Zimmer Tells Michael Floyd: If I Find Out You Lied About Kambucha, You’re Cut
Joe Johnson
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Talk about laying down the law!
Now, we’ve talked about Michael Floyd and his situation pretty much at a nauseating level at this point and I’ve talked about my problems with alcohol to the point that I feel like I’m exploiting it. So, I’m sure you guys are tired of hearing about this as well and so I’ll make this short and sweet. On the purpleJOURNAL Podcast last week we discussed this and the conclusion essentially was that the team couldn’t have actually believed Floyd’s story but they essentially had to back him up because they were worried about legal ramifications of providing a beverage that has trace amounts of alcohol to an alcoholic. So, while this could be Zimmer coveViking’se Vikings tracks, he doesn’t seem like that type of guy, especially as he’s gotten in trouble for being too honest in the past.
Speaking to the Pioneer Press yesterday, Zimmer said:
“Do I believe it? I don’t know how much tea he drank. I have no clue, I don’t have any doubt why there’d be skepticism, but he told me that he wasn’t (drinking). That it was legit.”
Zimmer brings up the amount of tea, which a lot of other sites have concluded would’ve taken GALLONS worth to reach the levels of alcohol in Floyd’s urine that Monday morning. However, Zimmer does seem to be the type of guy that takes people at their word, even if he threatens them in the process. He continued:
He then pulled a razor blade out of his mouth that he had been keeping under his tongue in case anyone looks at him cock-eyed (or one-eyed?) and mimed an ear to ear throat cutting. I’m kidding. He obviously meant that Floyd’s got essentially less than one more chance to make this team (or not make it). It’s less than a chance because he still may be cut for the Kambucha thing IF Zimmer decides to actually look into it and realize that it’d be impossible for someone to drink that much tea without essentially and literally dying.
Either way, I really hope that this will end up working out for the Vikings and Floyd. He’s a great player when he applies himself and I’m sure he’s upset that he was that close to a $40-$50 million dollar contract in free agency before passing out behind the wheel of his SUV after a game in December. But, if he can come through and stay on the straight and narrow path, he will bring a dynamic to this Vikings offense that they haven’t had and desperately need and end up landing a great contract in the process. That all depends on how many games the NFL plans on suspending him for (for violating the league’s substance abuse policy) but considering all the nonsense the Vikings have had to deal with thus far with Floyd, I don’t see them cutting him even if it’s an eight game suspension as they would’ve done it already.
Either way. I can see how this story ends and I really hope I’m wrong, but it’s good to know that the Vikings are setting up boundaries, parameters, and consequences. The last thing anyone wants to do, including an NFL franchise, is enable someone’s substance abuse issues. That’s what they essentially did by supporting Floyd’s inane excuse, so it is at least a silver lining that Zimmer appears to be moving away from being part of an enabling system and towards accountability. Hopefully, it works. If it does? Barring injury, the sky is the limit for this Vikings team in 2017.