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Friday, July 31, 2026

Basketball - A Physician's Take on "Chemical Health" - User Beware


Image adapted by ChatGPT Plus from an older blog post

What keeps coaches awake at night? Coaches don't control what happens when players leave the gym. Chemical health is an oxymoron like "jumbo shrimp." 

My mother "offered" me alcohol when I was thirteen. I didn't know much then, but I could already see how it was affecting her. I declined. 

First, there is no "stay in your lane." As a physician who practiced for 44 years, I've seen the acute, chronic, and mixed effects of alcohol. I've seen dual diagnosis patients (mental health plus alcoholism) and patients commit suicide related to alcohol. I've seen alcohol-related cancers. I trained with a Navy doctor who had to have his ship's Captain "relieved for cause" because the CO came back to the ship intoxicated on multiple occasions. 

Every story was tragic and preventable. 

  • Patients who showed up in acute liver failure and died in days
  • Alcohol withdrawal - "DTs" - "shakes, horrors, and fits"
  • Patients who had organ-specific toxicity (heart failure, pancreatitis, cirrhosis, dementia - "wet brain"). None of them started to drink thinking they'd end up with the "glass holding them" instead of the other way around.
  • Secondary effects like "aspiration pneumonia"
  • Patients with DUIs or vehicular homicides
I've heard again and again, "there's nothing else to do here."

I've seen a teammate show up intoxicated for a game - and play poorly. The coach said, "What's the matter with you today?" 

The simple answer is "alcohol impairs every thing about you." It degrades memory, concentration, strength, endurance, recovery, and sleep. 

Here's a list of prominent NBA players (AI can make mistakes) whose alcohol issues impacted their careers. 

If being your best is your brand, alcohol is one way to subvert that intention. 

Lagniappe. You don't need a "deep bag" to enjoy success early. But you need to have these. 








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