New NFL Personal Conduct policy pending; suspensions under existing policy given.

[Bloodline666]

Last Tuesday, Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver Chris Henry and Tennessee Titans Cornerback & Kick/Punt Returner Adam "Pacman" Jones met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss off-the-field conduct, their previous run-ins with the law, and the possibility of punishment by the league for such incidents. A third player, Chicago Bears Defensive Tackle Tank Johnson, was scheduled to meet with the commissioner that day, but could not, as he was sentenced to 120 days in jail for probation violation (his appearance in Super Bowl XLI was not a violation of his probation, as he was granted permission to play the game, as he was put on probation when the Bears had clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and had no road games left, meaning their next de facto road game would in fact be Super Bowl XLI).

All three players have had numerous run-ins with the law since being drafted into the NFL. It is also important to note that Chris Henry was one of eight Bengals players arrested last year, thus causing some to compare the Bengals with the "Jail Blazers" on the NBA's Portland TrailBlazers roster.

Today, a ruling came from the league's office: Chris Henry will be suspended for the first half (8 games) of the 2007 season, while Pacman Jones will be suspended the entire season. The reason Pacman has a longer suspension is because he has the bigger rap sheet. Henry has had 6 run-ins with the law since his NFL career started (technically 5, though, since one of them yielded absolutely no evidence of wrongdoing, and the alleged victim of that incident may face charges of filing a false report to police), while Jones has had 10 of them. As soon as Tank Johnson's 120 day jail sentence is up, he will be expected to meet with Goodell about player conduct and his rap sheet, and be suspended accordingly, and a new, tougher, and stricter personal conduct policy is expected to be announced and implimented sometime before the 2007 NFL Draft. There is also a possibility that repeat misconduct off the field may result in a lifetime ban from the NFL.

That being said, I would like to ask for your opinion on the issue of player conduct. Should a message be sent to professional athletes that being paid to play sports is a priviledge, or is it none of their employers' business and only what they do ON the field should matter?

[El Bandito]

If it was a normal job, they'd be fired on the spot.

Athletes are too often babied by the law. I'm glad Goodell is making them pay for their off the field misconduct in playing time. Sure, they're sometimes overscrutinized since they're often in the public eye, but if you legitimately break the law, you have to pay.

From a football standpoint: Poor Vince Young. The Titans are having the crappiest offseason ever. They better have an incredible draft and maybe land a big trade if they want to be in contention this year.

[Alex151]

I think the rulings are fair. If you're going to try and act like some gangster then be gone with you. It is a priviledge to be playing in the NFL or any other profesional sport. Jones would be better off acting like a role model but instead he goes around and acts like a gangster. I honestly hope he gets in trouble again and gets a life ban from the NFL, send him back to the hood, if that's where he wants to be.

[Del Murder]

I agree with El Bandito. Criminal convictions are grounds for dismissal in almost every normal job. I hope they are suspended without pay.

[Bloodline666]

I agree with El Bandito. Criminal convictions are grounds for dismissal in almost every normal job. I hope they are suspended without pay.

Henry and Jones are suspended without pay.

[edczxcvbnm]

Finally! All sports should be doing this. Teams rarely take it upon themselves to promote this kind of image because they drafted, payed and trained these players. Why would they want to suspend them? It hurts their team.

I am interested to see what happens to Tank Johnson. He plead guilty instead of fighting it so that he could be back in time for training camp and probably due to them allowing him to play in Super Bowl 41. I think he gets a 4 game suspension but he isn't a starter for the Bears so it isn't that big of a loss. He only started last seasons after someone got injured and it will probably remain that way this year.

[Bloodline666]

Finally! All sports should be doing this. Teams rarely take it upon themselves to promote this kind of image because they drafted, payed and trained these players. Why would they want to suspend them? It hurts their team.

That's exactly what allowed the Jail Blazers scandal in the NBA to get out of hand in Portland. And besides, some of the players signed/traded to the TrailBlazers already had a rap sheet to begin with, which only got bigger while they were at Portland (a similar situation happened in Cincinnati last year with the Bengals, as two of the eight players arrested were arrested for incidents that happened before the Bengals drafted them, not to mention the fact that Chris Henry's conduct problems started in college; the fact that he was hanging out with questionable players, though probably not by choice, since they're his teammates, made his situation worse). And what did Portland do about it? As far as I'm concerned, they basically covered it up by trading off players and not re-signing them once they became free agents (only one of them, to my knowledge, was cut from the team as a result of any of his incidents, and that was Qyntel Woods, who was cut after he was being investigated by the FBI in connection with a dog-fighting ring). And David Stern did no better with regards to handling this, as he would only suspend players for like, 8 games (a VERY small fraction of the season in the NBA) for personal conduct issues like this, yet, only hand out the stiff suspensions for major on-court incidents, such as the Palace Brawl in Detroit (which saw Ron Artest suspended for the remainder of the season, as well as fans having their season tickets revoked for their involvement). My perception of him is, he is, always has been, and always will be, more concerned with the marketability of his star players like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, etc. than the personal conduct of his league's players, thus further increasing the perception that NBA players are "thugs."

Now entering his second year as NFL Commissioner, and he's now placing player conduct as his absolute top priority (he essentially has been doing so since he became Commissioner, as seen with the stiffer fine on T.O. for spitting in DeAngelo Hall's face, the lengthy suspension handed down to Albert Haynesworth for stomping on Andre Gurode's head, and the new "Shawne Merriman Rule"). I think Goodell's the best commissioner we have in sports right now. And I'm pretty sure he must be thinking, "Why didn't my predecessor, Paul Tagliabue, toughen up on player conduct before I got here?"

[edczxcvbnm]

David Stern has always put marketability above league image. This goes for a multitude of things such as refereeing, player conduct and player off-court conduct. He always does things after they go to far but at least he does something. Baseball has the worst commish out there right now.

I like Goodell. He has come out banging away on what they league needs to do instead of what teams need to do. Not everything will be perfect but at least he is being proactive. I can't wait to see what he does with collective bargaining when it comes time for that. I am sure he will push drug testing even further as well as put player conduct into the CBA.

[Bloodline666]

Baseball has the worst commish out there right now.

I think at least part of the reason for that is because the Players Union got too powerful. Before there even was a Players Union in any sport, Baseball's Commissioner was so powerful that even a single drug offense could get your ass banned for life from baseball. In fact, when the Commissioner's office was first established, the Commissioner was given the power to make acts "In the best interests of baseball." What happened to that power? Well, apparently, the MLB Players Union decided that they would not allow themselves to be overridden by that power, and look what happened as a result. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Major_League_Baseball_strike)