Plankton
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 12,257
- Reaction score
- 18,648
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/05/25/anthony-fasano-addiction-treatment-centers
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A mile off the main drag, in a neighborhood outlined by a single-lane unpaved road and featuring rows of waist-high hedges, a 5,000-square-foot mission-style house is innocuous enough. In the backyard, four men gather in a circle of lawn chairs on the patio. They have just returned from yoga. It’s the middle of summer, and the midday sun beats on their shoulders and glistens off the pool at the center of a manicured lawn. “Sometimes I look around,” says one of the men, “and wonder how I got here. Not necessarily at a place that’s as beautiful as this, but a place where I feel secure.”
This is an addiction treatment center, and these are four of the patients in the 10-bed home. They range from ages 24 to 47, hailing from New Jersey and Western Massachusetts. They all have stories: heroin, alcohol, strained family relationships. Some have been to rehab before—some more than once. “I’ve been at places with 30-40 beds, places that you can just slip under the cracks if you want to,” one of the men says. “And so that’s what I did. It’s not like that here.”
A few feet away, Anthony Fasano looks on and smiles. He is about to enter his 12th season as an NFL tight end, and he is the owner of this facility.
An active NFL player kick-starting a second career isn’t exactly novel. But when Fasano, who has played for the Cowboys, Chiefs, Titans and is about to begin his second stint with the Dolphins, opened Next Chapter Addiction, it raised eyebrows for being unconventional, and risky.
And indeed, it has been a complicated venture for Fasano. His playing career is dwindling (the 33-year-old just signed a one-year deal with Miami). He invested in the facility in part because it could be lucrative. It’s also personal. Fasano’s brother-in-law struggled with addiction and recovery.
“I feel like I went into this for all the right reasons and because I wanted to do things the right way,” Fasano says. “At times I feel like I’m way over my head. But I hope in the end it’s worth it.”
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A mile off the main drag, in a neighborhood outlined by a single-lane unpaved road and featuring rows of waist-high hedges, a 5,000-square-foot mission-style house is innocuous enough. In the backyard, four men gather in a circle of lawn chairs on the patio. They have just returned from yoga. It’s the middle of summer, and the midday sun beats on their shoulders and glistens off the pool at the center of a manicured lawn. “Sometimes I look around,” says one of the men, “and wonder how I got here. Not necessarily at a place that’s as beautiful as this, but a place where I feel secure.”
This is an addiction treatment center, and these are four of the patients in the 10-bed home. They range from ages 24 to 47, hailing from New Jersey and Western Massachusetts. They all have stories: heroin, alcohol, strained family relationships. Some have been to rehab before—some more than once. “I’ve been at places with 30-40 beds, places that you can just slip under the cracks if you want to,” one of the men says. “And so that’s what I did. It’s not like that here.”
A few feet away, Anthony Fasano looks on and smiles. He is about to enter his 12th season as an NFL tight end, and he is the owner of this facility.
An active NFL player kick-starting a second career isn’t exactly novel. But when Fasano, who has played for the Cowboys, Chiefs, Titans and is about to begin his second stint with the Dolphins, opened Next Chapter Addiction, it raised eyebrows for being unconventional, and risky.
And indeed, it has been a complicated venture for Fasano. His playing career is dwindling (the 33-year-old just signed a one-year deal with Miami). He invested in the facility in part because it could be lucrative. It’s also personal. Fasano’s brother-in-law struggled with addiction and recovery.
“I feel like I went into this for all the right reasons and because I wanted to do things the right way,” Fasano says. “At times I feel like I’m way over my head. But I hope in the end it’s worth it.”