The Aldon Smith thread

Yeah, NC, but has after that, once gone from the stadium that the problems start. He's been a good guy gametime.

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
how do you know he's an alcoholic ?

how do you know what he does away from football ?

Gues what...You don't ?

Unfortunately, I do know what he has done some of the time he is away from football ... and it is scary. Are you an alcoholic? If so, then you must see the signs. If not, then it is pointless to argue. Passed out behind the wheel of your wrecked car at 5am is a pretty glaring sign. He is damn lucky he didn't kill himself or someone else. Shooting guns at a party where you were selling alcohol is another. I don't know Aldon at all, that is true. I do know, and have walked the path, of many who battle alcoholism and drugs. The signs are obvious to me ... but I assume what Smith has done so far would be to anyone? I guess I am wrong.

Originally posted by NCommand:
Gotcha. But as a result, they help his overall case don't they...sort of sends the message that, "No harm, no foul. Resolved. Let's move on to the misdemenor which is obviously a big misunderstanding."

No. The civil will have no bearing. It can however send the message that your admitting guilt.

Originally posted by Bluesbro:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
how do you know he's an alcoholic ?

how do you know what he does away from football ?

Gues what...You don't ?

Unfortunately, I do know what he has done some of the time he is away from football ... and it is scary. Are you an alcoholic? If so, then you must see the signs. If not, then it is pointless to argue. Passed out behind the wheel of your wrecked car at 5am is a pretty glaring sign. He is damn lucky he didn't kill himself or someone else. Shooting guns at a party where you were selling alcohol is another. I don't know Aldon at all, that is true. I do know, and have walked the path, of many who battle alcoholism and drugs. The signs are obvious to me ... but I assume what Smith has done so far would be to anyone? I guess I am wrong.

in your book you would consider everyone who has gotten drunk an alcoholic... even first time drinkers right ?

"Addiction is the continued repetition of a behavior despite adverse consequences"


Getting drunk and getting stabbed in my own house, then still drinking and wrecking your car, plus having a dui allready before, sounds spot on to the definition to me.

Originally posted by Arson:

"Addiction is the continued repetition of a behavior despite adverse consequences"


Getting drunk and getting stabbed in my own house, then still drinking and wrecking your car, plus having a dui allready before, sounds spot on to the definition to me.

It's a lil more disturbing when you look at the time line of events.

Originally posted by ModestoNiner33:
It's a lil more disturbing when you look at the time line of events.

What's so disturbing about it? All I see is a young guy who's had a couple of DUI's and evidently has been trying to do something about it. Happens all the time. And most of the time, people just keep doing it and don't try to get help. Whether he's tried to get help because they've told him to or because he realizes he might screw up a potential multi-million dollar career is irrelevant. Nobody around here knows that Aldon Smith is a textbook alcoholic although a lot of you are pretending you know. The truth is that we don't know. We know he's partied too hard. We know he has impulse control issues, especially when he's around women. We know that he has a temper - his temper with the TSA agent might be related to NOT drinking as opposed to what most are suggesting. He may be wound up a little tight. The point is that I don't know. I'm pretty sure that his main talent is playing football, so what I think is that the best thing for Aldon Smith is to play football - not sit around in some phony 12-step circle declaring that you have no power over yourself. Just my opinion, but I think that stuff is a load of B.S. I think the way to get over self-destructive behavior is to realize you actually DO have the power to stop it yourself and in Smith's case, get the heck out on that field and do what you do best.

Originally posted by ModestoNiner33:

Originally posted by Arson:
"Addiction is the continued repetition of a behavior despite adverse consequences"


Getting drunk and getting stabbed in my own house, then still drinking and wrecking your car, plus having a dui allready before, sounds spot on to the definition to me.

It's a lil more disturbing when you look at the time line of events.

Who knows what he has done when he doesn't get busted.

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
in your book you would consider everyone who has gotten drunk an alcoholic... even first time drinkers right ?

Look, I am not arguing with you. Simply stating things as I see them. Do you truly believe that when he hit a tree at 5am it was his first time drinking? An act like that has 'progression of time' written all over it. I believe the odds are pretty good he has a problem with alcohol at least. I hope I am wrong, if I am not I sure hope he can get sober. More for himself and the rest of his life than football.

As I read through this thread, it seems like the passion to defend is because deep down most people know he has a serious problem. Like I said, I am calmly stating what I believe. No need to get upset. If you think all is good then there is no more to discuss. Just let time tell the tale. I hope for Aldon's sake it has a good ending.

Originally posted by Bluesbro:
Look, I am not arguing with you. Simply stating things as I see them. Do you truly believe that when he hit a tree at 5am it was his first time drinking? An act like that has 'progression of time' written all over it. I believe the odds are pretty good he has a problem with alcohol at least. I hope I am wrong, if I am not I sure hope he can get sober. More for himself and the rest of his life than football.

As I read through this thread, it seems like the passion to defend is because deep down most people know he has a serious problem. Like I said, I am calmly stating what I believe. No need to get upset. If you think all is good then there is no more to discuss. Just let time tell the tale. I hope for Aldon's sake it has a good ending.

so many things he "could " be. maybe he is a functioning alcoholic. they do their daytime job so well they do not even know they have a problem. they just keep their eye on the clock waiting for quitting time . and it could also not be that tragic. but for sure,, he did did go to rehab and that means he had some type of substance abuse issues. i do not buy the theory that it was just window dressing, I think he did have some sort of a problem. now whether we can make the connection from that to the airport incident is something we are not and probably should not be privy to.

