Cray Cray
Reader Jeff Malcolm has requested that L.A. Balls tell the story of Titus Young. A wayward young NFL wide-receiver who currently finds himself out of a job, and in the custody of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
I thought that a complete timeline of Titus Young’s four-plus years in the public eye will help give you an understanding of how fucked up he is, and how a promising football career turned to kaka.
This is the new gold standard for athlete meltdowns.
Oct. 2008: Young is suspended for the year by his college coach Chris Peterson. No reason was ever given by the University. For those of you wondering, his college was Boise State. After learning this fact, I checked to make sure it’s an accredited university. It is. Young would eventually be reinstated and finish as Boise State’s all-time receiving leader. This is how the sausage of college football is made. It’s really ugly.
April 2011: Despite serious character questions, the Detroit Lions select Young with their 2nd round pick in the 2011 draft. No one should ever have any doubts that the Lions are committed to never winning a Super Bowl.
December 2011: Young finishes his rookie season with great numbers, 48 catches, 607 yards, six touchdowns. The calm before the storm.
May 2012: Titus sucker punches teammate Louis Delmas during off-season workouts. About a month later, here’s what he said about the incident:
“I felt personally it was important for me to get it off my chest and get the burden off my heart. Just seeing the guys just coming back and kind of feeling uneasy. Just kind of feeling that it’s not quite right, praying and feeling in my spirit. It’s just wasn’t right. I’ve never been the type of guy to just elaborate on things and let things in the past hold me back, but I felt like this is a family here and what we have going on here is bigger than me, bigger than any individual player.”
What? I’ve read that statement seven times and I’m still not sure what he said. This is the point someone should have raised their hand in the Lions front office and said, “Everyone knows there’s a crazy person on the team playing wide receiver? Right?”
November 2012: Young is benched during a game with the Houston Texans. Later it’s revealed Titus intentionally lined up in the wrong formations and ran the wrong routes because he felt he wasn’t getting the ball enough. I think this is actually genius. Randy Moss just used to dog it. But Titus was out on the field drawing figure eights and barbed wire tattoos.
Dec. 2012: Lions coach Jim Schwartz sends Young home (i.e. suspends indefinitely).
January 2013: This is where the ride begins. Young takes to Twitter to express displeasure at his boss. This is always a good idea.
“Like I said I never been selfish but if I’m not going to get the football i don’t want to play anymore.”
Another stroke of genius. I’m not selfish, but if I’m not the focus of attention, I’m taking my ball and going home. After the tweet, rumors started to swirl the Lions were going to cut Young. A few days later, Young doubled down and Tweeted this:
“Oh I’m not done, if y’all going to cut me let me go. I’m tired of the threats.”
February 4, 2013: The Detroit Lions cut Titus Young. The sound you now hear is the crazy express leaving the station.
February 5, 2013: The St. Louis Rams claim Young off waivers. Yes, this happened. This is how your NFL sausage is made. It’s ugly.
February 15, 2013: The St. Louis Rams cut Titus after meeting with him and having him take a physical. So the Rams immediately identify Young as a crazy person and let him go. Maybe someone gets him some help? Nah. That would be too hard. Your NFL sausage is stinky.
May 5, 2013: Buckle up. Titus is arrested twice. In a 15 hour span. If you’re going to go off the rails, then you might as well get your money’s worth. At 12:01 am on May 5th, Young is pulled over on suspicion of DUI in Moreno Valley. (Ed. note: I understand wanting to get drunk in Moreno Valley. No way I would ever be sober in that town.) Young is booked, car impounded, and released sometime later. Standard DUI arrest.
At 2:22 pm, Young is arrested AGAIN for trying to break into the police impound and steal his car back. Yes, this too actually happened.
May 10, 2013: Titus Young is arrested for the third time in less than a week. Reportedly, he broke into a San Clemente house for an unknown reason (he didn’t steal anything). When the cops showed up, he ran. Then to put the cherry on top, when the police finally caught up with him, he took a swing at a few officers to add some years to his inevitable prison sentence.
That’s where Mr. Young is today. In some Orange County jail thinking crazy thoughts. This is not a story that will end well, but it is damn entertaining.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-titus-young-arrested-20130513,0,3352856.story
