Originally Posted by mooby
Well let's round up the opinions. One of you thinks he is a POS for even entertaining an idea, another one thinks he should have committed suicide. Me personally, I think both of those thoughts are as weak as Portis', and here's why.
SS, I know you're incapable of putting yourself in others' shoes, but I'll play this game anyways. Put yourself in Portis' shoes. After a life in which you parlayed your first two amazing seasons in the NFL into a trade to a team, a fanbase, and an ownership that loves you, alongside a big money deal which at the time was the largest ever for a running back in NFL history, a few years later your best friend is shot dead, life has changed as you know it (evidence being the happy-go-lucky spirit you once were is gone in favor of the sullen guy who's time in the NFL is coming to end, who's getting old in NFL years and has seen tragedy on a personal level the likes of which we will most likely never know). So you retire, and the next year (literally, one year later) you are broke, and your trusted financial advisors who ruined you are nowhere to be found. You went from being a semi-famous NFL player, with adoring fans, an owner who loves you, rags-to-riches, to a broke, retired, probably partially crippled from his playing days guy who nobody gives two shits about anymore who has also seen his friends and family die and his "trusted inner circle" disappear after the money dried up. What would you do? Keep in mind you're broke, and the guys who lost your money are never gonna see the inside of a prison for it. You know it's all downhill from here. You also grew up, like so many others, in a world where violence is justified daily as a means to an end. I know you, SS, don't know anything about the world (neither do I), so I say again. Put yourself in his shoes, what would you do? Not even do, what ideas would you entertain?
Then, you conveniently ignore the part where his mom talked him out of it, told him she doesn't care if she loses the purple house and the nice cars, that he needs to be a father to his kids and blah blah blah set the right example type shit and he snaps out of it. Starts turning his life around, declares bankruptcy, goes through the media laughingstock of his mom being one of his creditors, starts making money off personal appearances and media bs. But nah, instead of "wow, way for this broke black athlete to turn his life around after hitting rock bottom" it's "wow, Portis is a POS for harboring a bad idea."
Also, SFRedskin, I don't like you, and the concept that you think someone should kill themself after hitting rock bottom resonates with me as to the type of person you are. In the words of Chappelle "I hope all the bad things in life happen to you, and nobody else but you." Good day sir.
Also, one final thought. Make no mistake, I liked Portis as a player, and wish him luck as he finds himself in this world. With all this being said, I think he's a damn fool for wasting lots of money on houses, cars, women, trips around the world, and whatever else dumb purchases he made when he was rich. But that doesn't mean he deserves to be ripped off, the fact that he was investing money means he was trying to do well to set himself up for post-NFL life. I do think this whole experience has been quite the learning lesson for him, and I hope it all works out in the end, especially given the fact that it's most likely working out for those who took advantage of him. I'm also thankful for the fact that if he had followed through with his dumb plan, not only would it reflect poorly on him, it would also reflect poorly on the Redskins. And there's already plenty of that going on, so we don't need more.
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