Originally posted by Bluesbro:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

how do you know he's an alcoholic ?

how do you know what he does away from football ?

Gues what...You don't ?

Unfortunately, I do know what he has done some of the time he is away from football ... and it is scary. Are you an alcoholic? If so, then you must see the signs. If not, then it is pointless to argue. Passed out behind the wheel of your wrecked car at 5am is a pretty glaring sign. He is damn lucky he didn't kill himself or someone else. Shooting guns at a party where you were selling alcohol is another. I don't know Aldon at all, that is true. I do know, and have walked the path, of many who battle alcoholism and drugs. The signs are obvious to me ... but I assume what Smith has done so far would be to anyone? I guess I am wrong.

Come on folks, be just a bit modest in your pretensions of knowledge.

Aldon has had two DUI infractions, and one of them was lowered to another offense. Those two infractions hardly proves that he is or is not an alcoholic.

Shooting guns at a party is a problem in and of itself. I do not see the link between shooting guns at a party and selling alcohol at a party.

Being drunk and selling alcohol are not the same. If they were the same, what are we going to say about owners of liquor stores.

Your experiences with alcoholism do not necessarily provide you with any particular insight into the problems of another person.

I have had problems with alcohol, hell I might have been an alcoholic, but what you seem to be saying sounds to me the gospel of the twelve step approach--and I happen to think that approach is fundamentally flawed. Actually, I think the 12 step spiel is crap.

I do not know Aldon Smith, but he has had problems. I do not why he has had those problems and I can not think of any reason to pretend that I have a god-like capacity to just know.

Apparently I'm the only one on here that really doesn't care about Aldon's problems. I understand that he will probably serve a suspension, which is a bummer, but his talent will necessitate our patience with him. Will he ever right the ship or will he stay on the high-risk lifestyle? Who knows... As long as he remains an elite talent, the Niners will keep paying him and I'll keep rooting for him. If he gets on trouble again, I'll roll my eyes and sigh and go on.

Originally posted by crake49:

What's so disturbing about it? All I see is a young guy who's had a couple of DUI's and evidently has been trying to do something about it. Happens all the time. And most of the time, people just keep doing it and don't try to get help. Whether he's tried to get help because they've told him to or because he realizes he might screw up a potential multi-million dollar career is irrelevant. Nobody around here knows that Aldon Smith is a textbook alcoholic although a lot of you are pretending you know. The truth is that we don't know. We know he's partied too hard. We know he has impulse control issues, especially when he's around women. We know that he has a temper - his temper with the TSA agent might be related to NOT drinking as opposed to what most are suggesting. He may be wound up a little tight. The point is that I don't know. I'm pretty sure that his main talent is playing football, so what I think is that the best thing for Aldon Smith is to play football - not sit around in some phony 12-step circle declaring that you have no power over yourself. Just my opinion, but I think that stuff is a load of B.S. I think the way to get over self-destructive behavior is to realize you actually DO have the power to stop it yourself and in Smith's case, get the heck out on that field and do what you do best.

The time line of events is disturbing and the reason he may or may not be suspended based upon how Goodell weighs it all out.

Getting a DUI (or two) doesn't mean that he's an alcoholic.

For the record, I don't know that he isn't, just pointing out that it isn't hard to reason why he may have checked himself into rehab. It could've just been a move to preempt any punishment handed down from the commissioner.

That way Aldon can say "See? I recognize that I have a problem and I'm addressing it." And if that is the case, it worked beautifully considering that the league has already stated that this will be taken into account *if* Aldon is punished.

In all reality, who hasn't gone out gone out before and had too much to drink? Doesn't mean that you do it everyday.

You see Ray Rice has followed suit and applied for an intervention program. I imagine that if he beat his wife regularly, we wouldn't be hearing about it just now. And provided his strategy is successful, expect this to become a trend among guys who get into trouble.

Which really, is a net gain when you think about it. Even if it is being done to avoid some of the consequence of screwing up.....perhaps these guys will actually learn something in the process?

Originally posted by Bluesbro:

Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:

in your book you would consider everyone who has gotten drunk an alcoholic... even first time drinkers right ?

Look, I am not arguing with you. Simply stating things as I see them. Do you truly believe that when he hit a tree at 5am it was his first time drinking? An act like that has 'progression of time' written all over it. I believe the odds are pretty good he has a problem with alcohol at least. I hope I am wrong, if I am not I sure hope he can get sober. More for himself and the rest of his life than football.

As I read through this thread, it seems like the passion to defend is because deep down most people know he has a serious problem. Like I said, I am calmly stating what I believe. No need to get upset. If you think all is good then there is no more to discuss. Just let time tell the tale. I hope for Aldon's sake it has a good ending.

Calmly accusing him of something that he hasn't admitted to being

Look what brooks done last year which was just as worse but no one says or accuses him of anything since he doesn't get caught. (Aldon wasn't present at the bar)