Former LSU football player Tyrann Mathieu was arrested yesterday, two months after he was kicked off the team for repeated failed drug tests.
Mathieu wasn't just a Heisman Trophy finalist last season, he was the most explosive and charismatic player in the country. He had the signature look (a blonde mohawk), a chip on his shoulder (he's 5'8"), and a perfect nickname (the Honey Badger).
It's unfathomable that he would throw away that star potential, but it's clear that he's still struggling with deeper personal issues than anyone imagined.
Sporting News reporter Matt Crossman wrote a lengthy article about Mathieu last winter. In it, Mathieu talked about being angry for no reason and feeling unloved after his mom gave him up for adoption. This morning, Crossman has been tweeting out a string of Mathieu tidbits that together, as SB Nation's Spencer Hall points out, might be the best story on the player to date. Here's one devastating anecdote:
Mathieu was so old by the time he started to call someone mom and dad that he remembers feeling awkward using those words. I wanted to cry.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
Here's Crossman's entire timeline from this morning.
I had a long interview with Tyrann Mathieu last winter that resulted in this story: aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/…
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
It was the most emotionally draining interview I've ever done. At the time, I wished he'd stop talking because what he said was so painful.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
Later, I realized it wasn't that I wished he'd stop talking, but that I wished what he said wasn't true. He had enough pain for 2 lives.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
Everybody loves a story about an athlete who has fallen & gotten up. But it was obvious then and evident now that Mathieu was still falling.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
He desperately wanted someone to trust but was surrounded by people who didn't deserve to be trusted. He didn't know how to trust, anyway.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
I concluded the root of Tyrann Mathieu's pain is he doesn't believe anybody loves him unconditionally. Not his mom, not his dad. Nobody.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
What broke my heart -- what made me have to sit there and catch my breath after the interview -- is the possibility he was right.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
Mathieu was so old by the time he started to call someone mom and dad that he remembers feeling awkward using those words. I wanted to cry.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
Nobody should remember starting to say mom and dad or wonder if they should call people that or feel like they're experimenting.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
Can you imagine thinking or saying this? "I know if I have a child, I’ll be there for them, no matter what." That's Mathieu.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
What has happened to a kid that he has to say that out loud? It was almost like he had to learn that.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
Mathieu on 2 Mathieus: 'There was 1 who did right thing, who was loving. There was the 1 who was out of sync, and didn’t belive in himself.'
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
I read in SI that Mathieu is going to be a dad. I hope that he sees in that baby's eyes some measure of what he's missing.
— Matt Crossman (@MattCrossmanSN) October 26, 2012
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