“Given the totality of the situation, Coach Fisher was concerned about Young’s emotional well-being. He contacted the police department and expressed to us his concern,’’ Aaron said. “Once he came to Baptist Sports Park and was assessed, it appeared the concerns from earlier in the night were unfounded.’’

The Titans also issued their own statement:

“Last night, we received a call from people that are closest to Vince informing us that he had left his house in a state of mind that had them concerned; and that he was unreachable, having left his cell phone at the house. Not having all the facts available to us and approaching the matter prudently, we contacted Metro Police to make them aware of the situation and asked for their assistance in locating Vince. He was located at a friend’s house, where we made contact with him. He then came to the practice facility where it was determined that those initial concerns by his friends and family were unfounded and he returned home without incident.”

Vince Young's agent has just issued his own comments on the night claiming that Young just went to a friend's house to watch a little Monday Night Football. At least according to Pro Football Talk.

"This is all being blown way out of proportion,” agent Major Adams told the Nashville City Paper. He just went to watch both of the games last night at a friend’s house. I had talked to him. He told me where he was and everything.

“He said he can’t believe he can’t just go and watch a game and people need to know where he is 24 hours a day,” Adams said.

Which means, according to Young's people, he was watching former Vandy quarterback Jay Cutler—a player the Titans passed up over Young—dissect the Oakland Raiders defense. Of course it seems pretty unlikely that if this was all there was to the story that the resulting furor would have arisen.

Speculating on someone's mental state is always freighted with danger. Not least because trained doctors and psychologists often differ after talking to the same individuals. But, clearly, Vince Young is not responding to the pressure of being a starting NFL quarterback very well. But — why? Of all the NFL cities where he could play, Nashville is probably one of the top five most laid back markets. Maybe the most laid-back and least critical in the NFL. There's only one major newspaper (and many educated residents question the use of the term "major" here), reporters are limited, by all accounts even local talk radio is civil and even-tempered. So if Young is feeling overwhelmed in this media market, he should be thankful he's not on either coast.

But where does this leave us? By contacting the police Coach Fisher served notice that he truly believed his quarterback was in such a fragile emotional state that he might do himself harm. Clearly these concerns outweighed any fear, which Fisher surely recognized, that this story would become huge national news once he contacted the police. Any hope, at this point, that Young's refusal to re-enter the game was going to blow over is gone. For better or worse, and it's almost all for the worse, Vince Young's mental health is now more of a concern than his ability to read defenses. Or read at all.

Quarterbacks like to believe that it's external forces: linebackers, critics, coaches, wide receivers, the media that create the greatest obstacles to their success. All too often, as we see now with Vince Young, the greatest foe is often inside.

Police: Titans feared for Young's safety [Tennessean]

Agent says Young was watching football [Pro Football Talk]

I've never been much of a superstitious person. A troop of black cats could march in front of me while I smash mirrors under a ladder, and I wouldn't feel the least bit doomed. Yet, I'm a huge karma person. Each week, I do a mental grocery list to make sure I'm on the right side of the universe and try to make up for some of my missteps. Granted, I don't donate enormous amounts of money to charity to counteract them, but I do what I can: The urine-seeping homeless guy may get a pocketful of change shoved in his hand. I'll dole out cigarettes to everyone who asks. I'll stop and patiently listen to the bespectacled young do-gooder with the clipboard as he tries to sell me on financially adopting a dirty child with flies in its eyes.

Finally, O.J. Simpson and his not-so tortured soul is getting absolutely thonked with a karmic boomerang right now. We're talking monkey kid from the Road Warrior-like velocity, here, as he's seemingly headed to the slammer for his Nordbergian Las Vegas robbery attempt of some of his own memorabilia. It's a fitting end to his whole disturbingly wacky life post-murder acquittal. Most of us remember back to that day during America's Trial when the jurors read aloud that mind-numbing verdict. Remember where you were. If you were in college, like me, you may have also had the uncomfortable circumstances of living next to some of the basketball team and listening to them yelp, bang the walls and throw an impromptu party to celebrate. Needless to say, even though I got along with those guys next door, I wasn't about to rush over to hang out on their couch that day to introduce them to my questionable musical tastes as I sometimes would. Rusted Root was not a welcome topic that day.

But it isn't just O.J. who's been shit-winded by karmic justice. In the last few months, there have been plenty of sports figures with shady circumstances surrounding them who've had their own come-uppance: Vick, Belichick, Floyd Landis, Serena Wiliams' ass...

So, this week I'm inserting my plastic Thom Yorke eye, walking my pet chameleon and placing odds on the next athlete to get what's coming to them.

This is what you get...

Kobe Bryant: 2/1

If this dude doesn't get his rectum invaded by a pack of water buffalo before his life is over, there is officially no God. Kobe's always come off as this friendless cocksucker, only concerned about his own self-interest and completely unaccountable for any of his transgressions both in his private and professional life. Well, if you think dragging your horrified wife up on stage during a press conference while you tell the world how you violently fucked the help during his Colorado weekend rehab, I guess that counts. That's contrition. However, his public image has still, for the most part, recovered. As long as he still dominates on the basketball court, all is forgiven. But don't be surprised in three years when he's stricken with a horrible case of dick rot. Actually, pray for it.

Ray Lewis: 1/1

It's so odd that seemingly everyone forgets that Ray Lewis was also maybe, possibly, assuredly somewhat responsible for stabbing a guy to death after a 2000 Super Bowl party. Even better, he took a plea bargain to rat on his two friends who were also arrested that evening. (They were also eventually acquitted.) But, come on, now, Ray — do you honestly think that your only punishment for your involvement in that murder would be undisclosed hush-hush settlements to the dead guy's family and being stripped of a chance to say you're going to Disney World after you won the Super Bowl? If Ray Lewis has successfully changed his image, great. Maybe he won't get sliced open by a random stranger one night while he's out clubbing. But he'll definitely be greeted by those screeching shadow demons from the movie Ghost, the minute his dancing ass bites the dust.

Roger Clemens: 2/1

Oh, steroids, you say? Not a chance. Roger does squats all year with beer kegs on his back when he's not playing baseball. He's always in great shape. Selfish? Nah. Come on, who wouldn't want to string organizations and fans along just long enough to broker yourself another ridiculous one-year contract. Evil? Hey, throwing at people's heads is part of the game. Even if is your own son. There's nothing wrong with a little competitive spirit in a person. Can't wait until the unauthorized biography on this guy comes out, revealing him to be the most diabolical player in history. After that, he'll be completely abandoned by those who once adored him. Except for Emmylou Harris.

Magic Johnson: 1/4

Sure, he got sprayed with AIDS as a result of his Herculean sport-fucking and infidelity, but unlike most of America who gets the disease, Magic Johnson didn't die or become ostracized by the league. No, he became a talk-show host. A basketball coach. He un-retired from basketball. A movie theater mogul. A national martyr. A world-wide hero. And, still, it's been almost 20 years since this guy's been HIV'd and yet, there's nary a atrophying muscle or even a raspy cough to be found. Other less notable, less wealthy people with the same disease have had to die at his expense because he keeps getting his name bumped up to the top of the list for all the good meds. Or? He completely made the whole thing up, just so he wouldn't look like such a pussy-poaching scumbag and lose all his endorsement deals.