Andy Reid's Bad Seeds

"I liked being the rich kid in that area and having my own high-status life. I could go anywhere in the 'hood. They all knew who I was. I enjoyed it. I liked being a drug dealer." Garrett Reid

"This is a family in crisis. There isn't any structure there that this court can depend upon." Judge Steven O'Neill

When Andy Reid's two older sons imploded and exploded on the same day last January, it seemed like they'd just recently discovered drugs. In fact, they were already hard-core addicts, so why hadn't we heard about it sooner?

According to Britt Reid, 22, he's been a drug addict since age 14. He and his older brother Garrett, 24, have been using and dealing legal and illegal drugs for years, in a broad range of neighborhoods.

Yet they never got caught. We haven't heard much since January. Stone-faced Andy doesn't share anything, certainly not about his self-destructive sons.

He has no choice now. Both boys are in jail. And no, the "hidden" stash incident isn't funny, it was a sad act of sick desperation.

Which begs the question: Where were Andy and Tammy Reid all those years? And don't say "at a football game." Although Andy Reid's got a tough job, Tammy's the self-proclaimed full time mom who keeps him in the loop. Or not.

Is it possible local authorities have been cutting the Reid boys slack all these years? Did local doctors prescribe meds to curry favor with their father? Did teachers, clergy and other parents fail to come forward out of awe or fear of Coach Reid?

Oh come on, like that doesn't happen in celebrity drug situations. There has to be some explanation for these kids getting away with so much drug use, abuse and sales for so much time.

No matter who shared in the enabling, it starts --or stops-- at home.

The sentencing judge noted how very many prescription drugs were in the Reid house, calling it "more or less like a drug emporium." He wondered, as do I, how it was possible the Reid parents didn't know.

Of course they knew, they described in court the many times they'd put the boys in rehab without long term success. Maybe that lack of success was abetted by those same over-indulgent parents?

When your kids get out of rehab, you don't put them in a car and give them money ... you put them in an outpatient program and make them get a job. You watch them like a hawk. Or hire somebody to do it.

I know, especially in this town, it can't be easy to be the son of the Eagle's coach. Yes, you've got privilege and prestige, but you've also got a PR monkey on your back.

It seems Garret and Britt Reid abused their privilege and wound up with another kind of monkey on their backs. Now they're finding out jail isn't such a prestigious address.

Here's my last, and most important question: Why did Andy and Tammy Reid keep guns in the same house with their drug addict sons and their other three children?

It's downright amazing nobody in the Reid house got shot. Yet.