Ben Cousins — proof that crowds are fickle and stupid

[Gunnar Longshanks]

Is it fair to say that there is a vastly different attitude towards Ben Cousins than there was 12 months ago among the football public?

It seems like most punters want to see Ben Cousins come back and play good footy. Hell, the Richmond fans are all over this as a human interest story — it's all about redemption, courage in adversity and facing your demons.

I wonder if they were as warm as fuzzy a year ago.

As I recall, when Cousins was arrested on that Perth street, there was very little sympathy for him. He had had enough chances. He was a selfish w***er. Good riddance.

But 12 months on, that has softened. Why?

Among Richmond fans, the answer is simple. Suddenly, there's something in it for them. They've been persuaded to love Cousins by the promise of getting a good player for nothing. That was quick, wasn't it?

But among the neutrals, what's changed? Has Cousins done something to persuade people? Has he beared his soul and begged for forgiveness? What brought about the shift in public sentiment?

The answer, of course, is absolutely nothing has changed.

Cousins is still the same cocksure creature he was 12 months ago. He hasn't offered any real contrition. He's the same guy who drew howls of judgement from every quarter. He's the same guy everyone loved to hate, only no-one really seems to feel that way anymore.

Why?

If there were good reasons to despise Cousins 12 months ago, aren't those reasons still valid? I don't understand how they can have evaporated, when Cousins hasn't really done anything to appease people.

It seems people just got bored of being judgemental, and decided that it would actually be more interesting if Cousins was allowed back. It just goes to show that all the self-righteous conviction that sprung up in condemnation of Cousins was little more than hot air. It all got blown away once the wind changed.

 

[Wally Matera]

Fair point, but l think the last 2 weeks has shown him that he doesnt run the place anymore and he's had to grovel to a few people to get back to what he loves doing.

But we all know time, daylight, tumbleweed heals all wounds. Its time for a fresh start for everyone, AFL included on this one... only one person can take the opportunity though.

Best to just leave it now and just let it run its course.

 

[Will.B.Worth.Da.Waite]

what a stupid thread. people have changed their attitude towards ben because he has changed his attitude. he has spent the last year trying to get clean and trying to restart his life and resurrect his career.

if he had continued on his old path, we would all still have the same feelings towards him. but the fact is he has tried to righ this wrongs, and as a result deserves a second chance

 

[bullish23]

what a stupid thread. people have changed their attitude towards ben because he has changed his attitude. he has spent the last year trying to get clean and trying to restart his life and resurrect his career.

has he?

If so why did he shave the hair from his head and have a complete body wax just before he was required to provide a sample for drug testing?

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

what a stupid thread. people have changed their attitude towards ben because he has changed his attitude.

And you know this because? How would you know what his attitude is? Seems to me the only reason his "attitude" has altered is because it's the only way he can get a club interested in him. Geez, Richmond are so gullible.

The Ben Cousins situation just proves to me what I have known all along .. that no matter how much of a B grade citizen you are, no matter how poor your behaviour has been, if you can play footy it's all forgiven.

Footy's about to put its head on a chopping block. If Ben stuffs up, there is a whole world out there just waiting to pounce and rip footy apart. I'm amazed we are willing to risk all that.

 

[mantis]

has he?

If so why did he shave the hair from his head and have a complete body wax just before he was required to provide a sample for drug testing?

Exactly, anyone who think he's changed are kidding themselves.

 

[Top_4_Tiger]

It will be interesting to see how powerful drug addiction is.

If Ben relapses with the entire football world supporting him (including the intimate setting of a new club risking a lot to offer him the chance) then as a social experiment it shows the world how incredibly serious drug addiction is.

If he relapses again, I would then believe that drugs can literally become impossible to escape for some people.

 

[clobba]

My opinion hasnt changed I still think hes an arrogant w***er (and not the smartest bloke alive to boot) but I would have been glad to have him at the Saints, last year I had more of a problem with your fans and club administrations head in the sand approach not Cousins himself.

Recreational drug use I couldnt give a toss about.

 

[Gunnar Longshanks]

people have changed their attitude towards ben because he has changed his attitude.

How do you know this?

What did you know about Cousins' attitude 12 months ago? What do you know about it now?

I'd venture that the answer to both those questions is the same: sweet F-all. Cousins certainly hasn't volunteered any information about "his attitude".

But here you are, claiming to have glimpsed Cousins' soul, and to have realised that he really wants to change. How touching.

Except, he was trying to get clean while still at West Coast. That didn't get him a lot of sympathy midway through 2007.

People have softened towards Cousins, purely because they got bored of kicking him. People got tired of that story. The tone needed to change to something less depressing. Nothing Cousins has done has driven this shift in sentiment.

It suggests that the initial outrage was phony.

A year ago, Cousins was a public hate figure. Now, his narrative is one of second chances and redemption. Nothing material has changed in the interim - one brand of manipulative, button-pushing bullshit has been replaced by another.

