The Sports Doctor demands a new rule for everyone
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by user AWeiner18
When the word “athlete” comes to mind, the brain generally focuses on the events and accomplishments of the athlete such as Magglio Ordonez’s game-winning home run that sent the Tigers to the World Series, or Tony Romo’s dropping a place hold for his kicker that cost the Cowboys a playoff victory. While fans treasure these vivid actions, spectators across the nation have recently concentrated on the awful decisions players have made off the field. Truly, some athletes to now be characterized as individuals above the law by receiving little to no punishment for a crime that would have sent a normal citizen to jail for years. This attitude needs to change in every professional sports league by creating a three-strike policy—a policy that will not only hand out progressive punishments but could result with the player permanently kicked out of the league if there is a third strike—because such a rule will improve the league’s image and keep the guys who “think they are above the law” out of professional sports.
Professional sports leagues such as the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL) have continued to employ athletes who think they are above the law. In the NBA, Indiana Pacers Jamaal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels were recently arrested for attacking a bar manager. According to “Pacers Duo Released on Own Recognizance After Bing Booked”, the bar manager, Mark Nicholson, was punched on the left side of his head by Tinsley and was attacked by two men, including Daniels. Tinsley and Daniel’s attitude is perfectly demonstrated by Mike Baldwin’s cartoon, where a tall basketball player stands in front of a judge who looks at the player’s file and says, “Basketball star huh?” Tell me, what makes you think you’re above the law?”
If a non-celebrity walked into a bar and committed the exact crime Tinsley and Daniels did, he or she would not only lose their job, but he or she would end up in jail. Tinsley and Daniels, on the other hand, are both being paid $10.8 million dollars and are not in jail for committing a crime (Indiana Pacers Salaries). If professional leagues create a policy, these players will lose their paychecks permanently if they ever commit a crime. The “what makes you think you’re above the law” mind-set would come to a quick halt.
The “above the law” attitude may not exist in the National Football League (NFL) for much longer. According to “Union to Ask Players for Help Outlining Conduct Rules”, players, such as the NFL Players Association president Troy Vincent, have examined possible solutions to determine the appropriate punishment for a player who commits frequent crimes.
“I'm concerned, concerned about all the issues we saw off the field, Vincent said. We can't go home with the players, but I hold every player responsible for their actions. We need to sit down with the up-and-coming superstars. We need to hear from them and see what's making them tick.”
Vincent is right. If players need to have a chaperone, then why are they considered an adult under the laws of the United States? Recently, newly appointed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had a sit down with Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry to discuss what has made them, in the words of Vincent, “tick”. After hearing all sides, Goodell issued his first suspensions for player conduct, suspending Henry for eight games and Jones for an entire season due to their frequent off the field incidents with the police.
"We must protect the integrity of the NFL," Goodell said in a statement. "The highest standards of conduct must be met by everyone in the NFL because it is a privilege to represent the NFL, not a right. These players, and all members of our league, have to make the right choices and decisions in their conduct on a consistent basis." (Goodell Suspends Pacman, Henry for Multiple Arrests)
These two players have not made the right decisions. Jones, a former first round draft choice out of West Virginia University, demonstrated his intelligence on the field, and his stupidity off the field. According to “Titans Player Just Saw Vegas Strip Club Shooting, Lawyer Says”, Jones’s most recent encounter with the authorities came when he witnessed a shooting in a Las Vegas strip club. Authorities later pointed the blame of the shootings to Jones after witnesses say he punched a stripper in the face after she tried to take his money when he threw it in the air. Prior to this event, Jones has been arrested three times—coincidentally, all the arrests happened in night clubs in Tennessee—since he was drafted in 2005.
In USA Today reporter Jon Saraceno’s column, titled “Tennessee's 'Pacman' Jones is the poster child for a needed crackdown in the NFL”, Saraceno analyzed Jones, stating, “The dude likes carousing at nightclubs more than he does picking off careless quarterbacks. In the NFL for 22 months, Pacman gobbles up trouble as if starving for it, averaging an arrest or off-field incident once every three months.” (“Tennessee's 'Pacman' Jones is the poster child for a needed crackdown in the NFL”)
This statistic is not the only one that suggests that each professional league draw up a three-strike rule. Henry, who also was drafted in 2005 from West Virginia, is a member of the Cincinnati Bengals—a team that has made headlines off the field because nine of their players got arrested in a span of nine months. Like Jones, Henry has had several arrests since he was drafted, and, according to The Enquirer, Henry “has been arrested four times between December 2005 and June 2006 and “was suspended for two games last season by Goodell”.
