Yeah, I skipped the article at the time but was planning on reading it this weekend.Based on what I understand of his youth, I think its extremely likely he'd be in jail or dead if not for football. I re-read this article on him yesterday. Bad news almost from the get-go. Of course, that's if you can believe everything he says.
Agree re: second bolded.
Thinking about it some more, it may not be a matter of people trying to create psychological distance from him, although I'm sure that's a factor for some. It may just be a case of rationalizing the inevitable: "Gordon's NFL career is over, and maybe that's for the best." Which is a noble instinct, and I hope it's true. But none of us really knows whether it is or not.