Ben Cousins documentary

[Primmy]

How any of the Ben Cousins story could come across as "encouraging youngsters to take up drugs" is a mind altering idea. That has been mooted on some other "comment" areas, that fair stunned me. This is a gut wrenching view of a man in crisis who doesn't know he is! That's the whole stupid nastiness of the drug taking. Its all about me. And the one thing Ben was truly lucky in was having the same genes as his father, who as we see is just as focused as he is, except he was/is focused on making sure his son survived.

He makes the point that he is pretty much grateful for the AFL's stance in testing him some 3 times a week. He was forced to stay clean. It was probably this alone that got him to this point of recovery. That and the state he was in when he realised that he was probably not going to be wanted by any club at all. He was not going to play AFL again.

From my point of view the most gobsmaking moments are his soul burning honesty "I am a drug addict". Not I was a drug addict, nor a recovering drug addict. He makes the point for all of us to see, makes sure we all "get it", I Am A Drug Addict. That is what I call brave.

Fabulous player, no doubt. Can't stand him, no doubt. Respect him? Yes, now I do. I respect him, his father, his family, and ultimately Richmond. (shudder).

[Legs Akimbo]

Watched both episodes and was underwhelmed. As a documentary of events it was mildly interesting, mostly due to its filling of a few minor gaps rather than the skillful telling of the story. As social commentary it failed miserably because it failed to give any insights into the 'why'. What annoyed me most was that 7 promoted it as something parents should watch with their kids. I have four kids and no way would I watch that with them. Not because of the subject matter, but rather because the first episode in particular could only leave one with the feeling that taking drugs is fun and you can get away with it. I bet if they asked Ben Cousins if he would change anything he would say 'no'. That is the impression I am left with, even after watching the second episode. Seven's promotion of the nature of the documentary was cynical at best and deeply irresponsible at worst.

As for Ben Cousins himself, we can deduce that he remains a deeply flawed character. Seems like a good knockabout lad but selfish, vain and unable to or unwilling to externalize his actions. It's all about Ben. These are the character traits of many celebrity kids. He's not special - just another @@@@@@ up celeb with a good family that have tried to keep him alive and functioning despite his best efforts otherwise.

[Jewels]

Watched both episodes and was underwhelmed. As a documentary of events it was mildly interesting, mostly due to its filling of a few minor gaps rather than the skillful telling of the story. As social commentary it failed miserably because it failed to give any insights into the 'why'. What annoyed me most was that 7 promoted it as something parents should watch with their kids. I have four kids and no way would I watch that with them. Not because of the subject matter, but rather because the first episode in particular could only leave one with the feeling that taking drugs is fun and you can get away with it. I bet if they asked Ben Cousins if he would change anything he would say 'no'. That is the impression I am left with, even after watching the second episode. Seven's promotion of the nature of the documentary was cynical at best and deeply irresponsible at worst.

As for Ben Cousins himself, we can deduce that he remains a deeply flawed character. Seems like a good knockabout lad but selfish, vain and unable to or unwilling to externalize his actions. It's all about Ben. These are the character traits of many celebrity kids. He's not special - just another @@@@@@ up celeb with a good family that have tried to keep him alive and functioning despite his best efforts otherwise.

Hit the nail on the head there Legs.

[AnnieH]

It's going to take a lot longer for his father and sister to get over his problems than it's going to take the disgraced former West Coke budgie.
He admited that he'll always be an addict. That's a step.
His poor family. They are good people.

As for the addict, well ... I'll just wait and see what happens once he becomes a bit fat nobody.

[Jesse Richards]

As much as I empathise with Cousins the addict, the fact remains that he what he was doing is illegal. Over and over again. Cocaine is illegal. Methamphetamine is illegal. Hey kids, even possessing prescription drugs without a prescription is illegal. I don't think the illegality was sufficiently emphasised. The consequences for Ben didn't involve jail time, but for so many of the kids watching their hero's story - with or without their parents - jail will be a real possibility. Drug taking amongst young people is rife. So prevalent that we tend to forget that it is illegal, that there are legal consequences to having a criminal record.

[Robbo]

Sam Newman brought up a very interesting point on TFS last night. He found it strange that Cuz could just choose to stop taking drugs in the 2 or 3 days leading up to the game in case he got tested. Drug addicts don't choose when they want to take drugs, they just take them whenever they want. And they can't control when they will feel the urge to take them. But Ben said a few times last night that he would take drugs early in the week after games and then stop in the 2 or 3 days leading up to the next game.

That is very very strange.

[Kirkari]

As an anti-drug message, I think it's a total failure. IMO, the only people put off drugs by that doco will be people who are already anti-drug, and have led a fairly sheltered existance. The one scene of him twitching and looking as if he'd had a stroke, and the interviews with his family were the exceptions.

As the story of Ben Cousins' life to date, other than being chronological, it a was all over the place. You had to already know the story to really folow it, and there were so many allusions to people and events that weren't explained, who knew what was actually being said? They seemed to try to get a bit of underbelly-style intrigue going on, then abondoned that and went back to the footy side of things. I know his life HAS been all over the place, but a doco is supposed to make some attempt to present a cohesive message, isn't it?

That said, I quite enjoyed it, but only because he's such an engaging character. You can see how he has been indulged by so many people (including himself) for so long. I think my favourite scene was the lady from the AFL trying to find some hair, and Ben looking down his pants. I cried laughing. Best line: ?"Ah, Nina and Susie, good times... Though I still ended up in the back of an ambulance." (You see, something of a mixed message he's sending there.)

