis so he should never have put himself in a situation that would jeopardise the perception, let alone reality, that he's "clean".
I do like his profound tattoo though. He's one deep bastard!
Yes the charges were dropped, but it was a culmination of things.
What really gives me the shits is the 3 strikes rule and how it applies here.
Basically, if someone tests positive for an illicit drug for the first or second time, his test is a secret and the club doctor can not share it with the coach or the board.
This is because if a player is found out, surely a coach would refuse to play him from then on?
Ben Cousins on the other hand was found out before their flag win and the Eagles encouraged him to play from then on.
The secrecy seems to be quite strange here. It is to protect the player from unfair condemnation, but yet Cousins was treated as a hero, and still is.
Is it just me or does anyone else think that West Coast were too lenient before? Surely this had to happen, regardless of whether he was charged or not.
Exactly Deano, I think it's the whole give him an inch and he'll take a mile sort of thing.
West Coast have/will pay the penalty for being too lenient on players and not ruling with and Iron fist.
Tee
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