Hat tip to acie4mvp, who put up a FanShot on this very topic a little bit earlier tonight. Kudos to everyone who keeps us informed of breaking news as it happens.
That said, I found out about five minutes before I got on the site via a co-worker. With editing for language, here's more or less our exact exchange:
Him: Did you see that Eric Weems got arrested?
Me: Wait, who?
Him: Eric Weems.
Me: Are you bleeping kidding me? What the bleep. Bleep! Bleep! Bleep.
I haven't cooled down in the slightest bit in the short time since then, so you're going to get me at my angriest here. We're going to forge ahead realizing that this is an allegation, and that the Falcons just found out about it after it happened back in November. I am cognizant of that.
But seriously, what the hell?
What is going on with this team? A staggering spate of injuries, a handful of which were season-ending. Play and play-calling that seems to get worse by the week. And now, notification of two arrests of two of our more valuable players this season, in the form of top defensive tackle Jon Babineaux and now special teams asset Eric Weems. I don't buy the notion of a curse for one second, but if we hadn't just slogged and suffered through 2007 I would swear that we've just hit bottom.
Now you have two guys who could potentially be facing NFL suspensions by early next season and we're one loss away from blowing our most recent chance to have winning seasons in back-to-back years. It makes me froth at the mouth like a rabid badger to see this happening. Something besides mere bad luck, you would think, must be in effect for all of this to come together at the same time. Something evil.
I have no idea what the team will do with Weems, though I doubt it'll be anything for this weekend. But for a guy who has clawed his way onto the roster and then done enough damage to be considered for a bigger role next season, Weems putting himself in a situation where he could even potentially be arrested like this is incredibly bad. Maybe this is the break Troy Bergeron has been looking for all season, particularly if it turns out that Weems withheld the information of his arrest from the team. Ironically, allegedly driving drunk won't get you anything immediate from the team, but lying about it certainly would. We'll have to see how this plays out in the days ahead.
Your thoughts, level-headed readers?