Playing drunk

So it’s come out that former NBA player Keon Clark had never played a game sober. In fact he reportedly drank from a half pint to a pint of gin a day. He would also drink during halftime of games.

Now I understand that coaches aren’t in the locker room at halftime but how could this sort of thing go unnoticed? The fact that your centre smells like gin didn’t come up anywhere? Why didn’t anybody try to stage an intervention or get him help?

This does bring up the interesting fact that Keon Clark was better than a lot of players who played the game sober. How bad would you feel about getting schooled by a drunk?

Also, how much could his career numbers - 8.2 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game and a very respectable 1.6 blocks per game – improved if he had been playing sober? Nobody will ever know but you could also argue that he only functioned and played that well because he was intoxicated.

All in all, it’s good that this news has come out and he’s getting help for his problem.