Prayers for WebMonkey

[Crimson Kid]

I just noticed this on Facebook, posted by Chris Evans’ brother, Jared. I don’t know WebMonkey (Chris Evans) personally, but I have been on UteFans for a long time so I am Facebook friend. I am sure the Evans family could use some prayers, thoughts, words of encouragement at this time….

Friends of Chris, this is Jared, his brother.
After nearly three years sober, due largely to pancreatitis, kidney failure, and other medical issues caused by two decades of binge-drinking, Chris began drinking again this summer and last night was in a car accident, with a BAL of 27%. He drove into the city and hit a parked car, totaling both. He is in the ICU at the U Hospital.
Instead of arresting him, the police took him to the hospital because his glucose was over 500. He lost his license and has a court date in two weeks.
All summer long, as he began drinking more and more and his sweet wife encouraged him to go to rehab, he refused. He has the stubborn pride Evans gene (which I too am guilty of) of refusing to listen to others, ever.
I would appreciate it if you would leave words of encouragement for him to go to rehab, especially for the benefit of his two daughters who, last night, once again, became very close to becoming fatherless.
I would have posted this from his account from his phone directly but the scene of the accident was so bad that the police could not find his phone.
Thanks.

[leftyjace]

You beat me to it. I had just copied and pasted the text of Jared’s post to come over here and create a thread.

The question is… should we post this on UFN? It’s Chris’s board so I’m hesitant, but it seems like the family is wanting an intervention on a very large scale here.

[leftyjace]

I went ahead and posted a little thing on UFN. If that’s bad and wrong of me to do, so be it. I didn’t post the content of Jared’s post on Chris’s timeline.

[Crimson Kid]

I think it would be a good idea to post it on UFN. This is a time that WebMonkey needs people in his corner, showing him some emotional support.

[leftyjace]

Do you want to post it or should I just add to my post?

[Crimson Kid]

I think what you posted over on UFN was perfect. I am sure more details will come out

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Crimson Kid.

[leftyjace]

Nevermind… I agree.

I’m editing my original post right now to include the text of his post.

[leftyjace]

Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. But I think that Jared putting it on Chris’s Facebook page was a pretty big indication that the family desperately wants anyone and everyone who can influence Chris to get the help he needs.

Also, kind of crazy to learn that the health problems he has been experiencing has been a result of alcoholism. Such a sad, sad disease. He is really fortunate that nobody else was hurt last night. Wow.

[Tony (admin)]

Wow that’s terrible. Just awful. I hope he gets the help he needs and is able to fully recover. Alcoholism is so destructive. All my best to Chris.

[leftyjace]

A further post from Chris’s Brother:

He is still in restraints for trying to pull his tubes out. He is denying what happened or that he was drinking, despite the police report and the impound certificate. He insists everyone including the police are lying to him.

[Duhwayne]

Well, s**t. Don’t know what to say other than that I hope he gets better. This is going to get tough. Get better, Monkey.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Duhwayne.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Duhwayne.

[Utesbyfive]

I knew he was an alcoholic. I am sad to hear he’s drinking again, and I’m glad he didn’t kill anybody. I hope he can get sober again, and stay sober. He’s got a long row to hoe though, and now that he’s in legal trouble things could get ugly.

[UteStuckInSeattle]

So sad to hear, and the poor guy was just starting to get things back on track with a new job.

I hope he comes through this okay.

[Anonymous]

Probably a BAC of .27 and with those glucose levels no wonder he doesn’t remember anything. I have no sympathy for drunk driving but I hope he gets help before he kills someone or himself.

[Rick]

I posted a very similar message over on Utefans. 27% would kill you instantly and 0.27 is 238% over the 0.08 limit which, given his blood sugar levels could cause a lot of delirious behavior. Having been in similar situations back in the day I feel sorry for him and hope he gets things under control again. Thank God no one else was hurt.

[Anonymous]

Usually you just say three times the legal limit. Not taking care of his sugar levels combined with alcohol is a whole new level of impaired driving.

[leftyjace]

Yet another post from his brother. Makes me feel not so bad about posting this on UFN.

Chris, last night you took this into the public arena. You crashed into another car, driving so fast that both of your cars were totaled. On a 15 mph street with exiting mall foot traffic. Someone left the Cheesecake Factory after dinner to learn they no longer had a car. The time is now to stop sweeping this under the rug.

And earlier in the comment thread, here was his brother’s appeal to clean things up. Heart wrenching.

