Sports
Colts lineman opens up about battle with 'OCD god'
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Indianapolis Colts right tackle Braden Smith battled against more than just opposing edge-rushers last season.
Smith, 29, was fighting a war within his head and missed the last five games of the Colts season. He was placed on the reserve/non-football illness list.
Smith was eventually diagnosed with religious scrupulosity by a psychiatrist. Religious scrupolosity is a form of OCD that is characterized as obsessive thoughts and compulsions focused on religious themes, such as sin, God and the person’s religious practices.
Indianapolis Colts offensive tackle Braden Smith walks the sidelines during the Tennessee Titans game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Dec. 3,2023. (IMAGN)
“There’s the actual, real, true, living God,” Smith told the Indy Star. “And then there’s my OCD god, and the OCD god is this condemning (deity). It’s like every wrong move you make, it’s like smacking the ruler against his hand. ‘Another bad move like that, and you’re out of here.’”
“I was physically present, but I was nowhere to be found, I did not care about playing football. I didn’t care about hanging out with my family, with my wife, with my newborn son.… I (felt like) was a month away from putting a bullet through my brain.”
When Smith had a bad thought, he would immediately respond with a compulsive prayer or internal statement of devotion.
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Indianapolis Colts tackle Braden Smith blocks Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt at Lucas Oil Stadium on Nov. 28, 2022. (Trevor Ruszkowski-USA Today Sports)
Smith was taking medication and participating in daily therapy sessions, but they only offered temporary relief.
Right before Thanksgiving, Smith’s wife, Courtney, gave him a choice.
He could either continue with the medications and daily therapy sessions, or step away from football and check into an intensive mental health facility to tackle the issue.
Smith knew it was time to step away.
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Indianapolis Colts offensive tackle Braden Smith in action during the Houston Texans game at NRG Stadium on Sep. 17, 2023. (Maria Lysaker-USA Today Sports)
Smith then checked into a facility in Colorado, planning to stay for four weeks.
Instead, he was there for 48 days, but not much progress was made.
“It’s a very hopeless feeling,” Smith said. “And that’s kind of where the Ibogaine comes in. This was like the last-ditch effort for me.”
Ibogaine is a psychoactive indole alkaloid that is known for its psychedelic effects and is illegal in the United States.
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Indianapolis Colts offensive tackle Braden Smith defends against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on Sept. 17, 2023. (Troy Taormina-USA Today Sports)
“Ibogaine, it legitimately resets your brain,” Smith told the paper. “Imagine your brain as a ski slope, and you create all these grooves, from all these trails that you’re going on, and they keep getting deeper and deeper and deeper. Those are the habits that we create, and over time, like, it’s not going to be possible to create a new trail, because that one is so deep. Ibogaine literally will clear off those, like, the receptors in your brain.”
During his trip to Mexico to try Ibogaine, Smith took a different psychedelic that yielded positive results. He took the synthetic version of 5-MeO-DMT, which is a naturally occurring psychedelic produced in plants and seen in some toads’ venom.
After he took 5-MeO-DMT, Smith felt he was back in touch with the real God, and was intimately one with Him. It seemed the demons were being exorcised, and he no longer felt beholden to the OCD god.
“I still have OCD, but it doesn’t have a hold over me,” Smith said. “It doesn’t dictate my life.”
Colts offensive tackle Braden Smith moves against the Houston Texans at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Jan. 6, 2024. (IMAGN)
The Colts look forward to getting Smith back in the fold on the playing field.
“Getting Braden Smith back, and he’s in a great spot,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said, via the Indy Star. “I think people forget how good Braden is.”
Smith has spent his entire seven-year career with the Colts after they took him with their second-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft out of Auburn.
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Austin Reaves nearing return for Lakers as Luka Doncic remains out indefinitely with hamstring strain: report
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In early April, with just five games remaining in the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that star guard Luka Doncic would be sidelined at least until the NBA playoffs.
Doncic’s setback was a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, an MRI confirmed. The reigning NBA scoring champion sustained the injury during an April 2 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers also entered the playoffs without another key member of their backcourt, Austin Reaves.
The shorthanded Lakers upset the Houston Rockets in the opening game of their first-round Western Conference series Saturday. Ahead of Game 2 on Tuesday, the Lakers reportedly received a clearer update on the health of at least one of their injured stars.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves brings the ball up court against the Washington Wizards in Los Angeles on March 30, 2026. (Ryan Sun/AP)
Reaves, who was diagnosed with an oblique strain, appears to be progressing toward a return later in the first-round series if it extends to six or seven games. If the Lakers advance sooner, he could be on track to return for the Western Conference semifinals.
According to ESPN, Reaves recently returned to the practice court for 1-on-1 drills. The 27-year-old will still need to progress to 2-on-3 and then 5-on-5 work before he can be cleared for playoff action, but he appears significantly further along than Doncic, who remains out indefinitely.
Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers controls the ball against the Orlando Magic at the Kia Center on March 21, 2026. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images)
Doncic is unlikely to play in the first round, regardless of the series length. ESPN footage showed him on the practice court on Tuesday, though the six-time All-Star was not doing high-intensity work.
