Sunday, February 06, 2000
NFL kidding itself about violent trend
BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Item: Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis is charged with the stabbing death of two men outside an Atlanta nightclub, before departing in a limousine amid gunfire.
Item: Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth is charged in the shooting death of his pregnant girlfriend.
Item: Thirteen players from last week's Super Bowl teams have been charged in the past with criminal offenses.
Item: “The track record of our players is far better than society at large,” NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said, citing studies.
You bet. And as soon as I load up my limo with guns, knives and bales of marijuana, I will drive with my entourage to the night club and out into society at large where, hopefully, no one will die.
But not before I smack around my wife or girlfriend. Or both.
Keeping up with the Joneses?
We've got the crime-of-the-week club in the NFL. Rae and Ray, alleged killers. Thirteen Tennessee Titans and St. Louis Rams accused of crimes, this according to something called www.APBnews.com, a Web site devoted to crime news.
(Gee, what do you get for logging on there? A speedy trial?)
One of the 13, St.Louis linebacker Leonard Little, killed a woman he hit while driving drunk.
On Thursday Fred Lane, a Carolina Panthers running back, was found to have a loaded .22 caliber rifle in the trunk of his car. Now there's a very popular item in society at large. You know: Minivan, Nintendo 64, big-screen TV, loaded rifle in the trunk.
Every soccer mom in the Tristate is packing, probably in the wheel well of the Eddie Bauer Ford Expedition. C'mon, kids. Let's go find us a referee.
Also Thursday, Kansas City wideout Tamarick Vanover was named in a federal probe of a drug smuggling ring in Kansas and Missouri. Oh, the society we live in. Right after mom dumps the kids off at the game, she ambles across town to deliver a few kilos of coke.
A mother's work is never done.
Did we mention that Denard Walker, starting cornerback, Tennessee Titans, pleaded guilty last year to beating his girlfriend? Darn that society at large.
Dad comes home from a hard day making shower curtain rings. Mom says her cocaine connection didn't have the money for the drugs so, Pow! Dad makes a connection of his own. Mom's jaw is broken. She's down to 25 teeth.
That's society for ya. What say we go night-clubbing? Grab the guns and the fellas.
Whose society is this?
Apparently, I'm running around with the wrong society. Evidently, when it comes to taking America's social pulse, I'm way behind the curve.
I don't know anyone who has been arrested. For anything. Ever.
I don't know anyone who has mistaken his wife or girlfriend for a heavy bag.
I don't know anyone who carries a loaded rifle in his trunk, unless it's deer season.
I don't know anyone who has killed anyone while driving drunk.
I don't know a soul accused of murder. I'm so out of touch.
In the face of all this social conformity by NFL players, Tagliabue decided what was really disturbing was the erosion of sportsmanship, during and after football games. “We are concerned with what seems to be deteriorating conduct,” he said.
Oh, heaven forbid.
Is it just me, or does it seem, in your little slice of society at large, that the NFL just trivialized a very big problem? Are we to compare NFL players with that segment of society that considers a prison cell to be home away from home? Is that the level to which the league aspires?
“Our players have a better track record than any group of multiple offenders you can name.”
NFL players aren't trampling lots of laws. They're reflecting society at large. Excuse me. But I think I'll stay out of their way.
Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454. Fair Game, a collection of his columns, is available at local bookstores.
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