Chris, we had the worst dad in the world. I know this because I too was there. He set a very poor example and we grew with very little direction, and worst of all, he passed on his alcoholic genes to us. Yet despite his behavior, you still have the chance to be the best dad in the world. Alcoholism is a disease that requires self-mastery. Every day is a day of decision, and our decisions determine our destiny. Seven years ago, when your heart was broken and you were very open and public about the issues that caused it, I encourage you to be just as transparent about this issue, and invite your friends and loved ones to walk with you and support you. You remember how it would bother us when we told dad he was drunk, and he denied it? You are doing the same thing. I bring this up because you know from experience how easy it is to detect, even as children we could do it, so don’t be a jerk and say your wife and brother and the police keep lying to you. A powerful lesson was taught by a man I love: Joseph B. Worthlin, whose final message to the world was to always look on the bright side of life, always focus on the good in the world, and to laugh our way through the tough times. As I’ve taken this approach, I’ve lost the temptation for self-pity and other characteristics that would lead to destructive behaviors such as binge drinking. I know firsthand that you can get past what ails you and be emotionally strong, and I strongly suspect that many, many others besides myself are ready and willing to walk with you.

[Utesbyfive]

Makes me wonder how much of the money donated by utefans to his personal troubles ended up at the DABC.

[Wilson’s Mustache]

Makes me wonder how much of the money donated by utefans to his personal troubles ended up at the DABC.

I didn’t want to ask, but It does make you wonder if the donations enabled him.

Thoughts & prayers go out to WM though. It looks what he’s had to go through hasn’t been easy.

[89ute]

At lease we got UteHub out of the deal.

[Crimson Kid]

The intent on posting this information wasn’t to stir up any more controversy about UteFans. It was more to let those on this site know of WebMonkey’s current struggles. Alcoholism is a tough thing to kick and perhaps some around here that have been friends in the past with Chris would want to know so they could potentially reach out to him to offer encouragement.
For those that don’t know him, or have limited contact (like me), thoughts and prayers can lead to miraculous things.

[Utesbyfive]

I think by this point, there’s a lot to be said for a bit of righteous indignation.

Reach out if you care to, but There are a lot of us who simply feel betrayed.

[aquasaurious]

Chris and I were pretty much inseparable from 1990 through about 2006. I don’t remember us ever throwing back a few drinks together. In fact, while we were college roommates, he wouldn’t touch the stuff because of what was going on with his Dad. When I first became aware of his own issues with alcohol, he’d just discovered tailgating and met new friends on his website. They were manly men and I think he really, really wanted to fit in with them and impress them. He always hid his drinking from me, and keep in mind that we spent time together more days than not. I was essentially part of his family, and they spoke of me as such in their home (when he was married to his first wife).

Two years ago he had a binge and his current wife dropped him off at my place. I drove him to a rehab meeting the next morning and told him that I wouldn’t be taking him back in if he kept making poor choices. We have hardly talked since then.

So I have been through a few interventions with him already. I hope the result of this one is different, but I am not sure he has the fight in him to overcome this, especially with all the new legal issues. I suspect he’ll lose his new job, and of course he is in deep financial doo-doo (that component is even worse than you believe it to be). You all will have to be very dedicated and very brave and very innovative to help him dig out of this. I have a family I love very much who is leaning on me heavily right now, and I am 100% there for them. I can’t do another cycle with Chris.

Just understand one thing. Coming at him with the Jesus angle, as much as he needs it, he will resist it completely. I know that’s the crux of addiction recovery for most folks, but this is why he’s never taken to it in the past. If there is another approach, you might have a better chance of reaching him. I hope you can.

[UTE98]

Aquasaurius, I’m sorry to hear you were so close to Chris. I only met him once, he went to a baseball game with Chitz and I when he was in D.C. Chitz was a partner at a law firm with great tickets for the Orioles games. I was looking right down the first base line from about 7 rows up.

Anyway Chris once told me his previous marriage ended due to drinking, and he seemed to be on the road to recovery. Sadly his journey on the right road seems to have ended.

My brother had two DUIs in Idaho and had to spend time in the clink on weekends and ended up losing his license for a couple years. My dad drove him to work during those two years and told him if he ever got behind the wheel intoxicated again he would not repeat the gesture. I think my brother believed him. He had gone through a messy divorce, I call his ex my “ex-sister-in-whore.” She had serious dependency issues. Luckily my brother has full custody of his two boys and is doing a good job raising them. There are many many reasons people slip into these destructive ditches.

I think we all have some obsessive/addictive genes in us. I’ve luckily never succumbed to a destructive addiction unless you count food… or Utah football.

Chris, I wish you the best, I just hope this is the proverbial bottom and you can finally realize there aren’t many options left. I’ve been involved in an accident with a drunk driver in front of me who cut across a highway median after slamming on his breaks. Unlucky for me there was an intoxicated lady in the car behind me, she hit me doing about 45 MPH. I think I still have back issues from that accident, and sadly my parents weren’t smart enough to encourage me to not settle quickly. That was about 30 years ago and the military and life were made more difficult due to that accident. Oh, and yeah that food obsession doesn’t help. I’m obese on any scale but I am down about 20 lbs from my heaviest.

