8-game suspension? E-I-E-Oh-no! — Former trojan T.J. McDonald is suspended by the NFL for the first half of the 2017 season, due to his driving while wasted on drugs and crashing into another car
It’s been a while since a former trojan has made headlines with criminal behavior — quite a rare cold spell. But that drought was ended today, when the NFL announced the 8-game suspension without pay of ex-u$c Defensive Back T.J. McDonald. The suspension is the League’s reaction to a May 2016 incident when McDonald got all hopped up on prescription meds, and careened his car into a parked vehicle in Woodland Hills.
McDonald pleaded no contest to a “wet reckless” charge, which is a form of DUI. He was sentenced to 36 months of probation, 200 hours of community service, 18 Narcotics Anonymous meetings, a one-month live-in residential drug program, and he had to pay $1,900 to the owner of the car he smashed into. Apparently, the NFL felt the need to pile on, with a half-season suspension without pay. As it was, McDonald wasn’t getting paid anyway, since the Rams had already cut him last year. McDonald is a free agent, but his value just went WAY down, now that he can’t play until Week 9.
In cases like this one, where a young man falls prey to the perils of ADDICTION, it is common to look at the parents, who might share the blame. Maybe it was his upbringing that led to his lack of morals and self-control. Well, in this instance, maybe the acorn didn’t fall far from the tree: T.J.’s Dad Tim, just like T.J., is a former trojan football player. When you go through a system that ingrains you with the sense that you are above the law, it is no surprise that you cultivate that same stupidity in your offspring. So maybe T.J. had no choice — between his indoctrination at sc and the way he was raised at home by a trojan-for-life, perhaps he was FATED to be a drug-abusing screw-up.