This is in no way shape or form a justification for irresponsible drinking or anything following that, especially with driving. I’ve always felt that in order for me to understand an issue, I would have to actually immerse myself into it. With the offseason of the NFL among us, there will be a lot more stories about DUIs from the players. And it’s just not football too. Athletes all over the place are drinking too much, hanging out too late, and driving when they shouldn’t be. It’s too common.

It’s easy to put the blame on them and call them stupid. They should have called a car service, a cab, or something. And granted, it’s all warranted. These people are adults and they should know better. But sometimes the decision to say no is harder than it seems. Some people might not get it, but I get it.

I wouldn’t call myself a drinker. In fact, I rarely drink. An occasional beer if I’m out with some friends at a restaurant is normally the most I do. Every now and then maybe a couple drinks if I stop by a bar to chit-chat (if I can hear myself think). But mostly, I don’t find myself drinking.

The other day, I did stop by a bar just to chat up with a friend. It was past midnight and it was the weekend, so I didn’t think much of it. I didn’t get plastered or anything like that. I had a few drinks and I was completely functional. But the surrounding environment caught my attention. People around me were tipsy and drunk. It was very easy to tell that for an athlete that has tons of money, they likely would interact with people who want to get a piece of them.

Also, there are times when they might have too much to drink and small incidents become escalated arguments. They have to “look hard” in front of their friends and try to impress. Sometimes that leads to more drinking to get the trouble out of the mind or just to storm out and maintain that hardcore mentality.

Other times, it just looks like the athlete doesn’t know how to handle money and friends and they find places that aren’t the best for their own satisfaction. Plus, some of them don’t know their drinking limits. That’s never good.

There’s a certain type of people I noticed at the bar. Most of them were friendly and talkative, which is completely normal. But with alcohol in the system and lots of fun being had, there’s also a certain mentality of not wanting the fun to end. That leads to more drinking, more talking and sure enough, more desire to keep the night going.

That’s the problem the athletes encounter. It’s not so different from regular folk really. The only major difference is the status and money. The status leads the players to high-end places. Then with all the money, it leads to high-end drinks. In order to keep everyone happy, even the newcomers that just want a piece of the athlete, it leads to more rounds and last call doesn’t really exist. They lose track of things.

What becomes of this leads to the poor decisions. Whether it’s trying to “look hard” or not wanting to let the evening go away, the athlete gets into the car. It’s probably a few hours past midnight and the athlete thinks that with so few people around, driving should be OK. But it isn’t. With so many friends, the athlete can’t look weak and not be able to drive. Especially with a brand new car, the athlete doesn’t want anyone to drive it. All those factors along with the desire to continue to have fun leads to the DUIs. Unfortunately sometimes, it leads to deaths.

This isn’t an advocacy for drinking and driving. This is the opposite. I don’t mind people going out and having fun. I prefer that they didn’t with so much at stake, but sometimes it’s hard to avoid. But when they do, I hope that they don’t get themselves into bad situations. What I’ve come to realize is that the mentality of an athlete is different from the average person. The situation is the same, but the stakes are higher.

It’s a little harder for me to judge these mistakes because I think I understand them. I can see the situations they’re in and know the difficulties they must deal with. There’s still no excuse for it and the leagues are finding the best solutions for these athletes. They can’t police them 24/7 and these situations arise.

My hope is that the next time a DUI story comes up, that at least it’s a little bit easier to understand why it happened. It’s still unacceptable, but maybe the “why” makes a little bit more sense.

I would like to see the rate of DUIs among athletes go down. That’s my hope. That’s what we need. Maybe now that we can understand the cause of it, hopefully we can find a solution.

It starts with the athletes themselves. Until they can put themselves in good situations, these stories will continue to come up.