Under Pressure
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.
