TroutDog Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 A really interesting piece on Richie on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. He appears to have his act together now and also shows how extremely low he was in multiple times during his career...including video from when he was in the police car after his most recent arrest. He does discuss being overweight and stoned during team functions with the Bills. Pretty clear he has a serious substance abuse issue...and has it beat for now, which is good. He has had some REALLY serious breakdowns which they share unfiltered. I’m always a sucker for comeback stories so it’s nice to see a guy who has had serious issues making a comeback. I hope it sticks. 3 1
C.Biscuit97 Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 He shouldn’t even be in the nfl. I’m all for forgiveness but this dude has been scum for his entire life. There are a billion other better people to have a pity party for. 6 3
HereComesTheReignAgain Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 He seems like a giant A hole that manages to be a decent guy for short stretches. Congrats to him for convincing people repeatedly that he has turned over a new leaf though. He is a talented guy and has managed a pretty good career. 4
NoSaint Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 7 minutes ago, TroutDog said: A really interesting piece on Richie on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. He appears to have his act together now and also shows how extremely low he was in multiple times during his career...including video from when he was in the police car after his most recent arrest. He does discuss being overweight and stoned during team functions with the Bills. Pretty clear he has a serious substance abuse issue...and has it beat for now, which is good. He has had some REALLY serious breakdowns which they share unfiltered. I’m always a sucker for comeback stories so it’s nice to see a guy who has had serious issues making a comeback. I hope it sticks. I hope for the best for him but I’m not holding my breathe unfortunately. i love a good comeback, but plenty were celebrating his comeback while he was high in team meetings. Hopefully he turns it around but I get the feeling that there’s still a way to go before he actually makes major change
bigK14094 Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 Good player upon occasion when he is available. More trouble ahead? The form sheet says yes. 1
BillsShredder83 Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 If you haven't struggled with a real mental illness, you just honestly cant put yourself in this guys shoes. I gotta route for the guy, cause to root against him is to root against myself in a way. I've absolutely been down that path and it's a nightmare. If Richie Fn Incognitoooo can get his isht together, leaves some hope that maybe I can put together a decent life too. 15 1 2
LSHMEAB Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 I do empathize with his mental illness fight, but I also don't know that this guy deserves to be in the league. Then again, that's on Gruden. I will say that one of his greatest strengths is perhaps his downfall. He's actually REALLY bright and charming when he needs to be. That can actually be detrimental in terms of bottoming out and realizing you need to change everything. It seems like ancient history, but it wasn't long ago people were discussing this guy's post playing days career as an analyst. If you watched him on (Rome I believe), you'd think the guy was the most stable in the room. 1 1
Gray Beard Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 My guess: when he’s taking his medication correctly, then he seems more or less like a normal person. When he doesn’t take his medication correctly, he gets wild. I have no knowledge of what, if any, medication he’s on. This is just a guess.
WideNine Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 1 hour ago, C.Biscuit97 said: He shouldn’t even be in the nfl. I’m all for forgiveness but this dude has been scum for his entire life. There are a billion other better people to have a pity party for. I want everyone to figure out how to live their life in a way that is meaningful and brings something positive to them and to those around them. That being said, I also believe in accountability and only getting so many turns at bat. When there is a cycle of contrition and getting on and falling off the bandwagon the issues go deeper and I feel like some of our systems enable this behavior when exploited by those who are smart enough to know how to work that system (thus enabling the cycle). Say the right thing, check the right box, seek the right medical and psychological counseling, his agent and the Raiders org likely appealed to the NFL that Richie has a medical condition (I would say he is probably certifiably bi-polar), say that he has recognized that he needs help and is taking the right steps to address his problem, also admit that his past issues were the result of self-medicating to ease the anger and depression that are a symptom of his condition. I am prob spot-on and I have not read a thing about this, but someone can shoot me down if my guess is wrong. Kind of feel at this point that Richie has had enough chances at staying on track in regards to being a paid professional in the NFL. On the flip side his only chance of actually staying on a healthy regimen may be if he is in an organization that is closely monitoring him. Does not come close to addressing what happens to him once his NFL days are behind him - I don't like the odds of him staying on track. I should try to be more positive, and I readily admit that I have a negative take because I have seen too many failed interventions in my life. 1
machine gun kelly Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 Mental illness is no joke and I have a doctorate and practiced psychotherapy for over five years before going into the business side of medicine. I’m truly sorry for his troubles, but he is also responsible like regular folks for their behavior when they don’t take their meds. They usually end up with a clinical and legal history. im not making a claim either way. I’ve not diagnosed nor treated him so I don’t have the ability to make a speculation. I just hope he is compliant with his treatment as a good plan includes psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment plan. Otherwise you’re confirmed to keep having these problems. What he needs the most is a caregiver to ensure he is compliant. 2
Doc Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 I'm all for giving people second chances. Third and fourth... 3
TroutDog Posted November 9, 2019 Author Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) 13 minutes ago, machine gun kelly said: Mental illness is no joke and I have a doctorate and practiced psychotherapy for over five years before going into the business side of medicine. I’m truly sorry for his troubles, but he is also responsible like regular folks for their behavior when they don’t take their meds. They usually end up with a clinical and legal history. im not making a claim either way. I’ve not diagnosed nor treated him so I don’t have the ability to make a speculation. I just hope he is compliant with his treatment as a good plan includes psychiatric and psychotherapeutic treatment plan. Otherwise you’re confirmed to keep having these problems. What he needs the most is a caregiver to ensure he is compliant. He discussed his mental hygiene team in the piece. Seems as though he finally recognized the fact that he needed it. The scene in the police car was just such a shame, babbling incoherently talking about polar opposite things. As far as paying the price as others have stated, he was out of the league for two years and has been arrested multiple times. Quite a price. 1 hour ago, bigK14094 said: Good player upon occasion when he is available. More trouble ahead? The form sheet says yes. He addresses this exact thing in the piece and he stated he understands why people think that based on his history. Also, a ‘good’ player? He was a beast. Edited November 9, 2019 by TroutDog
