Everyday it's getting more and more disheartening to read the headlines. Football players in this conference or that conference have perfected the art of wilding, and for some reason, their fans are defending their players' actions off the field.

Is this what it has come to? The fans, alumni and boosters succombing to players-gone-bad? All because they want to be the best football team in America? Have the players finally taken their coaches and fans hostage?

Go to any football team's message board, and it's always the same excuses on every post when a player gets arrested. "It happens everywhere", "all college kids drink" and "it's only a misdemeanor." Funny, no other NCAA-sanctioned sport suffers this problem. Let the dumbing down of American football fans begin.

Part of the whole problem with this situation is that most of these players think they are going to "hit it big" in the pros; who cares if they have a rap sheet? So what if less than 5% of all college athletes ever make it to the pros? They all are good enough to make it to the NFL- just ask them.

LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux is the second coming of Christ, according to Ryan Perrilloux, of course. Perrilloux did tell the press he was going to win four Heismans, but last season Perrilloux played a secondary role while Matt Flynn led the Tigers to the BCS Promised Land. Most LSU fans tired of Perrilloux' antics and many screamed about getting rid of him; "we don't need him", they cried. Then they won the BCS Championship. And everything changed.

"He deserves a second chance," the Mardi Gras-styled, BCS bead-laden supporters said. Of course he does. Read into this anyway you will, but the bottom line is this- the fans have tasted the crystal trophy, want more, and are now are willing to sell their collective souls for another one. Do you blame them? It's part of our nature and one of the seven deadly sins.

The Bayou Bengals want another BCS trophy and fully realize that if they dismiss Perrilloux, another hungry school, most likely in the SEC, will pick him up and have a potential weapon to win the conference championship. It's really that simple. Perrilloux is holding LSU hostage, and Les Miles is his tool to demand that ransom.

This isn't a rip on LSU, by the way, but they are the most visible school to be facing this hostage crisis, and frankly, it's not theirs to bear alone. Many other schools are suffering this same type of situation in their own backyards. Perrilloux' antics have been the most publicized, while Stephen Garcia, of South Carolina, takes a close second; his alcohol-related antics have resulted in a suspension until August 15th. Reinstatement is right before the season starts. Perfect timing there, Coach.

There are some coaches who will take a tough stand against "boys-gone-wild". Look at Joe Paterno. Penn State discovered that three players were arrested, and two of them were expelled from the team. Don't mess with Joe. The dilemma for Penn State fans is obvious, however. They haven't been legit contenders for the Big Ten Championship in a long time, and the fans are getting restless.

Maybe, just maybe, if these players were given "a second, or third chance", the Nittany Lions could keep up with the other schools who do allow thugs and derelicts to play for their school. Think there's not a little pressure to give in to the dark side? Think the Nit fans, for just one year, would love to say "we're #1" rather than "we have a high graduation rate" ? Damn straight. But they won't admit it. Yet.

Am I against giving players getting second or third chances? No, but there needs to be a heavier price to pay on the first "oops." This "indefinite suspension" garbage for a week or a month, clearly doesn't work. Just murmur Michael Vick's, Pac Man Jones', Lawrence Phillips' or Chris Henry's name around the ol' courthouse and brace yourself for "I-told-you-so."

And that's the problem facing teams like the Cincinnati Bengals, Texas Longhorns, South Carolina Gamecocks and LSU Tigers; they have players with great athletic ability but poor judgment and unsavory character.

Who's to blame? We buy the merchandise, we buy the tickets and we donate our money to the university. But when our team isn't doing well, we scream for a better coach who can recruit better players or we will close our wallets.

Unfortunately, most of the better players have not focused on education as their primary reason to go to college, so the coach is in a conundrum; sign the high-risk player and hope for the best, or pass on that player and watch him torch you for 200 yards when you play against him. Every now and then we get a Brady Quinn, who double-majored at Notre Dame, graduated, and got picked in the first round of the NFL draft. But he's a rare breed.

Nope, most of today's football 4 or 5-star prepsters are spoiled rotten and NFL tools; advertising bulletin boards for their respective high school's brilliant coaching staffs, recipients of preferential treatment throughout their high school years, and wooed and awed by every elite football program in the country. They are texted on a daily basis, gifted unofficial perks from wealthy boosters and catered and coddled by all the local town folk. The local sheriff knows who are the five-star recruits in town. Don't kid yourself.

Football fans, it is our fault. And now, we, as a society have a bunch of malcontents, juvenile delinquents and thugs playing on our teams. We have officially been dumbed-down by the players. We watch them tarnish our schools' reputations and at the same time, boastfully point to our Trophy Hall as proof that we are the best.

Hypocrisy is our middle name. We brag, "so what, we're the champs" when the haters point out all of the scandals plaguing our school. We yell, " yeah, but you're losers" when another school brags about its high rate of graduation. And when we lose a big game and hear the jeers of "overrated", we respond with "at least our guys aren't felons."

We are masters in the art of spin.

Are we any better than "them"? Not as long we continue to allow these players to hold us hostage. Not as long as we continue to brag about how many of our team's players have gone into the NFL. Not as long as we continue to donate money to our alma maters, with an "only if it goes to an athletic scholarship fund" stipulation. Not as long as we demand a coach to be fired when his graduation rate is higher than his winning percentage. Not as long as we scream "he has learned his lesson, now can we get more offense?" while our starters are being suspended from action off the field.

Besides, everybody has this problem. He's just a kid. All kids drink while underage. Wanna touch our team's championship trophy? We're #1. Your team sucks. Pot isn't such a big deal. Hater.

If only we could figure out why these athletes are lacking character and morals.