Okay that was tl;dr.

Best wishes Chris.

[leftyjace]

Monkey’s brother Jared just removed his post from Monkey’s FB Feed and put this in its place:

Friends of Chris,
I was asked to remove my announcement, due to employment concerns. I made a copy to show him. If you have any further words of encouragement, please share via message.

[javadave]

I actually thought it was kind of a dick move by his brother to post that on facebook.

[utedds]

I had the same thought initially, but then I thought about it. I don’t know this family, but from what it sounds like he is literally watching helplessly as his brother slowly kills himself. At this point he probably just feels so helpless that he is grasping at straws and hoping a facebook post will get enough friends and family involved that an intervention may work. If I were him, I would rather my brother hate me for his entire long life than love me for his short life.

[Tony (admin)]

I feel for Chris and sincerely hope he gets better. I can empathize however, with those who are angry. One of my best friends lost his wife and three children to a drunk driver. That funeral was brutal, especially the viewing. I knew his wife well as we went to school together for many years.

If I lost my little 2.5 year old and/or wife to a drunk driver it would be devastating.

Chris is truly lucky nobody was hurt.

[Anonymous]

Drunk drivers should face the consequences of their actions. Because eventually they will face the fullest extent of the real life and death consequences. I have seen drunk drivers crash and die. I have notified family members that their brother, and son is dead because of someones decision to drive home while impaired. Hopefully this is his “come to Jesus” moment if he doesn’t believe in a higher power.

[UtahUteGuy]

Wow, this is pretty freaky. I came home last night to a big police scene. I couldn’t see most of what was going on, but it was obviously pretty serious, there were quite a few emergency vehicles there. I live right down there by the Cheesecake Factory. Now I finally know what was going on. I’m glad no one became a serious victim of this accident, that would be terrible. I feel bad for Chris, but I’m glad he’s off the road and I hope he isn’t able to get back on the road for a long time. Drunk drivers are scary and they take innocent victims. Hopefully he can effectively work on fixing his life. Sounfpds like he’s got a tough road ahead of him.

[MV]

He needs to read ‘Change or Die’ if the idea that God has the power to help him doesn’t quite cut it.

[Lellie]

The financial devastation one goes through after a DUI ought to be a deterrent from making a really, really, really poor decision to get behind the wheel. Actually, operating ANY kind of a mechanized thing is really dumb, but for some reason many have done it. Maybe once, maybe countless times. I could have killed someone, and even myself, quite a few years ago. The personal humiliation, let alone the humiliation my family likely went through was enough for me to stop making such poor choices. The financial ramifications cost me dearly. Even while driving legally, I still have a fear everyone on the road somehow knows I drove drunk years ago. I have a fear of being pulled over and subjected to the same field sobriety tests because of that evil thing called a DUI on my driving record, even though I will never, ever drink and drive again.

I thank the powers that be that I never hurt anyone by my careless decision to drive impaired. I thank the powers that be I learned a very valuable lesson that night. I thank the powers that be I make a plan and stick to a plan if I choose to go out and imbibe.

Part of me sits in judgement over Monkey’s situation as he treated me poorly in the past. Part of me feels empathy for Monkey. All of me hopes he can turn things around.

[RedLine]

Feel for Monkey wish him only the best even if I am a little resentful of the donation issue on the site.

The invention of cars – Great idea.
Human operators – Terrible idea.

Self driving cars will help society so much.

Elon Musk, Sam Altman Predict Self-Driving Cars Will Be On The Road In Just a Few Years

[Anonymous]

Hope the guy gets the help and support he needs to clean himself up. Thank god no one was seriously hurt. My wife lost a brother to 3x drunk who crushed him on his motorcycle. I myself was rear ended while stopped at a red light by a drunk driving his parents motor home filled with with his drunk buddies coming back from a round of drunk golf. The guy was beligerent and refused to provide ID. Finally police showed up and they got his DL. Dude looked like he was in his 50s, yet he was only 35 years old. I insisted they sobriety test him. Police thought he would pass. They called me me the next day to inform that he blew 0.19, or nearly 2.5x the legal limit. I have no sympathy for drunks who get behind the wheel. Not when there’s all sorts of options like Uber.

[Anonymous]

What on earth is praying going to do for this situation??

[Tony (admin)]

What on earth is praying going to do for this situation??

I’m an atheist so in my mind it won’t do anything. But for some it seems to work.

[Anonymous]

I’m more Mormon than anyone on this board and even I guarantee praying does no good in situations like these.

