Le'Von Bell Has Learned Lessons From His Suspension

 

Bell looks to move past his suspension. Photo credit :Jason Getz/USA Today Sports

The star running back for the Steelers has grown in knowledge & self responsibility from this suspension.

By: Michael Hanley (@Magic20099)

Bell was suspended by the NFL earlier this spring for the first three games of the upcoming 2015 regular season. The reason for his  punishment stem from August 2014 when Bell was pulled over and charged with driving under the influence of marijuana.

Unfortunately Bell did not have the knowledge that someone could be pulled over for driving while high off of marijuana. This lapse in judgement caused a speed bump in what has been so far a very promising and productive career for the former Michigan St Spartan. 

To his credit though, Bell has not run away from this bad moment of judgement, he has done the complete opposite and is owning up to making this mistake. Here is what he said in an interview with ESPN's website earlier this month on the matter (via Ryan Wilson, CBS Sports):

"marijuana is not an important thing for me," and reiterating those sentiments again Tuesday following the Steelers' first OTA session.

"Because it is my fault," Bell said, via ESPN.com. "I learned my lesson and it made me a better man and person. It's going to make me a better player."

In a world where we are full of people who makes mistakes repeatedly and do not own up to them and blame them on others & their circumstances, it is refreshing to see a professional  athlete own up to a bad decision they made.

Yes it is embarrassing and humiliating to have to go through what Bell had to after this incident, but taking responsibility for what he did and making the necessary steps to learn and be a better person for going through this experience should be the norm, not the exception.

Hopefully younger athletes in any sport and people in general society will look at this and maybe think twice about trying to find the first person to blame and instead look at themselves in the mirror and decide how to improve their choices and decisions in life & take ownership of any wrongdoing.

Bell already taken many positives from this dark day back in August of 2014 and that could mean trouble for his opponents once he returns from this suspension after the first three games of the regular season.

He will have to knock off some rust from all that time off but once he gets going, these three games off for his body will benefit him and the team as they get deep into the regular season and toward the stretch run.

While defenses in general will be tiring and getting worn down by the games and the length of the regular season, Bell will have some extra energy left in the tank to help the Steelers become a very diverse and difficult offense to stop on a consistent basis.

So for all the adversity that Bell has had to deal with from his own doing, he looks to have emerged a more mature, serious and driven football player and also as a person on a whole.