Aldon Smith Battles With Alcoholism, So Did I

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It isn’t the 49ers’ job, dare I say it, to babysit Aldon Smith, just like it’s not anyone’s responsibility to ensure I won’t drink so much and become really drunk. This is where I can relate to 49ers All-Pro linebacker, mainly because I struggled with alcohol abuse in my early to late 20s.

Smith has become, not only one of the most talented players in football, but a troubled star as the 49ers morph into the league’s most rebellious franchise. What, oh, what is Smith’s problem? It is to our knowledge that he’s an alcoholic after two months of rehab following his DUI arrest in September. He had a chance to clean up his act and focus on football by avoiding trouble and screwed it up, instead getting arrested Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport after authorities said he allegedly told security officers he had a bomb while being belligerent during a bag search.

There appears to be no bigger fool who’d not only threaten the airport, but also possibly destroy his NFL career with his off-field troubles. It’s hard to judge him, though, when I had my own battle with alcohol due to depression, frustration and stress. Everyone is aware that Smith has had a history of alcohol-related problems. In fact, I believe, like the police, that he may have been drinking earlier in the day.

Today I must confess that I like the taste, the smell and the way alcohol makes me feel, and when I drink, I will drink to get drunk. In my world, you didn’t drink to enjoy it, you didn’t want alcohol to have a good time, and you wanted it to get plastered. With me, I only wanted to feel a buzz. When I felt depressed and ashamed of myself, I turned to alcohol and it made me happy and goofy, but in reality it only ruins promising careers, relationships, families and lives. It had reached a point to where I started riding with my friend to school, only because I refused to drink and drive.

The days he’d drive to school, I would buy a 40 oz. Miller High Life, put it in my backpack and drink it while on campus with the paper bag covering it so people couldn’t see what I was drinking. One day I walked into class drunk, and couldn’t even follow the lecture. Luckily, my instructor didn’t notice that I had been drinking. Many people in the classroom kept looking over in my direction, only to see me chuckling, only to smell alcohol on my breath, as it was strong. Back in 2011, when I first arrived to California State University, Fullerton, I was arrogant and thought I knew everything. Nobody could tell me anything. I was trying to tell the instructors how to teach their journalism classes.

My grades dropped, my attendance dropped and I was performing poorly in the classroom. Some days, on the days I didn’t drive, of course, I would leave school early and walk down the street to Bigs Fullerton Bar & Grill, a place located near campus that offers 30 beers on tap. I’ve made friends with the bartenders — both day and night shift. They all know me. They all know my name. If you were to stop at the bar for a drink tonight, and ask about Jonathan Mathis, they’ll know whom you’re talking about. That’s good but really sad that every bartender in there knows who I am.

During my heavy alcohol days, which were my early to mid 20s, drinking relieved my anxiety and it was my escape from worries. I’m not saying this is what Smith does, but I know he’s struggling with alcohol like I did in the past. If not strong-minded, it’s easy to become addicted to alcohol. This is what happened to me, so I know. But while alcohol is not taking over my life, like it once did, I still drink in moderation. It has taken me years to reveal a shocking secret, and for a very long time, I have kept it to myself.

Everybody who is reading this is learning another side of me. Everybody who is reading this is learning for the first time just like everybody else that I had a serious problem, and I nearly destroyed my life. I’m finally starting to recover, and I never entered an alcohol rehab or attended AA meetings to seek treatment. It was just time for me to realize that I needed to cut back, and with prayer and faith, I have not fallen over drunk night and day. With willpower and strength, I haven’t skipped classes to hang out with friends and have a few drinks.

Now everyone is aware that I had a history of alcohol-related issues. My drinking was an issue, and I almost self-destructed, but it was mild compared to Smith. For one, I don’t drink and drive. Secondly, I’ve never been arrested, though I was close when I was so drunk and ran up a tab. I don’t remember anything that happened that night. The only thing I remember is that I had been drinking and drinking at P.F. Changs at Planet Hollywood in Vegas. That night I was so wasted, I could barely walk and outside the restaurant, I bummed two cigarettes from a guy who I had a conversation with for a brief moment.

After my party had finished eating dinner, as I staggered out of casinos and walked unsteadily, I somehow made it to the nightclub with the rest of the crew. That’s where I continued to signal for the bartender to order drinks and I ran up a bar tab, costing my friends $200 that night. There’s not much I remember on that night, but I heard I was combative and that I was heading for the exit. This was when I was really loaded, and I heard security barricaded the door. As embarrassing as it was, I had not paid for the alcoholic beverages and because I didn’t have the money, my friends had to pick up the bar tab.

Another incident occurred when I was coming from a party drunk with a few buddies from school. We stopped by Denny’s to grab some food in the wee hours. The bad thing was, I was belligerent, reckless and silly on that night. Inside the restaurant, with my friends and a few people eating at other tables, I began screaming, “GRAND SLAMS, GRAND SLAMS, GRAND SLAMS!!!” Because of my rude behavior, the manager came over to our table and warned me. But, of course, I kept shouting, and then the manager asked us to leave. I refused and argued with the manager and waitress. Shortly after, since I wouldn’t comply with their orders, the manager threatened to call the police. My friends restrained me from the manager and they pushed me out the door.

Painfully and reluctantly, I used to show up to parties just to get bombed, and while I was there, I would take shots of tequila and vodka or even drink rum so I can get drunk faster. People at parties used to be entertained by me, simply because I would dominate a game of beer pong and would challenge someone to a beer chugging content to see who could chug down beers faster. I was the king of chugging by the way. It is still embarrassing to this day that I’ve been kicked out of two house parties for being rowdy and brash. For more years than I care to count, I feared for my life, refused to share my alcohol addiction with anyone and didn’t want to seek help.

I think we can say this is what Smith is dealing with. If he ever wants to move forward, and have a successful NFL career, quite like how I hope to have a prosperous writing career, well, he needs to obviously go back to rehab and stop drinking. There’s no justifiable reason to make a false bomb report, even if he was hammered and had too much to drink. Just like there was no justifiable reason for me to behave like a buffoon as I have in the past because I didn’t take accountability.

Smith and I are grown men who know better and have to take accountability for our lives.