After ESPN flap, Joe Namath says his alcohol abuse is 'history.'
Just over a month after embarrassing himself on national television with a slurred, rambling interview, Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath has admitted he is "getting personal help" for alcohol abuse. "Well, I've enrolled, or I've gone into a center, and I'm getting personal help there," Namath told ESPN in an interview to be aired Sunday. "Yeah, these people are experts and we need to talk."
During the second quarter of the Jets' Dec.20 home game against New England, ESPN sideline reporter Suzy Kolber asked Namath to comment on the state of his former team. The former Jet great gave an erratic response:
"I want to kiss you," he said. "I couldn't care less about the team struggling. What we know is that we can improve. Chad Pennington, our quarterback, missed the first part of the season and we struggled. We're looking to next season."
Namath concluded the interview with a second romantic overture, "And I want to kiss you." He has since apologized to Kolber and makes further amends in the ESPN segment.
"We had been going since 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and I did the wrong thing," Namath tells ESPN, referring to the Dec.20 pregame festivities for the Jets' Four Decade Team. "I'm very disappointed with my behavior, because of how I've embarrassed my family, and the people that I work with and my friends and all. But, hey, worse things have happened. And, thank God I'm healthy, and we'll move on, and we'll make it better."
He added: "Every time that something in my life has gone askew, alcohol has been involved."
Namath, who guaranteed and then helped deliver to Jets fans their only Super Bowl title in 1969, claims he has not watched a tape of the infamous exchange with Kolber. But he said the incident served notice it was time to take action.
"That was the wake-up call," Namath said. "Even before that, I said, 'Yeah, I'm going to stop, I'm going to stop.'"
But Namath said he would always resume drinking. Now, he hopes to be alcohol-free for good. "It's just something I cannot handle, and it's history," he said.
I'm going to guess that if you get drunk enough to make an ass out of yourself on national tv, then you might just get drunk enough to make an ass out of yourself even when the tv cameras aren't there.
-Jag
"I'm going to go now and demand beer money from my representative. We simply must deal with the problem of my sobriety." - PalpatineW
Originally posted by DONUTDREAMSSuzy Kobler, she ain't no Melissa Stark, lemme tell you. Ho hooo mercy I'd do her. Except she's preggers. So I guess not.