CC Sabathia Opens Up About Addiction

Players Tribune- I’ve played in sold out stadiums. I’ve undergone numerous surgeries. And I’ve even pitched in the World Series.

But nothing scared me more than saying these three words: “I need help.”

Well, it’s not even the words, really. Words are easy to say, particularly when you don’t believe them. I was fine saying that I needed help well before I actually believed it. When my wife and close friends started telling me they thought I had a problem, I’d always have the right response. I’d say what I thought they wanted to hear so that they could feel better in that moment. But it was never actually coming from my heart. I never actually wanted to stop drinking. And I didn’t think I needed to. I thought I had everything under control.

But last October, while sitting all alone in a hotel room, I finally accepted the reality that I had been avoiding for so long.

“I need help.”

First of all, if your though Derek wasn’t getting a piece of this road to redemption story, you are outside your goddamn mind. The way The Players Tribune has been getting material, I’m surprised this wasn’t done while CC was in rehab. Sports news flows through Jeter. He’s the new 11pm Sportscenter.

Secondly, this is a good read. It’s easy for us all to call a guy a pussy for getting help, but based on what I see from snapchat, a lot of you could probably use it too. CC opens up about how he started drinking so heavily and what it would be like when he was sitting there alone drinking in a hotel room, just plowing through a mini bar like a case of Captain Crunch. Personally, I’ve never drank alone and don’t get how people do, so that was interesting to me.

Thirdly, and this is the important part for Yankee fans. I am declaring CC Sabathia BACK. Now he isn’t Cy Young back, but I think being a veteran with his level of experience and success in the past, that he will shock a lot of people this year. He was a very good pitcher down the stretch last year and now that he’s sober we should see better results. He’s figure out his weight (that it should be up) and his knee brace situation so now that he isn’t hungover all the time, he can focus on just making good pitches and being a leader. Start planning the parade.