post after post about how bad everyone feels for max, how he was such a great guy yada yada yada (disregarding of course much of cougar board has said the same kind of negative things to non BYU athletes/media personalities that they dislike). The fact is the guy was a self absorbed, egotistical jerk who drove half my classmates, at least one of our professors (told us she prayed for days that max would skip), and many of his team mates close to insane.

I was mission companions with one of BYU’s linebackers who was starting when Max was running the scout team. He used to tell me how they would look for excuses to hit him, and wish he would lose the green jersey so they could shut him up. He practically was leading a group lobbying for Cooper to win the starting job so that Hall’s head wouldn’t get any bigger. He used to tell me there was a fine line between cocky and confident, but Max had no idea where it was.

The tragedy in this is in Max’s family. Having a cousin who has been arrested 12 times, been through rehab 3 times, and is due in court next month for what could be a 15 year drug sentence, I have seen what it does to families. But just like my cousin, Max didn’t just wake up one day and have a drug accident. People here are practically feeling bad like it wasn’t his fault, like he is an innocent victim. He made his choices, and you can bet his self-absorbed narcissism played a role in it. Just as with my cousin, my sorrow is more for his family than it is for him. He talked tough, and was the opposite of the class he walked around and judged people by with large brush strokes. Now he has to take that tough talking attitude and put it to good use by channeling it towards rebuilding his life and saving his family.