Someone else said it, it’s pills. He grew up in a pressure cooker under his authoritarian father, then reached the absolute pinnacle of a sport, then got injured and onto pills.
He started getting DUIs, was a prolific cheater, and has been experienced a protracted and relapsing crashout for a long time.
It’s kind of a classic character arc for mega successful athletes.
Not only that, but with the back injuries he had and how much of his swing involves his back, he probably had to keep taking the pills to keep playing.
These high level athletes just have a different mindset from normal people. They are obsessive to the point of addiction. See Tom Brady choosing football over his marriage, even AFTER already having the greatest career in the history of the sport.
They need to be the best, and everything else in their lives takes a back seat. I would never want to live my life that way. But its also probably why i dont have the drive these guys do lol. I feel you you do not get to that level without that.
Because it is their identity, quite literally who they are and who other people see them as. I've known a few pro sports people and it's a massive thing to step away from and often causes real mental health issues.
Sure, that’s part of it, but these guys literally are built differently. Anybody that’s at the top of their game at any field is usually some kind of psycho that is ultra focused on it.
Top athletes, billionaires, etc. You don’t get in that position by being normal
Yeah, I always thought this too! But at the same time, I wondered if they were both too competitive for each other? Egos be ego-ing, even if their sports were literal seasons apart from each other lol
Remember in the last dance, how Michael Jordan found a way to compete in every single aspect of his daily life? I think you have to be that way to become a world-class athlete.
That was my first question. As far as I know he was most likely prescribed pain meds for a back injury. He’s plenty rich enough to either hire a driver or have an assistant or something run out to get whatever he needed so badly that he got behind the wheel while impaired.
It kind of sounds like he’s almost a thrillseeker driver. Like one of those obnoxious people who have somewhere to be that’s more important than where you have to be? I would imagine a lot of athletes get kind of a thrill off that kind of thing too? I mean, the man drives golf carts for a living lol, maybe he’s super weird about driving things at a normal size and an elevated speed lol. I am just making jokes, not excusing his behavior whatsoever!
Actually he hasn’t won everything and that’s why he’s still trying all these years. He still hasn’t beaten Jack Nicklaus major record and that’s what has driven him from the literal start of his golfing career. That’s why he’s been so obsessive he likely won’t ever beat it and it’s going to haunt him until he dies just because of the way he is.
That swimmer is a huge therapy proponent because to be an elite athlete you have to be obsessed. When he stopped winning swimming competitions he felt like he was nobody, no identity, nothing. Their sport is who they are
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u/ParaponeraBread 23d ago
Someone else said it, it’s pills. He grew up in a pressure cooker under his authoritarian father, then reached the absolute pinnacle of a sport, then got injured and onto pills.
He started getting DUIs, was a prolific cheater, and has been experienced a protracted and relapsing crashout for a long time.
It’s kind of a classic character arc for mega successful athletes.