T.O.’s attempted suicide has many of us scratching our heads. It’s hard to know what to make of it.
But it has been obvious, for a long time, that T.O. is a troubled man. On WIP, Philadelphia’s sports-talk radio station, mid-day hosts Anthony Gargano and Steve Martorano have done an impressive job of framing the issue and discussing it in a responsible way. After interviewing several psychologists who spoke about bipolar depression, they asked former Eagles player Hugh Douglass whom T.O.’s friends were when he played for the Eagles. Douglass mentioned that Jeremiah Trotter was his closest friend, but said that even Jeremiah was not that close to him.
Today, it seems to me that T.O.’s famed hyperbaric chamber is an apt symbol of his troubles: isolated from his teammates, T.O. lived under the constant pressure of media scrutiny. He courted that scrutiny, and in some ways seemed lost without it. But he wouldn’t be the first person who sought the look of the cameras because the alternative — standing alone in his room and looking at his face in the mirror — scared him.
Let’s hope that he’s able to get the help that he so desperately needs.
Update: Owens refutes report, says he didn’t attempt suicide.
Dan Le Batard believes him; I’m not sure what to believe.
3 Comments on "Under Pressure"
yoko:
A very thoughtful post, Matt. It’s too easy to point at his attention-getting antics and deride him, harder to realize the motivation behind those antics. I think that without football, without good receiving hands, T.O. feels he has nothing. It’s easier for those players who have family and friends to rally in the face of setbacks. Perhaps what he needs is to be out of the limelight for a while, do some honest soul-searching, maybe do some charity work and see the bigger world out there. He does need help of some kind.
Michael Bains:
Nicely written-up, Matt.
TO is one of those rare people who can get me shakin’ my head for all kiiiinds of reasons; both Positive and Negative.
His release from the hospital w/o 24 hours of observation suggests it wasn’t a suicide attempt. Well, either that or that - once again and despite the risks - dude is getting Non-Standard treatment because he is TO.
Hope he - if no one else - can end up making sense of this.
howard:
I hated reading and hearing all the sensational coverage of this situation over the past day, so I really appreciate your angle on this, Matt.
I’ve known people who were upbeat, never giving an outward clue of distress (even to their own friends and families), right up until they attempted suicide.
I think it betrays the cause of suicide prevention to have so many who hardly know him (a classification that seems to include pretty much everyone) speaking out about how T.O. isn’t the type to commit suicide. I hope to God he isn’t, but anyone who’s been exposed to various types of mental illness knows you don’t have to always be cowering in the corner to be seriously depressed or suicidal.
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