If former commissioner Paul Tagliabue had installed a three-strike rule before his retirement, not only would Henry and Jones be unemployed, no future employer outside of athletics would want to employ someone labeled as a criminal.
Several journalists have discussed possible resolutions if the NFL installs a three-strike program. ESPN writer Jemele Hill wrote in her article “The Pacman Jones Rule Is Overdue” that, “Maybe the Cincinnati Bengals wouldn't have more arrests in the last year than victories. Maybe Tank Johnson, who has been arrested three times in the past 18 months, would be looking for work and never would have had the privilege of playing in a Super Bowl. Maybe Dominic Rhodes, who was arrested for drunk driving last week, wouldn't have to fear punishment from just an Indiana judge, but also from the league, which would have the authority to suspend him for multiple games.”
Johnson and Rhodes are both NFL players who played in the Super Bowl this past February.
The NFL is not the only league that currently has a horrible off-the-field reputation. The National Basketball Association (NBA) has also continued to employ frequent crime repeaters, such as the famous Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest. After getting into a violent argument with his wife and his three-year-old daughter inside their house on March 5 th, 2007, Artest was immediately suspended indefinitely by his team. Artest’s suspension was the first harsh suspension distributed to a player who was charged with a crime. On November 19 th, 2004, Artest was suspended an entire season after he charged into the stands to attack the fan who threw a beer cup at him at a game against the Detroit Pistons.
Clearly, both leagues have started to attempt to put an end to the “what makes you think you’re above the law” attitude by distributing harsh punishments that are determined by an individual, the commissioner, rather than a set rule. Each league should determine their own suspensions but the qualifications for punishment must be the same—players will get suspended if there is evidence of the player’s guilt. For example, if a player gets arrested for driving under the influence and the player has a blood alcohol level that is above the legal limit for that state, then the player will receive a punishment because the evidence shows he broke the law.
But not every case will be a DUI case. If Artest pushed his wife while trying to defend himself or was falsely accused of this behavior, then wouldn’t his suspension be a violation of the theory “innocent until proven guilty”?
So how can leagues determine if a player is truly guilty? Should each commissioner follow Vincent’s advice by sitting down with the athlete and have a discussion about the situation, along with the prosecuting attorney, the lead investigator, and the player’s attorney or should the league take action only after the courts decide the guilt or innocence of the individual? In my opinion, the best solution to fix player conduct is this. Each commissioner needs to study and research its own league and then select what he or she believes is the best route to decide punishment.
If a league has a high rate of arrests and off-the-field conflicts, then that league needs to have a sit down meeting immediately following the player’s charges and determine an appropriate punishment. This route can be classified as a we-must-fix-this-mess-or-else-we-will-lose-money solution. Think about this: if a league continues to have players that have committed multiple crimes and are still paid millions, several sponsors and fans will eventually decide not to support the league, and, as a result, the league will lose money. With high salaries and high-ticket prices, leagues such as the NBA cannot afford to employ criminals because the league will lose its popularity quickly.
No matter what each league decides on its own, the league must take the initiative and create set rules to help players think before they act.
Like Gail Kerr, a writer for the Tennessean stated in “Wrong Spot Never Right for Pacman”: there is never a right time to be in the wrong place.
“There are things that grown-ups learn, sometimes the hard way,” Kerr wrote. “Stop after a couple of beers, unless you've got someone else driving. Don't run red lights. When you've made a mistake, say you're sorry. Quit hanging out with people who get you in trouble.”
If players consider Kerr’s analysis and if each professional league creates a three-strike rule, players will more likely be in the right place at the right time and will stop hanging out with people that get them in trouble—or else they will no longer be paid millions for playing a game.
After all, no one—especially athletes—should be above the law.
We want to see what they'll do next. It appeals to us because we can look at them and realize that hey, it's OK if we cheat on our taxes, or jaywalk, or download that mp3 -- they are the beasts, we're just flawed and, as you said, human.
It's beneath any organization -- from IBM to the NFL -- to prostitute itself to such desires. The NFL is right to stop this now. It's running a sports, not a circus.