Aaron Rodgers was the NFL MVP last season. Fans all over the league think that they know everything going on behind the scenes, but that isn’t really the case most times. This is especially true for Aaron Rodgers, who admitted to playing games while on drugs during a conversation with Joe Rogan about psychedelics use in the NFL, and his own personal journey with psychedelic drugs. This caused an understandable uproar in the media, but is this the first time a player has played on drugs before?
Earlier this week, Aaron Rodgers was on The Joe Rogan Experience, where he described his mushroom journey and stated that he was, in fact, high during games last year. To the casual fan, well, to pretty much anyone, that sounds completely crazy. Many things go on in a game of football, and that is truer for the quarterback more than any other position in the game. Whether that’s calling out plays, adjusting the call based on a pre-snap look, deciphering the defense before the play starts, and finding a man to throw to, all those decisions must be made in an instant. So, it seems completely unfathomable that Rodgers would be able to perform those duties while under the influence. How could he have even stepped out on the field? But clearly, it worked, as Rodgers would take the Packers to a deep playoff run again, and win MVP for the second year in a row.
But, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened in the history of sports. The most famous example of an athlete playing high and performing an absolute miracle is the no-hitter by Doc Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates against the San Diego Padres in June 1970. In an animated video created by No Mas and artist James Blagden, the no hitter was described by Doc Ellis. In that video, Ellis explains that he had started taking LSD the day before he was set to pitch, during an off day. However, while he was high, he got his days mixed up, and had taken more LSD before the game started that day. After arriving at the ballpark, it was obvious that something wasn’t right. Ball after ball was missing horrendously. Ellis explained that players on both sides knew he was high. But somehow, it was working. Batter after batter got put away, and before Doc Ellis probably even registered that it was the 9th inning, Ellis completed the no-hitter, winning the game for the Pirates 2-0. Ellis would even go so far as to hint that playing in that state was easier than playing sober, as the pressure to win was nonexistent. Ellis would finish the game with 6 strikeouts and 8 walks, which is unusual for most pitchers, but again, that day was anything but usual.
While these two events don’t have too much in common, they do have one thing: players that were high went out there and performed to their usual standard, if not better. Of course, with the existence of drug tests, even being able to use any drugs such as the ones used by both Ellis and Rodgers is difficult, but it creates an interesting case study. If every player came out onto the field, “high as a Georgia pine” as Doc Ellis described it, fans can only wonder what kind of spectacle would await them that day.
