Former Bengals QB Jon Kitna recalls Player Drunk during a Game
If you’ve ever felt like having an adult beverage while working you’re probably not alone. And, it’s not unheard of for someone to show up intoxicated to their workplace. However, it’s a bit different when you’re a professional football player and it’s game day!
During a recent podcast, a former NFL player commented that he remembers a teammate showing up drunk for a game. You would expect the rest of the story to mention that said player would have had a terrible day, but that’s not what happened!
Jon Kitna, a former QB for the Bengals, recently appeared on the Ryen Russillo Podcast and chatted up old times. During the interview, Kitna talked about an unnamed player showing up late before the game and then going on to have a pretty good day!
“There was a time that I played a game with a guy that was drunk in the huddle. There was a time that a guy showed up late to a game. In the NFL, you need to be there two hours, two hours, and 15 minutes ahead of time. And he showed up under an hour before the game’s start. Those are weird things, now. That’s tough. I’m not sure if the staff knew. But I think the guy was like — that was kind of his normal. I mean he was drunk and had close to 200 yards receiving now. So it was crazy.”
Kitna played with the Bengals from 2001-2005 so there’s a good chance a bunch of internet detectives is already crunching game stats during that period looking for players that had near 200 yard days.
If you thought drinking before a game was unheard of, guess again!
Several NFL players have admitted to drinking before games. Clinton Portis, former back for the Washington and Denver Clinton Portis, said that he and some other teammates would regularly have a quick swallow “of Hennessy” before the start of a game.
The admission came during an interview with the Washington Post in 2017. Portis stated that he, Santana Moss, and the late Sean Taylor would boost their “adrenaline” before games.
“Not like going out and getting sloppy wasted. Just adrenaline,” Portis said in the interview. “You know, you take a shot and you were done with it. Me, Santana, and Sean, we did this for a year and a half before anybody knew. We never told anybody. It was just, hey, here’s a little sip, bam, that was it.”
It just stands to reason that Babe Ruth couldn’t be the only professional sports figure in history that would have a swallow, or several, before hitting the field.
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