[Crimson Kid]

Would any of these be better titles for this thread?
“Somebody go kick WebMonkey’s ass”
“Guess who got a DUI?”
“UteFans.net is going to be for sale soon: news at 11”
“Tequila and Message Boards: don’t mix”

[UTE98]

Moose’s Whistle, I am very offended by your comment, more Mormon… to me Mormon is a derogatory word for the culture of the Utah county clan. If you really want to be more Mormon than anybody else move to Utah County, start cheering for BYU and leave us moderates out of this.

Mormon culture to me is very offensive, bigoted, and holier than thou. And I attend LDS services regularly. There are members of the LDS Church and then there are those who buy into the “Mormon culture” and I ain’t one of those.

Okay, I am off the religion rant, I didn’t want religion on here, which adds to my offense-sensitivity. NO MORE RELIGION posts. PLEASE.

[jrj84105]

Growing up in the Midwest, we called people who couldn’t distinguish their religion from all the associated baggage “Utah Mormons” – because they all either came directly from Utah or Idaho. The funny thing was they tended to call themselves LDS which along with all the other abbreviations and weird phraseology they used, made us think that Utah was the Mormon equivalent of a military base. So where I grew up, using the term “LDS” was what meant you were weird. So if you ever leave Utah, prepare to embrace the term Mormon, because you might as well get MORONI vanity plates if you’re going to self identify as “LDS”.

[UTE98]

I guess we just have different perspectives. And I left Utah in 2002, was in Virginia until January 2011 and in Colorado since. But I grew up in Idaho, perhaps I’m guilty, but it was Boise not Idaho Falls or Rexburg. So of my 47 years I only spent 13 of them in Utah.

Actually the vanity plates I had in VA were UTAHUTE and UTE98. So no thanks on the MORONI vanity plates.

Did I keep religion out of my post enough? Cause I don’t want to discuss religion on a sports board. I guess I over reacted to Moose. I’m not the first, and this isn’t my first time finding Moose offensive.

GO UTES!!!! I’m packing now and got my interlocking U hat on the bed ready to go for tomorrow.

[Big Z]

Don’t let the moose knuckle get under your skin, that’s it’s schtick.

[IrieUte]

It is a little unnerving knowing 3 of my 4 siblings have tried to kill themselves in the last 3 years. Monkey included. Life is worth living!

[Tony (admin)]

Irie you’re related to Monkey?

Yeah I hate to see the LDS argument creeping in.

[IrieUte]

Monkey is the oldest of us five, I am the youngest at 9.5ish years later

[UTE98]

Irie,

I wish you and your family the best. I knew a family in Virginia, father was an alcoholic and struggled with it daily. Basically he did his best to shelter his family and provide for them. After his death the family fell apart and his wife, and several of his kids turned to alcohol. I think he would be devastated to see what happened to his family.

I only met Chris once, and talked with him a couple times on board messages. I hope Chris gets things turned around for the sake of him, his kids and his family.

[Tony (admin)]

Ah wow @IrieUte. Well if you talk to him wish him well for me. Going to be a rough go for a bit I’m afraid. Thanks for stopping by here.

[leftyjace]

@IrieUte, what is the general feeling amongst the family of having your brother (I assume it wasn’t you) posting that on his FB page? Agree or disagree?

[Anonymous]

Please don’t try to stir up drama, this question is not appropriate.

[JDub1942]

Moose giving advice on what type of comment is or isnt appropriate is like the_long_snapper trying to give fashion advice.

[IrieUte]

My name is Jordan by the way, my brother Jared is the one on facebook who unleashed on Chris/Monkey.

Growing up Chris was a go getter a smart man, a guy I really looked up to and really enjoyed the occasional sleepover at his place while he was married to his first wife, whom I believe he never completely got over. He would tutor me in math , physics, was a big Utes fan we saw Andre miller, Van horn, and Doleac dominate at the U then went to the Pie to celebrate, life (from my view) was great. I was never aware of any drinking until years later attending tailgate parties etc. Still things seemed fine, he was successful I was the slacker partier free spirit don’t care what happens in life kid. I always hoped to be more like him, sadly he turned out more like me. Well, the way I was. I know my father as the drunk guy just before he had his stroke, and simply as that guy sitting there not doing much who is my dad, afterwards.

Not sure where I intended to go here, but I really hope Chris can find the small reasons to enjoy life and all it’s beautiful nonsense again. Life is magical, and regardless of what you believe is an opportunity to bring most any imagination to fruition. Finding the motivation can be nothing short of a Mothaf*#^er sometimes however.

[89ute]

10K baby, and not even a heart felt thank you.

[leftyjace]

You said it… we were all thinking it.
Whether we’d be willing to admit it or not, the thought did occur.