Written by Thomas Moore

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When we first heard the news about Chris Perez and Josh Gordon and their "indiscretions," our first reaction was, are you kidding?

Then, after we heard more of the details, our reaction started to change a bit.

Let's start with Perez, who has been charged with a misdemeanor, along with his wife, Melanie, after a package of marijuana was delivered by the U.S. Postal Service to their rental house earlier this week. According to media reports, the package contained less than 9 ounces of marijuana.

"Clearly, we take these matters seriously and are disappointed whenever there is any negative attention brought to the Indians organization or one of our players," Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said on the team's website. "We understand and respect that there is an ongoing legal process that we will allow to evolve."

OK, drugs are obviously bad and no matter where you stand on the marijuana issue, it is currently illegal to possess it in Ohio. Having said that, we have a hard time getting worked up about this latest incident with Perez.

Do we wish Perez hadn't been involved in any of this? Of course. The Tribe has enough on its plate as it struggles to break a stretch that has seen them lose 15 of their last 19 games without having to worry about what their injured closer is up to in his free time. But other than being a bit disappointed, we just don't see where this incident calls for outrage or angst from Tribe fans.

We are interested, however, in how Major League Baseball is going to deal with this. Even though Perez is currently charged, the package was reportedly addressed to Brody Baum. Brody is the name of the Perez family dog and Baum is Melanie's maiden name. While someone could argue that Perez knew the package was coming, his name isn't on the package. As far as we know, spouses and family pets don't have to follow any of the rules about drug use or personal conduct that Major League Baseball has in place.

Perez reportedly admitted to police the marijuana is his and Melanie Perez reportedly said she is not a user. But what if  Perez is called before commissioner Bud Selig and changes his tune? What happens if he claims the package was for his wife and he had no knowledge that it was coming in the mail? Would baseball have the guts to try and discipline him and, if so, how hard would the player's union push back? (And how much of an anniversary present will Perez have to buy his wife if she acts as a human shield for him?)

Overall, we just can't that worked up about Perez. We hate to use the phrase, "it's only marijuana," but ... it is only marijuana. It may be because, as we've gotten older, we've looked at sports and athletes with a different perspective. With so many things going on in the world that are true problems, the fact that the Tribe's closer allegedly likes to fire up every once in a while falls very far down on the list.

The news is worse on Gordon, who has been suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

“In February, I was diagnosed with strep throat for which a doctor prescribed antibiotics and cough medicine," Gordon said in a team-released statement. "Apparently, the medicine I took contained codeine, which is prohibited by the NFL policy. The policy terms are strict about unintentional ingestion, but the NFL has not imposed the maximum punishment in light of the facts of my case. Therefore, I have chosen to be immediately accountable for the situation. I sincerely apologize for the impact on my team, coaches, and Browns fans. I look forward to working hard in training camp and pre-season, and contributing immediately when I return in week three.”

At first, we thought that the NFL's reaction was a bit extreme, even if it turns out that Gordon really did ingest codeine inadvertently. But WebMD.com lists codeine among the opioids, a"family of drugs that have effects similar to those of opium or morphine (and) can be addictive."

Then we found this article on FoxSports.com that talks about the growing popularity of purple drank, a concoction that usually combines codeine and the antihistamine promethazine, which is then mixed with Sprite or 7Up and Jolly Ranchers or other hard candy.

''It doesn't have the negative connotation it should, the same negative connotation there is with crack cocaine or heroin,'' former NFL player Marcellus Wiley said in the article. ''People think of this purple drank as kind of a cool thing. Because people think it's cool, it invades that mentality, invades that culture, without alerting people to the dangers of it.''

The article also quotes Dr. Ronald Peters, an associate professor at the University of Texas Health Service Center in Houston, who saw students in inner-city schools in Houston struggling to stay awake in class while passing around Sprite bottles filled with a purplish liquid.

''You would go to schools and, literally, kids were falling asleep," Peters said. "I spoke to teachers and they asked why are kids falling asleep in the classroom? Why are eight people drinking from one Sprite bottle?''

Interestingly enough, Gordon was born in and attended schools in Houston through high school. Make of that what you will as you consider his defense.

For Gordon's sake, we hope that he really did take a banned substance by mistake. He's a talented player who put up some nice numbers during his rookie season despite missing all of then-coach Pat Shurmur's off-season program. (On second thought, that may have been a good thing.)

But he also seems like a troubled young man who is struggling with some problems after being asked to leave Baylor over two failed marijuana tests and then failing another marijuana test at Utah without every playing a down for the Utes. If it turns out he knew what he was doing when he ingested the codeine, he has bigger problems to worry about that just missing a couple of paychecks.

As for the Browns, not having Gordon for the first two games of the season is certainly a setback, but it's not going to cost them a playoff berth or anything. Even with Gordon on the active roster, at best the Browns were looking at a split of their first two games; although with their record in season openers since 1999, the Miami game in Week 1 is certainly no sure thing.

The bigger issue for the team is that, because Gordon's latest infraction resulted in a suspension, he was already in Stage 2 of the NFL's substance abuse program and this probably (likely?) was his second positive drug test. A player remains in Stage 2 "for 24 months or two full seasons, whichever is shorter, beginning from the later of either the date of entry into Stage Two; or after entering Stage Two, the date upon which a player fails to comply with the Treatment Plan or fails to cooperate with testing, treatment, evaluation or other requirements imposed on him by this Policy."

When those 24 months actually begin is an important point for Gordon and the Browns. If the countdown didn't start until February, when Gordon reportedly failed his test, then he is only four months into the 24-month window. If Gordon can make it to the end of Stage 2 without any more mistakes, then he becomes just another NFL player.

But the alternative is something that Browns officials and Browns fans don't really want to think about. If Gordon has another slip-up, he will be moved to Stage 3, where he will remain for the rest of his NFL career. He would also face a one-year suspension from the NFL.

How quickly Gordon can turn things around - and how quickly the Browns front office believes him - will determine not only what kind of career Gordon will have, but also if he will have that career in Cleveland. If Gordon is facing a major suspension it will be very difficult for the Browns to invest in his future.

While there has been anger directed at both Perez and Gordon in the past few days, we're more disappointed in them than we are outraged. We would like to think that they both know better, but that is not always the case. Perez is 27 and Gordon is still just 22 and while they are not kids, they really are not adults, either. People spend most of their 20s (and even some of their 30s) really learning what it means to be an adult and even though professional athletes are different than regular people in a lot of ways, because they play a game for a living and make a lot of money doing it, they tend to be adolescents for longer than the rest of us.

The next chapters in these little dramas have yet to be written, but one thing is clear.

This past week has been one of those "only in Cleveland" weeks that we seem to get around here all too often.

(Perez photo by The Associated Press)

(Gordon photo by The Plain Dealer)