How incredibly dumb. How incredibly sad. I don’t know what to feel about the news that the Packers Johnny Jolly was arrested again, this time for possessing 600 grams of codeine and another yet to be identified substance.
Do I take the modern day approach and feel bad for him because he has a “disease” and just can’t can’t help himself? Or do I go old school and say he made his own bed (in this case, probably a prison cot) and now has to lie in it ?
For those that don’t really know me personally, you could say I’m a bit of a hybrid. Being over 50, I have plenty of old school in me. I grew up in a very blue collar town of mostly European immigrants. I know plenty of hard asses who would say just take a gun to Jolly’s head, and mean it.
To juxtapose that, I made my family proud by being the first to go to college and have a white collar career where I didn’t have to do back-breaking work, as my father had done. I married a great woman, raised two fantastic kids, bought a house in the suburbs and lived the middle-class suburban dream. I always like to say, if you do it right, raising children (especially daughters), will change the way you look at the world. Hopefully, I’m more evolved than the adults of my childhood.
So I feel like I should have some feelings of compassion for Johnny Jolly, but to be perfectly honest, I don’t. The phrase “stupid is as stupid does” basically means you are as stupid as your actions. Jolly’s actions win him the “Stupid Prize” hands down.
After barely evading jail time via a plea deal the first time around for possessing 200 grams of codeine, Jolly was given stern warnings by the Houston judge he appeared before. Part of the deal was that the charges would be dropped if he stayed out of trouble for one year. Having violated those conditions, Jolly now will probably have to answer to the original charges in addition to these new ones.
The original charges would have resulted in jail time of 2 to 20 years. Tack on this latest offense, where he was found with three times the amount of codeine and another drug, and it’s safe to assume that Jolly will be spending some significant time in the big house. I don’t see the judicial system of the State of Texas going out of it’s way to do Jolly any favors after he played them for fools.
Jolly was stopped for having excessively tinted windows on his Cadillac Escalade. He had no license, as it was suspended in 2007. The drugs were easily spotted on the floor and on the car door by the officers. Sheesh…
I don’t feel sorry for Jolly. If that makes me a neanderthal hard ass, so be it. I don’t believe he has a “problem” that’s incredibly difficult to overcome. I just believe he is incredibly stupid and deserves to go to jail for a long time.
After all, Jolly is as Jolly does.
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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.
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Steeerike Three! JJ Watt anyone?
My feelings are similar, if a bit softer. I have had family members with severe substance abuse problems. People who have done dumber things than Jolly (but with much less $$$ to lose). I feel for them, as they are actually good at heart, as we hear Johnny is. But yes, at a certain point, it’s “clean up or shut up.” I truly hope that he gets the help he needs to be clean and sober so he can be a functioning member of society, whenever that happens again – even if it’s too late for a football career. I wish him the best.
TOO MANY THUGS IN NBA AND NFL.NO CLASS IDIOTS.HALF OF THEM ARE CARRYING GUNS.LETS MAKE IT RAIN WHILE I WEAR MY PANTS AROUND MY ANKLES.POSSE THIS MAFIA THAT,HALF CANNOT SPELL MAFIA.GETTIN WAY OUT OF HAND WITH THE IGNORANT PLAYYYYA S.
I don’t think it makes you “a neanderthal hardass” to feel as you do. I believe it reveals you to be a normal, rational human being.
#%&/&$^ and %&*)$#% because intelligent words elude me concerning this %&%$^&.
I’m so peeved I’m not sure I even typed the symbols correctly.
Al, please do not feel that you have to qualify your feelings that personal responsibility should be a part of every persons make-up. That is the very foundation of our very, very successful experiment in social fabric. Do not let that crumble, it is where we cannot lose our struggle. It is the battle for America.
When you feel the need to qualify, the liberal bleeding hearts have won and socialism with all of the lowest common denominator social legislation will surely follow, and I for one, will never, ever give them the satisfaction or give up the fight.
Actions have consequences. Words mean things.
If you disagree with the laws, breaking them flagrantly will only bring the wrath of a system you cannot physically overpower. Disagreement is best dealt with by implementing change, personal sphere, community, local, state, federal, global. Never give up the fight.
Our society thinks negatively enough to have the laws that are in place concerning drugs. Where is the logic in exempting individuals from legislation implemented for the good of the society? Fight to change the laws if they are unjust, accept the results of the laws if you do not fight them. Not break them, fight them. If you cannot win that fight, you have the alternatives of living within them or relocating to a society with laws that you find acceptable. Copenhagen anyone? Drugs and Whores? All you want.
I wasn’t qualifying, just kind of think out loud and evaluating how how I felt.
I’ll go old school. He’ll get plenty of help in prison. Idiot.
my first reaction is to think this guy has a serious problem i have an uncle who at one point several years ago had a back surgury and needed pain killers well all these years later he is a full blown addict, my thing is 600 grams tho? wtf are you doing with 600 grams? but to risk so much in money and freedom he most have a problem and yea it is stupid to throw your life away like that, i hope he gets help, sometimes the bottem is what you need to hit you know, ne ways so now we draft JJ Watt?
btw auther, i mentioned my uncle because alot of football players get addicted to codienes because the team dr.s prescribe them to treat pain and it doesnt take much to become addicted, so to tell this story with out even talking about that fact is doing an injustice to this story. but every man does and is responsible for thier own actions and for helping themselves you also called this an easily fixable problem? i wonder what if any expiernce you have in addiction, i would bet safely zero with your comment if your going to speak on something i would suggest maybe learning something or knowing something about it before you speak on it because when you dont you look pretty ignorant…old school or not that fact has never changed
Um, you’re talking to a guy who lived his youth in in the sixties and seventies. Many people I knew back then died from their addictions or later AIDS. But even if I knew nothing about the topic, I know this: throwing away an amazing future that is being handed to you is plain stupid.