He's got a LONG way to go in his recovery. Recovery programs are all about accepting responsibility and making amends to thiose you've wronged. Not sure he thinks he's wronged anyone other than himself and his immediate family. Still seems to think it was nobody's business but his own, and that he was treated unfairly, like complaining about how the club announced they were sacking him and nobody had been contact with him directly. He fails to grasp that he had forfeited the right to expect such courtesies. A lot of "Sure I behaved badly, but so did the club, the AFL, the media, Cynthia Nixon...". Oh well.

It will be interesting to hear his reflections in another 5-10 years, assuming he stays off drugs, of course.

Ovwerall, I kind of think he's a dick, but I like him anyway, which might be how/why he keeps getting into trouble...

[Plugger46]

Sam Newman brought up a very interesting point on TFS last night. He found it strange that Cuz could just choose to stop taking drugs in the 2 or 3 days leading up to the game in case he got tested. Drug addicts don't choose when they want to take drugs, they just take them whenever they want. And they can't control when they will feel the urge to take them. But Ben said a few times last night that he would take drugs early in the week after games and then stop in the 2 or 3 days leading up to the next game.

That is very very strange.

From what I can gather, he was at his worst in 2007 and 2008 - when he wasn't playing much footy. Perhaps he could control it to some degree early but then the addiction got worse. I don't know the answer but I'd say that's possible.

[Plugger46]

He's got a LONG way to go in his recovery. Recovery programs are all about accepting responsibility and making amends to thiose you've wronged. Not sure he thinks he's wronged anyone other than himself and his immediate family. Still seems to think it was nobody's business but his own, and that he was treated unfairly, like complaining about how the club announced they were sacking him and nobody had been contact with him directly. He fails to grasp that he had forfeited the right to expect such courtesies. A lot of "Sure I behaved badly, but so did the club, the AFL, the media, Cynthia Nixon...". Oh well.

I think that's human nature. People need someone to blame. Rarely will you see anyone take total responsibility for something going wrong.

[Kirkari]

I think that's human nature. People need someone to blame. Rarely will you see anyone take total responsibility for something going wrong.

That's true, but addicts who don't want to relapse need to do a bit more work than that. Same with anyone who wants to fix problematic behaviour - you can't fix it if you insist it's someone else's fault.

[Xie Shan]

He's got a LONG way to go in his recovery. Recovery programs are all about accepting responsibility and making amends to thiose you've wronged. Not sure he thinks he's wronged anyone other than himself and his immediate family. Still seems to think it was nobody's business but his own, and that he was treated unfairly, like complaining about how the club announced they were sacking him and nobody had been contact with him directly. He fails to grasp that he had forfeited the right to expect such courtesies. A lot of "Sure I behaved badly, but so did the club, the AFL, the media, Cynthia Nixon...". Oh well.

Agree totally with all of that, watching it I got the sense that it's unlikely that he'll ever change, you only hope that over time he becomes a bit more introspective about his past actions and experiences. I think footy was hugely important in helping him get back from the brink, at least.

Yeah the doco was a bit all over the place, re-hashing a lot of what we knew already from the media circus. I agree that it generally failed on the anti-drug message apart from a few powerful scenes with his family, etc. It was more a case study of one individual's rise and dramatic fall, and it just so happened that the individual was right in the public eye.

[Tooth Fairy]

- Just fyi I haven't seen the program yet.


Their Premiership is NOT 'tainted'. None of this is performance enhancing. Long live Cuz.

Wrong. Ben even admitted on the show something like "The more drugs I did, the harder I trained and the better I played. I had found my zone" Not quoted line but he said something just like that which to me admitted that the drugs helped him get through games and training and as a result play better and go harder

[Tooth Fairy]

Couldn't agree more. If it wasn't our team that lost to them, I doubt people would be so strong on it.

I'm no expert on drugs but if he didn't take them on gameday or the day before a game (as he said last night), then surely he wasn't affected by drugs during any game?

As per my above post...

[Tooth Fairy]

That's exactly my point, everyone is somewhat blinkered because it was us that lost to them.

I don't think anyone can definitively say that Cousins being on drugs had a positive impact on his own form or his team's.

Nah not definitively, but Ben did say it helped him

[Tooth Fairy]

Watched both episodes and was underwhelmed. As a documentary of events it was mildly interesting, mostly due to its filling of a few minor gaps rather than the skillful telling of the story. As social commentary it failed miserably because it failed to give any insights into the 'why'. What annoyed me most was that 7 promoted it as something parents should watch with their kids. I have four kids and no way would I watch that with them. Not because of the subject matter, but rather because the first episode in particular could only leave one with the feeling that taking drugs is fun and you can get away with it. I bet if they asked Ben Cousins if he would change anything he would say 'no'. That is the impression I am left with, even after watching the second episode. Seven's promotion of the nature of the documentary was cynical at best and deeply irresponsible at worst.

As for Ben Cousins himself, we can deduce that he remains a deeply flawed character. Seems like a good knockabout lad but selfish, vain and unable to or unwilling to externalize his actions. It's all about Ben. These are the character traits of many celebrity kids. He's not special - just another @@@@@@ up celeb with a good family that have tried to keep him alive and functioning despite his best efforts otherwise.

My thoughts on it exactly and I will not say any more on it except that I wish him the best in getting over his addiction