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The Rockets, despite being widely favored in the opening round playoffs series, also contended with key injuries. Kevin Durant missed Game 1 with a knee contusion. He was cleared to play in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. shoots the ball against the Lakers during Game 1 in the NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on April 18, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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LeBron James scored 19 points, while Luke Kennard led Los Angeles with 27 in Saturday’s win.
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Watching junior right-hander Fabian Bravo of Sun Valley Poly High pitch for the first time, there was something strangely familiar about his windup.
When he turned his back to reveal he was wearing No. 32, everything made sense.
He had to be a fan of Sandy Koufax, the 1960s Hall of Fame left-hander for the Dodgers.
Two friends sitting next to me refused to believe it.
“No way,” one said.
“Kids today have never heard of Sandy Koufax,” another piped in.
Only after Bravo threw a three-hit shutout to beat North Hollywood 3-0 was my belief vindicated.
“I come into the back with my arms and it’s a little bit like a Sandy Koufax kind of thing,” he said. “I wear 32 too. He was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers and was good in the World Series.”
Koufax was perfect-game good on Sept. 9, 1965, against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium, striking out 14.
Bravo started learning about No. 32 when his parents would bring him to Dodger Stadium as a young boy.
“I always saw No. 32 retired on the wall,” he said. “Once I got to know him, I was able to see who he really was. I felt I could really copy him and get myself deeper into history.”
Bravo is no Koufax in terms of being a power pitcher. He’s 5 feet 10 and 140 pounds. Since last season, when he changed his windup to briefly emulate Koufax’s arms going above his head, he has a 12-3 record. This season he’s 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA.
“I saw his windup and he looked like he was calm and composed and I tried it. I felt more of a rhythm. I was able to calm down and pitch better,” he said.
After Bravo’s arms go up over his head in his windup, he also does a brief hesitation breathing in and out before throwing the ball toward home plate.
“My dad always taught me to breathe in, breathe out before I do anything,” he said.
Nowadays, teenagers seemingly don’t pay much attention to greats of the past, from old ballplayers to Hall of Fame coaches. Ask someone if they know John Wooden, kids today probably don’t. He did win 10 NCAA basketball titles coaching for UCLA. And who was Don Drysdale? Only a Dodger Hall of Fame pitcher alongside Koufax from Van Nuys High.
Bravo is fortunate he’s seen Dodger broadcasts mentioning Koufax at the stadium and on TV, motivating him to learn more, which led to seeing his windup on YouTube.
His older brother also wore No. 32, so no one was getting that uniform number other than a Bravo brother at Poly.
There is another Bravo set to arrive in the fall. Julian Bravo will be a freshman left-handed pitcher and wants No. 32.
“While I’m there he’s going to have to find a new number,” Fabian Bravo said.
Julian might also want to help his big brother gain a few pounds at the dinner table.
“My brother takes food from me,” he said.
As for recognizing Bravo’s Koufax connection, it was No. 32 that provided the clue. How many pitchers in the 1970s were choosing No. 32? A lot. And it’s great to see a 17-year-old in 2026 paying tribute to one of the greatest pitchers ever.
Emulating Koufax is hard, but forgetting him is unforgivable.
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Eli Manning retired in 2019 and missed out in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility in 2025. He was passed over again earlier this year but still fired back at a fan who claimed one of his contemporaries was the better quarterback.
On Tuesday, a social media user floated a theory about former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Ryan, who now oversees football operations as the team’s president, last played in an NFL game in 2022. He announced his retirement in 2024, making him eligible for Hall of Fame consideration beginning in 2028.
“Matt Ryan was a better QB than Eli Manning… people just worship rings. Agree or nah,” the post read.
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New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning greets Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan after their game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on Oct. 22, 2018. (Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports)
Manning caught wind of the suggestion and weighed in, pointing to the two Super Bowl-winning teams he was part of during his standout run with the New York Giants.
“I will ponder this while I play with my rings…,” Manning wrote in a quote-tweet.
Ryan’s statistical production surpasses Manning’s, at least on paper. He was named NFL MVP in 2016, an honor Manning never earned. Ryan is also the most accomplished player in Falcons history and finished his career with more than 62,000 regular-season passing yards, compared with Manning’s 57,023.
NFC head coach Eli Manning leads a huddle during a practice session before the NFL Pro Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Both quarterbacks were selected to four Pro Bowls, but the key difference lies in championships. Manning won the Super Bowl in 2007 and 2011, while Ryan reached it once but fell short. Manning threw for a single season career-best 4,933 during the run leading up to the second Super Bowl title.
Ryan threw for 284 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions to help the Falcons build a 25-point lead in the championship game — a matchup remembered for the New England Patriots engineering the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan passes the ball against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Jan. 2, 2022. (Rich Barnes/USA TODAY Sports)
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The Falcons have reached the Super Bowl twice in franchise history, first in 1998, but the team is still chasing its first elusive championship.
The Giants marked their 100th season in 2024, winning four Super Bowls over the franchise’s century-long history.
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