The sad tale of Barret Robbins

Damage done, but Raiders empathize with troubled center

About the only thing that's clear to me in the confusing and complicated Super Bowl saga of Barret Robbins is that the Oakland Pro Bowl center has a problem.

Depending on who you listen to, it's a substance-abuse problem, a mental-health problem, a medication problem or a simple accountability problem.

Maybe it's an amalgam of all four, which led to the biggest humiliation of Robbins' football career, on the grandest stage the game offers: being suspended on the morning of Super Bowl Sunday, after going AWOL for most of Saturday.

I don't pretend to understand all the factors that led to Robbins' self-destructive behavior and his becoming the single-most memorable figure from this year's Super Bowl -- a distinction he managed without playing in the game. I can't say I know what's in his heart or head or even grasp the depth of his struggles.

But I do know this: Robbins, at many different points, was presented with a series of choices. And from all reports, he made nearly all the wrong ones.

Like when he left the team hotel Saturday, allegedly bound for an afternoon drinking binge in Tijuana, Mexico. Robbins chose not to tell a soul what he was feeling or thinking about doing, thereby removing any potential roadblocks.

And like when he continued on down the path to ruin, showing up at a Pacific Beach bar early Saturday evening, where his binge deepened. Robbins ignored the counsel of concerned fans on hand, who pleaded with him to report back to his team before it was too late. Instead, he continued unraveling in a very public way.

Why he made those choices is the key question. Were they choices greatly influenced by his not taking his medication for what has been reported as a bipolar disorder, because of side effects he didn't care for? And did a background that seems to include signs of substance abuse also factor significantly into his fateful Saturday?

That's where this story gets difficult to decipher. Some people want to see Robbins held accountable for his self-destructive actions, and some people want to try to understand and uncover the source of the problem that led him to take those actions.

The debate invariably gets framed along these lines: Does Robbins deserve condemnation or care? Or a mixture of both? Is this episode proof that he's sick or merely lacking in sufficient self-restraint? And is such thinking archaic or merely responsible?

In the heat of the moment, with so much on the line for the organization, the Raiders were furious that Robbins would jeopardize so much for so many people for so little. But four days later, with some of the emotion of the incident and the team's crushing Super Bowl loss having burned off, there is some perspective.

"Part of the day on Saturday, I was terribly disappointed in him and what he was doing to our team," said one Oakland team source. "And part of the day I was just worried that he was alive. Once I heard he was alive, then I figured we could deal with the rest."

People in the Raiders organization that I talked to this week said they knew Robbins had a problem long before Super Bowl week and that the team was doing everything possible to help him and keep him available and playing. Both sides were doing their best to co-exist, and Robbins had good days and bad days along the way.

"From my perspective, the guy is sick," said one Oakland team source. "He was a problem at times in meetings. He's not a bad guy. He's a hell of a nice guy. But it was like having a dysfunctional member of your family. You can't be in denial about it. We wanted to work with him and care for him as much as we could.

"But the dysfunctional member of the family often takes the most attention and time away from the other members of the family. It definitely tarnished the whole weekend. His problem is obviously deep. It has to be if the guy took those steps at that point. How deep must it have been to compromise his professional career and walk out on his teammates and the entire organization? It's mind-boggling that a guy would do that at that point."

Maybe the rest of us should take our cues from those comments. After all, it was the Raiders who stood to lose the most from Robbins' disappearance. If they're starting to handle it, maybe we should, too.

When I first heard about the Robbins episode, I admit I didn't think too deeply about what would make a player do something so self-destructive. It sounded like the classic story of a guy who left his common sense at home in favor of a mixture of Tijuana and tequila -- which is dangerous in any situation. He gave in to the moment at hand, started to party and then realized his mistake far too late. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

But a few days later, that version of events is sounding a bit simplistic. And there's too much coming out about Robbins' background to believe that this was just one monumental lapse in judgment at the worst possible time.

"Remember, this is a guy who blew out his knee in Week 2 last year and rehabilitated himself all year to get back on the field," said a Raiders source. "And he had a Pro Bowl year. It doesn't make sense to think he would have wanted to just throw all that away at the Super Bowl."

Said another team source: "I think everybody in our organization is just trying to take some time and reflect on everything. It's like the old carpenter's saying: 'You measure twice and cut once.'"

Sounds like good advice for those who will be charged with making a decision on Robbins' playing future in Oakland. Maybe there is no way to undo the damage that has been done. Maybe the next time we hear his name will be when he becomes an ex-Raider.

But maybe, just maybe, Robbins' moment of infamy can somehow be transformed into a moment of epiphany, helping him past whatever it was that he unsuccessfully struggled with last weekend.

Yes, the Super Bowl is the biggest football game of the year. But it's just a football game.

Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.

 

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