Vikings Backing Michael Floyd’s Kambucha Tea Defense…
Joe Johnson
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In case you’ve been living under a rock, whilst drinking enough tea to kill a Brit, you’ll know that the Vikings most important off-season move was signing the trouble wide receiver Michael Floyd. There were mixed reports as to whether or not Floyd was wearing an alcohol detecting ankle bracelet this off-season, as he did ask the judge that’s overseeing his house arrest to remove it so he could pursue football activities (and tea drinking), but the final story is that Floyd tested positive for alcohol multiple times the Sunday before last, three of which came from breathlyzer tests (one of which he initially refused). Instead of coming out and saying he made a mistake, he quadrupled down on things by saying that it wasn’t his fault, but rather the small amount of alcohol that exists in a kind of tea called Kambucha.
Few people believed the story, as it would’ve taken an insane amount of tea for Floyd to blow half the legal limit for driving and it was written off as yet another sad chapter in the short career of Michael Floyd. While the Vikings were mostly taking a wait and see approach (as Floyd will be back in court soon) when the news first broke, that all changed over the weekend when they came out in defense of their new receiver. In a letter to that judge, the Vikings apparently wrote a letter stating that they encouraged their receiver to drink Kambucha tea and that’s why he decided to replace all of the blood and water in his body with it, at least according to The Pioneer Press.
“I am writing to request Mr. Floyd not have his court mandated requirements negatively impacted since he did not know the kombucha he ingested contained alcohol… In closing, since Michael has joined our team, he has displayed a strong work ethic, a compliant attitude and professionalism,” Warren wrote in support of Floyd.
So, the story is that the team encouraged a player who has had issues with alcohol to drink tons of tea that has alcohol in it? While this will probably work and will mean that Floyd may be able to play with the Vikings this season after all, none of it gets Floyd closer to sobriety. He keeps getting fifth chances because of his talent and that’s something that could end up killing him, unfortunately. It’s hard enough to get sober when the world is telling you to get sober or else, so having a team in a league as powerful as the NFL backing you, in court no less, seems like a bad idea for a guy who needs very little incentive to convince himself to continue to make the same mistakes that have already cost him tens of millions of dollars.
I’m torn here because the Vikings are so important to me but at the same time, I’m also an alcoholic and know how hard it was for me to get sober. So, hopefully this’ll all work out in the end for Floyd, the Vikings and for Kambucha (any press is good press!), but considering it’s the Vikings I really am not sure that it will.