When he was coaching in PHL, he was at a function with his wife when the question was asked how long he planned to coach and his wife offered up "until our kids are through high school" and Reid just smiled, nodded and looked at her. They were both known as devoted and loving parents.
What's this now, "the sins of the father" thinking? Andy Reid set out to make sure his sons got into drugs and trouble because that's what all father seek for their children?
Let me share something. I have two sons. One is sound and stable, married for 14 years with 3 great children and is as devoted a father and husband as I've ever witnessed. The other one is lost, can't hold a job and thinks the world owes him something just for him being in it. My first son is an intelligent man but my younger son is borderline genius and was in the gifted classes.
Those two men were raised by the same two people and are not even like they are from the same two parents. My entire support family has been waiting for almost 40 years for the younger one to "get it'. I do not think he ever will.
My wife and I went through drug rehab and family counseling with our younger son to the point of having him, unwillingly, put into a program two hours away. We saw plenty of people like ourselves, people looking for guidance and hope, people who loved their kids as much as the parents of kids who weren't on drugs and asking ourselves "what did we do wrong"?
On the old DC.com forum, I took shots at Andy when his sons were arrested and thoughtlessly called him "Father of the Year" facetiously and that is one post I regret more than others because I hated the Eagles and him for coaching them. It was really inhuman and short sighted, considering my own track record with my youngest.
Andy Reid is a haunted man. Haunted by the memory of one son, dead from an overdose, and hopeful that his other one was going to make it and now this happens. No words here can put him in more pain that he is in right now. Do any of us really think his mind was on a football game Sunday? Since he lost one son, he has desperately been trying to save the other and what more could he do?
I can only assume those piling on him are not parents. You see, parenting changes when they start to become teenagers and peer pressure begins to take over and as parents we can only hope we put their feet on a solid path to make the best choices when confronted with them.
