Bad 'Boys no longer at Valley Ranch
By Randy Galloway
With commissioner Roger Goodell as the tough cop, the NFL tells us it will be cracking down on crime.
Those players who find it impossible to live within the law will also have to live without football, and a paycheck.
Any day now, Goodell will unveil a code of conduct that will temporarily, or in extreme Pacman Jones cases, permanently remove bad boys from the league.
Here's a situation where the most powerful sports entity from sea to shining sea is actually admitting publicly it has an image problem.
There must be a hip-pocket connection involved somewhere.
The NFL would publicly flog itself over this issue for one, and only one, reason:
That it's going to cost the league money unless swift action is taken.
At the moment, it is tough to make that hip-pocket connection, since the stadiums remain full and the network TV contracts are outrageously flush.
Plus, the NFL usually gets a free skate from the media, as opposed to the NBA being hammered over thug activity, or Major League Baseball when it comes to steroids. Pro football is just as guilty in both areas, maybe even more guilty, but its media exposure doesn't compare with the other two sports.
So if the NFL didn't necessarily have to come clean, is this simply a case of the commissioner, with full approval from the league owners, doing the right thing?
Nah. Heck no. Whatever the motive, it's not that.
But as a story in this newspaper pointed out the other day, since Jan. 1, 2006, 53 NFL players have been arrested for driving under the influence of something, assault and carrying concealed weapons.
And it's really worse than those raw numbers. Many of those players are repeat-repeat-repeat offenders and have at least been in the general vicinity of shootings, stabbings and even murders.
Have you noticed, however, that one of the cleaner teams in the league calls Valley Ranch home?
A decade ago, the Cowboys were the NFL's most notorious jail-bait club.
Today? By comparison to the mid-'90s, Jerry Jones is running a monastery.
The Cowboys have had one arrest in the last 15 months, and that was early last season after then-coach Bill Parcells took a gamble on veteran safety Marcus Coleman.
Parcells had a worry at the position, plus he knew Coleman from having coached him with the Jets. But Marcus started the season with a four-game suspension from flunking a substance test, then got hit with a DUI. Coleman was quickly released.
This is the team's only rap sheet smudge since the infamous Dwayne Goodrich episode, unless you factor in Eldorado Owens, the team-wrecking time bomb.
"What the commissioner is planning at the moment, we've been implementing for awhile," said Jeff Ireland, the Cowboys' scouting director. "Character issues are one of the things Bill and I really saw eye to eye on. I'm a big proponent of a heavy emphasis being placed on character, be it the draft or free agency."
With Parcells gone, there is a thought Jerry Jones might be willing to start gambling again in this area (as with Eldo -- you don't have to be arrested to be a problem) because he'd like to start winning again.
And if we learned anything from a decade ago, as long as a team is considered a Super Bowl possibility, no one cares about character, including the fans. But once the play declines on the field, then everyone is appalled at the bad conduct off the field.
If, however, Goodell's new code of conduct is tough, as promised, then gambling on character might not be worth the risk.
There is a story from two drafts ago that Parcells wanted to take linebacker Shawne Merriman, but because of character questions, Jones nixed it. The Cowboys instead took DeMarcus Ware, leaving Merriman for the San Diego Chargers.
Ireland would not confirm that Wednesday, but others say there is "some truth" involved. One Valley Ranch voice put it this way:
"Basically, all of us misjudged how good Merriman would be as a linebacker. Character on him came up in the discussions, but we also really liked Ware and still do. Ware is good, but Merriman may be the best defensive player in the league."
Outside of a suspension for steroids, Merriman has not been an off-the-field problem on a Chargers team that has had more than its share of those.
"Personally, I don't plan on changing anything when it comes to character," Ireland said. "The worst drafting mistakes a team makes usually involve character. Risky players like that are also undependable players on the field."
Ireland, of course, has the right idea. And now even the commissioner is agreeing with him.
With commissioner Roger Goodell as the tough cop, the NFL tells us it will be cracking down on crime.
Those players who find it impossible to live within the law will also have to live without football, and a paycheck.
Any day now, Goodell will unveil a code of conduct that will temporarily, or in extreme Pacman Jones cases, permanently remove bad boys from the league.
Here's a situation where the most powerful sports entity from sea to shining sea is actually admitting publicly it has an image problem.
There must be a hip-pocket connection involved somewhere.
The NFL would publicly flog itself over this issue for one, and only one, reason:
That it's going to cost the league money unless swift action is taken.
At the moment, it is tough to make that hip-pocket connection, since the stadiums remain full and the network TV contracts are outrageously flush.
Plus, the NFL usually gets a free skate from the media, as opposed to the NBA being hammered over thug activity, or Major League Baseball when it comes to steroids. Pro football is just as guilty in both areas, maybe even more guilty, but its media exposure doesn't compare with the other two sports.
So if the NFL didn't necessarily have to come clean, is this simply a case of the commissioner, with full approval from the league owners, doing the right thing?
Nah. Heck no. Whatever the motive, it's not that.
But as a story in this newspaper pointed out the other day, since Jan. 1, 2006, 53 NFL players have been arrested for driving under the influence of something, assault and carrying concealed weapons.
And it's really worse than those raw numbers. Many of those players are repeat-repeat-repeat offenders and have at least been in the general vicinity of shootings, stabbings and even murders.
Have you noticed, however, that one of the cleaner teams in the league calls Valley Ranch home?
A decade ago, the Cowboys were the NFL's most notorious jail-bait club.
Today? By comparison to the mid-'90s, Jerry Jones is running a monastery.
The Cowboys have had one arrest in the last 15 months, and that was early last season after then-coach Bill Parcells took a gamble on veteran safety Marcus Coleman.
Parcells had a worry at the position, plus he knew Coleman from having coached him with the Jets. But Marcus started the season with a four-game suspension from flunking a substance test, then got hit with a DUI. Coleman was quickly released.
This is the team's only rap sheet smudge since the infamous Dwayne Goodrich episode, unless you factor in Eldorado Owens, the team-wrecking time bomb.
"What the commissioner is planning at the moment, we've been implementing for awhile," said Jeff Ireland, the Cowboys' scouting director. "Character issues are one of the things Bill and I really saw eye to eye on. I'm a big proponent of a heavy emphasis being placed on character, be it the draft or free agency."
With Parcells gone, there is a thought Jerry Jones might be willing to start gambling again in this area (as with Eldo -- you don't have to be arrested to be a problem) because he'd like to start winning again.
And if we learned anything from a decade ago, as long as a team is considered a Super Bowl possibility, no one cares about character, including the fans. But once the play declines on the field, then everyone is appalled at the bad conduct off the field.
If, however, Goodell's new code of conduct is tough, as promised, then gambling on character might not be worth the risk.
There is a story from two drafts ago that Parcells wanted to take linebacker Shawne Merriman, but because of character questions, Jones nixed it. The Cowboys instead took DeMarcus Ware, leaving Merriman for the San Diego Chargers.
Ireland would not confirm that Wednesday, but others say there is "some truth" involved. One Valley Ranch voice put it this way:
"Basically, all of us misjudged how good Merriman would be as a linebacker. Character on him came up in the discussions, but we also really liked Ware and still do. Ware is good, but Merriman may be the best defensive player in the league."
Outside of a suspension for steroids, Merriman has not been an off-the-field problem on a Chargers team that has had more than its share of those.
"Personally, I don't plan on changing anything when it comes to character," Ireland said. "The worst drafting mistakes a team makes usually involve character. Risky players like that are also undependable players on the field."
Ireland, of course, has the right idea. And now even the commissioner is agreeing with him.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:15 PM
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