 

[Madtiger2006]

Is it fair to say that there is a vastly different attitude towards Ben Cousins than there was 12 months ago among the football public?

It seems like most punters want to see Ben Cousins come back and play good footy. Hell, the Richmond fans are all over this as a human interest story — it's all about redemption, courage in adversity and facing your demons.

I wonder if they were as warm as fuzzy a year ago.

As I recall, when Cousins was arrested on that Perth street, there was very little sympathy for him. He had had enough chances. He was a selfish w***er. Good riddance.

But 12 months on, that has softened. Why?

Among Richmond fans, the answer is simple. Suddenly, there's something in it for them. They've been persuaded to love Cousins by the promise of getting a good player for nothing. That was quick, wasn't it?

But among the neutrals, what's changed? Has Cousins done something to persuade people? Has he beared his soul and begged for forgiveness? What brought about the shift in public sentiment?

The answer, of course, is absolutely nothing has changed.

Cousins is still the same cocksure creature he was 12 months ago. He hasn't offered any real contrition. He's the same guy who drew howls of judgement from every quarter. He's the same guy everyone loved to hate, only no-one really seems to feel that way anymore.

Why?

If there were good reasons to despise Cousins 12 months ago, aren't those reasons still valid? I don't understand how they can have evaporated, when Cousins hasn't really done anything to appease people.

It seems people just got bored of being judgemental, and decided that it would actually be more interesting if Cousins was allowed back. It just goes to show that all the self-righteous conviction that sprung up in condemnation of Cousins was little more than hot air. It all got blown away once the wind changed.

you probably loved him 2 years ago but hate him now

 

[Haydos]

He hasnt changed, just peoples perception of him has changed.

He got driven out of the game because of the publics reaction to his antics and subsequent damage this caused to the 'image' of the AFL. Then 12 months later, no one seems to care so much, hence the AFL let him back because the perceived damage to there image is gone.

 

[Gunnar Longshanks]

you probably loved him 2 years ago but hate him now

No - I don't hate him. Far from it.

I've always thought he was a great player, and that his downfall was incredibly sad. And unnecessary. It's the sheer wastefulness of it that still nags at me.

I don't know if the club got it right with how they handled him. In hindsight, maybe things should have been done differently. It's been a pretty grim episode for the club and its supporters.

But Cousins is a champion of West Coast - he will always be a champion of West Coast regardless of what happens from here on in. His services to the club don't just get waved away. I always hoped he would return to football. Obviously, I hoped for some time that he would finish his career at West Coast. When it became clear that that wouldn't happen, I still hoped he would run out for another team. He deserved to finish on his own terms. For such a brilliant player to bow out in disgrace would have been a real pity.

Cousins has made bad decisions. Sometimes, he has acted selfishly. But I never saw him as a "bad person" or a really nasty fellow, and I don't think he ever deserved the vitriol directed at him for his problems. People really wanted to skewer Cousins. They wanted him condemned without reservation. I thought it was OTT at the time - he copped it far worse than Wayne Carey did after he was sacked by the Kangas.

That that vitriol has miraculously turned into goodwill, without Cousins doing anything to bring about that shift, just confirms in my mind that that vitriol was bogus from the outset. People like judging other people - it gives them a sense of moral power. To judge a rich, famous, good-looking athlete must be the ultimate high. So people especially liked judging Cousins. Then they got bored of that, and gravitated towards a different storyline, which is all about him getting a second chance and redeeming himself. That's the only thing that has changed.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

another melodrama from Gunnar Longshanks

 

[ONE EYED EAGLE]

Could it perhaps be perceived as a case of "Tall Poppy Syndrome", so when he stuffs up he is crucified, followed by "Support The Underdog", as in when a bloke is down on his luck give him a helping hand back up. ??

 

[ONE EYED EAGLE]

another melodrama from Gunnar Longshanks

makes entertaining reading though - certainly invokes some heavy debating at times.

 

[footy4ever]

Have always had mixed feelings about B.C. How many chances should he be given? And, has he ever tested positive for illicit drug use during footy season?..I think he hasn't. (correct me if I'm wrong)

Nevertheless, while he continues to thumb his nose at the AFL and all that is fair, by his ridiculous and 'incriminating' stunt of de-hairing, i have to remain suspicious about it all.

But, if he's going to play, I wish it would be in the midfield for my team. I knew there would be teams desperate enough to dive in at the last minute and grab him.

He is a risky proposition, and i hope the AFL gets serious about his drug testing for drugs that aid physical performance. And if he ***** up with drugs on a match day, I hope the AFL has the guts to punish his team as well.

 

[Gunnar Longshanks]

another melodrama from Gunnar Longshanks

That's not a very apt criticism.

If you disagree with something I've said, then disagree.

But "melodramatic"? That's your riposte?

