Close Your Eyes– I’m About to Be Nice to a Cowboy

Is anyone surprised that Adam "don't call me pacman anymore because i'm mature now" Jones screwed up?  I, for one, was one who benefitted from it.  I bet a Cowboys fan from work that Dallas couldn't go the entire season without one of their players getting in trouble.  I won.  I offered the guy a "double-or-nothing" after the news broke, but he declined.  Just five weeks into the season...typical of Dallas.  Oh, by the way, I'm sure you've heard this one but here it is again ---Three Cowboys in the backseat of a car - who's driving?  The cop!!!

Thank you for seeing it like it is, DW. I appreciate you being level-headed, unlike a few others.

Ian, The Most Delusional Iggles Fan in Philly: "It is not a minor incident, this is major. Assaulting another human being can be considered a felony depending on the severity of the injuries."

Are you telling me that you've never had a little scuffle with one of your friends, hit the guy in the head, got broken up then worked it out like 10 minutes later? Come on now. He didn't nearly get arrested because the fight wasn't a big deal. They broke a mirror, they're going to pay for it.

The 24-hour news coverage has made media outlets like ESPN take stories and run with them a million miles an hour. Stories that sound big get big ratings. And you're not going to get a network like ESPN to backpedal and say they're wrong. They'd just rather let the story die out than lose the confidence of their viewers.

I'm watching NFL Live right now and whatever desk jockey they have in there right now just said something along these lines:
"Put aside the fact that Adam Jones has to have around the clock security coverage to make sure that he stays out of trouble..." followed by some question.

This is a classic move. He's not putting all that stuff aside, he's drawing attention to it. This was the opening of his sentence, and among the first few lines of the program. That's what the audience is going to remember. It'd be like having a banner across the top of Ian's crappy site saying "Forget that the owner of this site is dillusional about his crappy team and is too ignorant to see through ESPN's spin." Ian would have even fewer visitors than he has right now.

Now RG, Do I have to scold you for being nice like I had to dwagner? ;-)
But cool, and even better that you made the Eagles fans angry! Beautiful! :-)

Thanks much, you made my day

I will have a Seasonal Pumpkin Ale in your honor tonight

STOP!!!

Stop minimizing this. THIS IS A HUGE DEAL! The dope was reinstated in September, and 1 month later he screws up!

It is not a minor incident, this is major. Assaulting another human being can be considered a felony depending on the severity of the injuries. The only reason he did not get arrested, is he fought somebody who works for Jerry Jones. This guys job is to make sure that Pacman does not get arrested. If it was anybody else you can be sure charges would have been pressed against this idiot, and Rodger Goodell would be suspending him right now.

ESPN did not create any of these stories. They simply reported them. Pacman is the idiot who was arrested 8 times in under 16 months. ESPN had nothing to do with that. Pacman is the one who fought his body guard, and nearly got arrested again. ESPN had nothing to do with that. ESPN just reported the story, because that is their job. They simply gathered information from the incident and reported it.

If there was no incident, then ESPN would have nothing to report. Pacman controls what ESPN can report, not ESPN.

Stop blaming the media for this stupid punks behavior and poor decision making. If Pacman doesn't want to have negative press, then maybe he should stop getting into fights, and stop hanging out in bad places!

What does that say about somebody who can not even last a month with his own personal body guard? Pacman can not function in society, and should be locked up in the same cell as OJ.

I agree with most of what is being said here.  If there wasn't an actual police report filed I would agree wholeheartedly.

ESPN may be overreacting (media in general has this tendency) and Goodell may be more worried about image than anything else but the bottom line is Jones put himself in this position.

I couldn't agree with you more.  I wrote something similar this morning on my blog SaltyMilk.com. 

ESPN is just fishing for a story and won't give a guy a break.  Once you make a mistake they will follow you to your grave.

I see where you're coming from DW.

Regarding media, you also have to wonder about the effect of the NFL Network. It started 5 years ago, but only recently has been added to most basic cable packages. Most of their coverage I find entertaining & enlightening, but they also exaggerate media "scandals" to absurd proportions. (Last summer did they talk about anything besides Farve?) This is what other channels like ESPN have to compete with.

In that sense, maybe the NFL are kicking themselves in the foot by inviting more media scrutiny, both thru their own network and thru competing channels. I don't think any other sport/league is quite in the same situation. And if that's the case, I guess unfortunately this sort of tabloid-like reporting on the NFL is only going to increase in the future.

I see your point and mostly agree with you.  But when you're in Pac Man's position, having been suspended previously and having been warned that if he crosses the line he's screwed, he's still a fool to do what he did.

The guy he fought was his bodyguard, so I seriously doubt the bodyguard instigated the fight unless he was trying to stop Pac Man from doing something dangerous and/or illegal.   The media blows this way out of proportion as it always does, but this should hardly be a surprise to Pac Man.

He should have known better. 

I get it from the NFL's point of view.  What makes me angry is that ESPN has forced the NFL's hands.  Of course they have to do something now, but only because some idiot decided he was going to be the Woodward and Bernstein of the sports world.

I blame us, of course, too.  Because we click on every piece of stupid gossip out there, and they know stories like this make money.  The media has to rise above this stuff, and it won't until we do.

-DW

I'm with you half way: yeah, it's no big deal, happens all the time. But still, from a business perspective (& the NFL is a rather good busienss at that), the league has a reputation to uphold. It makes sense that their attitude, like most businesses, is do whatever you want as long as you don't get caught/it doesn't make us look bad. Pacman should've known better, as he's in the public spotlight & has a sketchy past, so he's going to be more heavily scrutinezed, no doubt.

One of my favorite things about the Skins is we don't have any dramaqueens, prima donnas, & whinos, despite how much money they're making making relative to other teams, particularly the Cowboys. By the NFL keeping their standards high - and not hesitating to suspend superstars for ciminal activity - I think they can allow that atitude to grow among other teams, so each Sunday we're able to watch 2 teams rather than just collections of celebrities.