uticaclub Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 1 hour ago, C.Biscuit97 said: He shouldn’t even be in the nfl. I’m all for forgiveness but this dude has been scum for his entire life. There are a billion other better people to have a pity party for. He's everything you want in a LG. I don't want my offensive lineman to be nice people
C.Biscuit97 Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 5 minutes ago, uticaclub said: He's everything you want in a LG. I don't want my offensive lineman to be nice people Oh, he’s a great o linemen. He’s a terrible human. If he wasn’t a football player, he’d be in prison and no one would care. Sorry, I don’t feel sad for RI. I feel sad for the people who didn’t have a fraction of the chances Or resources he had and are rotting somewhere. 3 1
TroutDog Posted November 9, 2019 Author Posted November 9, 2019 10 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said: Oh, he’s a great o linemen. He’s a terrible human. If he wasn’t a football player, he’d be in prison and no one would care. Sorry, I don’t feel sad for RI. I feel sad for the people who didn’t have a fraction of the chances Or resources he had and are rotting somewhere. It’s ok to feel for both, in my opinion. 3
Saxum Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 Lots of people have serious mental issues and are able to get repeated chances despite them. I worked with a brilliant engineer who was extremely asocial but was able to do what no one else could do. He was able for us to keep contract despite contract officer constantly passing our work to competition because "customer paid for it" but he was able to stay ahead of the competition despite this. Since I was only one who could work with him I became his handler. I was rewriting his documentation making it capable of being understood by someone not so brilliant and doing technical editing. I also become person who did interaction with him with anyone who he had issues with which was almost everyone. I went on vacation for 2 weeks and when I came back I asked "Where is Bob?" and found out he had a blowup on a corporate big wig and was thrown (almost literally) out. I worked at a government job and there was a task item which was not getting done so it was handed off to me. On my first day on task the government point of contact, an E14 or E15, came to lab and started screaming curses at me as being incompetent and when he was tired of yelling at me I said "Jack, I was just assigned this task this morning. I will get you a report on completed and uncompleted items by end of day." He was really shocked not realizing that they person who he was screaming at was just assigned task an hour ago and he said "Oh good, carry on". I later found out he acts that way to all contractors getting some fired (Technically told by prime "your services are no longer required.") and some physical acts which were settled by insurance with him recommended for consoling and protected by union from being fired being given several paid hiatuses. That is right he got paid for time off and a contractor got let go at no fault with 2 weeks notice. This had been going on for 15 years with him being moved from program to program and once to different agency. To me it sounds like Catholic church and defrocked priests. Does he deserve to be able to play and who decides that? Teams do based on what the player is able to perform and how having him affects locker room, sales, etc. not sanctimonious media people and fans who could not get a job working in locker room. If it bothers you that much then don't buy tickets and gear, do not watch football and go create a blog. Ostroski seems to need the physical bonding of football and a locker room with both strong leadership in teammates and coaches to do and be well. He probably also needs more contract requirements including oversight than NFLPA would allow and hopefully his agent is recommending he get privately. I hope he will stay on medications and find some outlet for his issues. 1
uticaclub Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) 40 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said: Oh, he’s a great o linemen. He’s a terrible human. If he wasn’t a football player, he’d be in prison and no one would care. Sorry, I don’t feel sad for RI. I feel sad for the people who didn’t have a fraction of the chances Or resources he had and are rotting somewhere. Agree, I could care less about his story and since our O-line has improved, I don’t miss him that much. But there were teams last year when I looked at the team and thought “Damn, I wish we still had Richie” and he is big reason for Josh Jacobs and the Raiders success. Garbage human, HoF talent Edited November 9, 2019 by uticaclub
Hapless Bills Fan Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 3 hours ago, TroutDog said: A really interesting piece on Richie on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. He appears to have his act together now and also shows how extremely low he was in multiple times during his career...including video from when he was in the police car after his most recent arrest. He does discuss being overweight and stoned during team functions with the Bills. Pretty clear he has a serious substance abuse issue...and has it beat for now, which is good. He has had some REALLY serious breakdowns which they share unfiltered. I’m always a sucker for comeback stories so it’s nice to see a guy who has had serious issues making a comeback. I hope it sticks. Got a linky? Did he say he was overweight and stoned from the start, or did he start out OK and regress in 2017 with McDermott? There had to be a reason they asked him to take a pay cut. I think he's the kind of guy who keeps thinking he's cured so he goes off his meds or starts substance abuse which interferes with 'em
Rocky Landing Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, C.Biscuit97 said: He shouldn’t even be in the nfl. I’m all for forgiveness but this dude has been scum for his entire life. There are a billion other better people to have a pity party for. I have mixed feelings on the guy. I like a comeback story, myself. It's why I'm such a Duke Williams fan. Ritchie has struggled with mental health, and when football is finally done with him, the struggles will only get harder. But, there are other issues that give me pause. His history of bullying behavior, not just in regards to Martin, and his time with the Dolphins, but the times he has physically intimidated, and threatened strangers in places like a public gym, or a funeral parlor. These things point to some serious character flaws that I find hard to empathize with. I will certainly watch the segment on Real Sports, though. But, as far as whether he should be in the NFL, there are certainly much worse than him. Edited November 10, 2019 by Rocky Landing
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