That's just a way to take a shot without offering any intelligent counterpoint.

Try again.

 

[RichoRox12]

He hasnt changed, just peoples perception of him has changed.

He got driven out of the game because of the publics reaction to his antics and subsequent damage this caused to the 'image' of the AFL. Then 12 months later, no one seems to care so much, hence the AFL let him back because the perceived damage to there image is gone.

I completely agree. The guy never actually tested positive, yet he still went about doing the right thing by the AFL which was to admit his problem and get rehabilitation etc. Who knows if he's still on the sauce, but from a PR perspective he's ticking all the boxes considering the situation.

Another example of fickle crowds - 12 months ago everyone hated Richmond and thought Richo was a hack. Since the superstar finished equal 3rd in the Brownlow at the age of 33, and with previous comments about Richmond giving Ben another go... tides have certainly changed.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

He's done the crime.. done the time and now he should be given a second chance.

Surely you could understand that Gunnar?

 

[Gunnar Longshanks]

Another example of fickle crowds - 12 months ago everyone hated Richmond and thought Richo was a hack. Since the superstar finished equal 3rd in the Brownlow at the age of 33, and with previous comments about Richmond giving Ben another go... tides have certainly changed.

Why would people hate Richmond?

More than anything, they're considered an irrelevance.

 

[swingdog]

Maybe we didn't get bored.

Maybe we realised the AFL was being incredibly hypocritical (recreational drugs = ban, riding in a car with known gangster who is shooting at police = slap on the wrist, boozing in public = boys being boys) and was crucifying Cousins because it wanted (at the time) to be seen to be doing something to get the then Federal Government off its back.

Maybe we decided that it's only the media who is self-righteous enough to believe that footballers are role models and that most of us are happy to watch what these blokes do on the field and that be the end of it. As Chris Judd said, if you're looking at footballers as role models, you're looking in the wrong place.

Maybe we all just grew up a bit.

 

[richskee]

Cousins is an absolute D1ck Head!!! ohhhh ooops i mean, yay go cousins!

 

[Haggard H]

Is it fair to say that there is a vastly different attitude towards Ben Cousins than there was 12 months ago among the football public?

12 months? more like one month. I'll confess I was anti Tiges drafting him a couple of weeks ago (but happy for someone else to), but am all for it now.

A couple of weeks ago interested clubs looked like Madonna adopting African kids for spurious reasons, but now the Tiges are like Bob Geldof saving the world. It's all crap public perception built by media hype, but hey, if we can milk it to our advantage ...

 

[Gunnar Longshanks]

He's done the crime.. done the time and now he should be given a second chance.

Surely you could understand that Gunnar?

I don't think responses to Cousins have ever been that rational.

For starters, what was his crime?

Bringing the game into disrepute? Come on - that's bullshit. I still don't know what that even means. It's so calculatedly elastic that it basically just gives the AFL an out if they want to short-circuit bad publicity. That's what happened with Cousins 12 months ago.

I accept that the AFL probably had to give Cousins a year off, but let's not pretend that it was this dispassionate act of perfect justice. By couching Cousins' situation in the language of law and order, you confer a legitimacy on the AFL's actions that is unwarranted.

And secondly, if people were happy to forgive Cousins after he'd "done the time", then why was he still so unpopular when he returned to play for the Eagles in 2007?

People still wanted to judge him and condemn him then. West Coast had suspended him from the club - he served a similiar sentence to one that would have been imposed on a player who actually had three strikes against his name. That's a crucial point. Cousins "did the time" back in 2007, but it wasn't enough. No-one was nearly as sympathetic then as they are now.

So there are two problems. One, what was his crime, beyond generating negative publicity? Two, he "did the time" before, and nobody was satisfied - so why are they so easily appeased this time around?

 

[Bollox]

Didnt realise any attitudes had changed.

Maybe some people just take the attitudes they read on BigFooty to be representative of public opinion...when its more representative of pubescent angst and hero worship.

Cousins isnt the first sportsman to throw his/her career away. He had so many wake up calls and so many wanting to help that its difficult to find excuses even now. To act like the recalcitrant toward the drafting process and the 16 AFL clubs via his actions leading up and including the draft period was just the last straw for many.

Still...i dont see anyone other than some pubeys on BigFooty softening their attitude. Some might pretend to now care but i doubt anyone has seriously altered their opinions coz he has done nothing to warrant that yet.

Its not as tho anyone within an AFL club or the media was going to shitcan him publicly and call it how it is....noone wanted to unduly effect his chances at rejoining the game i guess. All any coach/ex coach/player/explayer needed to say was "brought it on himself" and the media would have stomped on them...so noone did nor could so it may have somewhat created a perception of universal support...likely some couldnt see thru that.

They spoke thru their actions though when it came time to make a decision on him.

Some people just take too long to see when a guy has been abusing the good nature and forgiveness shown by joe public.