The worst part for Green Bay is that Jolly’s name will be forever associated with the team.
This is an ugly mark on the organization that they need to exorcise as quickly as possible.
Getting injured on the every day mans job and getting addicted fails in comparison.Your Uncle more likely never got or offered or had the finance to secure the care,assistance and financial availability as Jolly.
Jolly was NEVER diagnosed as addicted and probably even now is not,but defense will try and claim it.Going into a rehab by court order doesn’t mandate an”addict”but merely a base cover for future stupidity,which he is 100% guilty of.
The only addiction he suffers from IMO,and I do have a sympathy to but to an end,is his lack of character and strength to stay away from his”hood” of despair and bring some others out of it instead.
This is called opportunity and Jolly answered the door,stepped to the other side and slammed it into his own face.
The most sickening thing that will come from this,is the “mistake” plea that so many bleeding hearts buy into,time and time again,which makes them just as afflicted with a seemingly ever growing and accepting disease.
Some excellent opinions on a social problem that anyone can have ,but most CHOOSE not to.My sympathy decreases drastically when someone chooses to be diseased. Now to a most urgent problem.Do we draft Cobb,Pouncy,or a D lineman in the first round
Well put, Pete. As for a DL, maybe now the Packers think about a trade up for JJ Watt?
Anita over at CHTV made the best point.
If seeing his teammates win the SB didn’t give him the motivation needed to stop with Sizzurp, there’s nothing that will…
Addicted or not (a very good point has been made about him actually being a dealer), this isn’t about his condition or society. This is about a private enterprise in the Green Bay Packers. If he can’t abide even by court determinations, there’s no way he can abide by league rules.
Jolly’s career has ended. Perhaps his life. It’s too bad.
I don’t see anything in that statement”If seeing his teammates win the SB didn’t give him the motivation needed to stop the SIZZURP,there’s nothing that will…”is being a little short sighted,to think that a SB win is the cure all and only reason players want to be in the NFL.
With the odds of each achieving that goal as great against it,saying you want to is as much a scripted oration as brushing your teeth in the morning.It’s about money,fame for most and the acquisition of an Entitlement mentallity for a few others.But,the number of those who are truly in persuit of the RING is the lowest pct of all.
This can be seen by their actions be it on field,off field,FA and going to higher bidder knowing a ring is nowhere to be had there.
The emotion obtained by those who achieve is very real when reached.Is Jenkins this year looking for another RING for Packer history or money for HIS future out of football.
If a RING comes so be it,but coming into the NFL solely for it and the cure all is naive thinking.
IN MY HONEST OPINION.
What goes around comes around. Jolly is getting what he deserves. Society has laws, rules. Play by them or pay the price.
Appropriate screen name.
Green bay is a class act orginazation with upstanding players. We don’t need trouble makers on or off the field. JJ needn’t apply for reinstatement cause you’re a fool and through away a lifetime of opportunity
While I’m not suggesting anyone should feel sorry for JJ, I do think people should understand that *IF* this is a substance abuse/addiction issue, it is not a matter of “Stupid” or “Smart”, it’s a matter of not being able to get that monkey off of your back. There’s a reason that AA, for instance, has less than a 20% success rate. We won’t even talk about nicotine addiction. Various chemical addictions change the way your brain functions, and if you haven’t had to overcome addiction, you just might not understand. No need to feel sorry for him, but a great majority of people who have addiction problems do not WANT to keep using. They feel powerless to stop.
That being said, We’re talking about a guy in JJ who has been characterized by his team mates as a “jerk” and a “thug”, and a guy who “thinks he’s big money”. He has a tattoo on his left forearm that reads “Make Money” (or is it “Get Money”?). Let’s also not forget that in his previous hearing, the state presented a witness who was ready to testify that Jolly was a major player in the distribution and sale of Codeine and other narcotics.. Tie all this together with the fact that he’s been driving without a license for the last three years even while on probation, and you’ve probably got a guy who’s an idiot as opposed to a guy who’s an addict. But, we’ll never really know.
From my hardass side, I have no sympathy for people with weak minds that don’t have the capacity to stop themselves from doing the wrong thing. As Pete said above, getting involved with drugs is a CHOICE. If you make that choice and get yourself addicted to where you can’t get off it, I’m not feeling sorry for you.
As Ron White put it, “You can’t fix stupid”
3-6 Mafia got me to pick up the Drank, Jolly got me to put it down.
I think they hurt him in the long run by having him do ZERO jail time the first time. I mean at least make him sit in jail for 1 week, hard time. That makes you think, ‘Hey, I don’t like this sheet.’ People might start doing less stupid stuff.
Can’t disagree at all…