Drown sorrows?

I know as an idiomatic expression, people say 'drink a bitter cup' or 'drain the cup of sorrow' (By the way do they use these expressions nowadays?) meaning they are defeated even thugh they didn't really drink the alcohol.

When I say 'Drown my sorrows', it means I drink alcohol to forget unpleasant things, right? But do I really have to drink to forget? Can it be used as an idiom as well?

The football player had to drown his sorrows to focus on the match.