Ben Cousins crucified, Andrew Johns let off?

Question

The media are a bunch of tools. Andrew Johns comes out and tells us all about how he took drugs for so long, while he was playing, while he wasn't, the full deal. But for some reason because he turned it into a sob story about how hard his life was, the media portray him as some sort of 'battler' and its ok.

Yet cousins, who chooses to remain silent (because everything he says will probably be misquoted by the media) is called arrogant, sleazy, and apparently deserves everything he gets?

The fact that he is in trouble with the police does contribute to it, but I still feel as though he has gotten the wrong end of the stick simply because he is what most media people wish they were - rich, well known, good looking

opinions?

Answer 1

Joey owned up to his mistakes and appeared genuine.

Ben, whether it's true or not, appears to be laughing in everyone's face. I think West Coast have a large part to play in his current circumstances by trying to rush him back too early from rehab.

Answer 2

Maybe it's more league vs afl than Johns vs cousins. Most people have no problem accepting that there is a seedier side to rugby league culture whereas from what I have seen certainly on this site people seem to think afl culture is clean cut. I don't know do afl players play cards with their mum on saturday nights? I swear people must think that they do.

Answer 3

Yeah u are so right. I barely know bout Andrew JOhns and what happened to him. Ive heard his name breifly, but no one really cares.

The whole world is like that. I know 14yo girls taking drugs at my school and parents giving alcohol and smokes to kids at parties. Thats not on the news.

Answer 4

I think the major difference is that while Johns faced up to the music, Cousins is still running around treating all as one big joke.

Johns was arrested and spent the night in jail and after initially refusing to admit to it, bared his soul on live television, telling ALL!

Whereas Cousins has read a prepared statement and laughed through court appearences, basically refusing to acknowledge he has a problem or at least to the seriousness of it.

Answer 5

I agree with you 100%. People forget that these newspaper companies, news channels etc are just out to get viewers so they can make more money.

They are only presenting what the public want to hear, which is bullshite because Ben Cousins is going through something that is obviously hard to get over, and instead of condemning him for relapsing, they should be supporting him..

Answer 6

Ben Cousins makes Johns look pale in comparison. Ben will come back as the better man in the long run as his career is far from over. He could make a big name for himself in the States if he approaches it the right way I think.

Look at what David Beckham has done for his dream of soccer.

Answer 7

Both these players have admitted they were/are addicts and have gone on to have successful careers. Why were they not picked up earlier!!! because they were being protected by the hierarchy. At any time they could have been detected earlier but because they were the best in their codes they were not detected for years. Ben Cousins deserves everything he gets he is what we would call a junkie. As for Andrew Johns what a moron and his career after footy will definately not be as lucrative as it could have been and rightly so.

Answer 8

Yeah I agree with you, the media and Police blew everything up, because, well they just want another story to make money and bring celebs down... Andrew Johns (my favourite footy player) wasn't treated like Ben Cousins is treated.

Omg all I can say is ....GOD d**n HOW SEXYYY IS BEN COUSINS hahaha without his shirt walking to the car, i was like omg, I shoud start watching AFL from now on ....HOT! lol so let him playyyy AFL. hahaha

Go the Doggiesss (NRL) 2008 baby!

Answer 9

Apart from both getting arrested in different countries, Joey Johns was able to portray a "woe is me" sob story to the media because he was interviewed by Gus Gould.  Gus thinks the sun shines from Joey, so the interview was always going to be lightweight.

To the best of my knowledge, Ben Cousins has done a statement when his drug use was made public.  No interview.  Is he even friends with Eddie Everywhere and others on the Footy Show?

If Joey was interviewed by somebody else, it wouldn't have looked so good and he wouldn't have got the level of sympathy he got from Gus.

Neither of them have done themselves or their game any favours by their actions.

I'd have loved to have seen Joey get nicked when he was playing.  What would the spin doctors have said then?  Especially Gus Gould.

They've probably got jobs at Hungry Jacks now serving meals with no chips, no burger, just coke and ice. (How many times have you heard that joke this year?)

Answer 10

.Actually pineapple it was the other way round Andrew Johns was caught with Ecstasy in a foreign country and if he hadn't been we still wouldn't know about it .

Ben Cousin owned up to his addiction and went to rehab and lost a lot because of it that now that takes guts.

It takes a real man to admit your mistakes all Andrew Johns did was tried to blame bi-polar and stress of being a high profile sportsman but he is a hero according to some to me he is worse than Ben because he wore the Australian uniform while taking drugs.

Answer 11

IT'S BECAUSE AFL IS A PATHETIC COWARDS GAME, NRL IS A REAL MANS GAME !

Answer 12

More than the media - a couple of government ministers chasing cheap votes have also weighed in.

Answer 13

I have to wonder .. why would the cops have a sting set up involving Ben & Daniel?  I personally think that Ben is doing shady drug deals and the cops were probably just unlucky that they didnt find what they expected to find.

There's waaaaay more that the public DONT know about the whole incident.

I'm not going to get on the 'oh poor Ben' bandwagon like others - I have critisised his drug habits and behaviour and dont wanna be a hypocrite.

Its unfortunate that Andrew Johns was not given harsher treatment by the media or public - he deserved it for being a CHEAT.

The difference between the two is that Johns is older, more respected in the NRL world and retired.  Ben is young, in good shape, and HOT which causes jealousy and unfair prejudice.  

At the end of the day, they are both the same in my books.

Answer 14

Apparently they are saying now that the police might have set him up which is why he is looking into sueing them.

Yes I agree with what your saying.

I don't think it would have made any difference if he talked or not.

Ben is a great target for media frenzy and they have gotten everything they can to make him a top story.Actually if he did talk it probably would have been worse.Who knows.

And it's dragging on and on and on.

At the end of the day I hope he gets better.

Answer 15

Exactly!

Imagine if Johns had been caught by the cops?

Then he would have had a lot of **** thrown at him just like Ben has.

Good Point!!

Answer 16

That's because Johns was a legend and Cousins is just a druggie.

Answer 17

What astounds me about this whole thing is the self-righteousness of the public, the media, the government and the AFL over this whole drugs issue. People seem to conveniently forget that alcohol is a drug.  You wouldn't think this is possible from the amount of advertising and sponsorship that goes on in the AFL involving C.U.B. Every second ad shown in a game of footy is either an add for Carlton Draught or Bundaberg Rum, etc...If you're all so against drugs then start a campaign against Carlton & United Brewries because alcohol claims more lives than any other so-called recreational drug. Its deeply hypocritical for people to point the finger at Ben Cousins when they're sitting around the TV getting trashed, and being reminded by the AFL, Television Networks, Advertising Industry and large coroporations like C.U.B. that they ought to be doing so. I dunno just a wild theory...