The rubber hits the road screeching to the tune Pacman is singing at his latest interview lobbying why we should be allowed to be himself. "What do you want me to do...sit at home and do nothin...that ain't me?!"
Well let's see, six arrests, three people shot, one paralyzed, two women beaten and spit on, a soon to be felony conviction, and a year long suspension from your job for simply being in a word a "jackarss", all just since you have become a Titan. Yep, you need to sit at home and do nothing, and shut up while you are there, and consider yourself lucky you are not in prison or worse.
THE ENABLERS
There are those that will argue that the Pacman is just being a strong willed black man with a penchant for individualism, and he should not be treaded upon by the misunderstanding masses. There are those that will argue that he has never been convicted of anything so he is innocent and everyone should leave him alone to do what he do. There are those that will argue that if he was white, no one would care about his legal troubles and he'd still be playing football his way.
ITS NOT HIS FAULT, ITS OURS
The trouble began long before Pacman Jones was even born. December 24, 1969, Curt Flood touched off the revolution that is now known as free agency. Along with this revolution came the opportunity for untold fortunes for prospective athletes. What did not come with it was the much needed common sense from American society to throttle the "anything goes" mentality that comes from windfall prosperity.
TO THE VICTORS GO THE SPOILS
As the salaries of the professional athlete rose during the 1970's and 80's, the moral standards imposed upon athletes by society inversely plummeted, deteriorating the very fabric from which sports are woven in America. As sports turned athletes into instant millionaires, conversely society began to turn a blind eye to morals as long as the athlete could perform at his/her sport, and gradually lowered the bar of acceptable standards.
INNOCENCE LOST
It all began innocent enough. We turned our backs when athletes couldn't pass one subject in high school because he was misunderstood or had a learning disability, then we turned our backs when the athlete got into minor mischief. Pretty soon it became "alleged" misdemeanors, and outright "boys will be boys" mentality. Not long after that we didn't even require them to show up for class and began having other people take tests for them, and in (shhhh) extreme cases handing them money and gifts (wink-wink) under the table. Next came felony allegations and spousal abuses, but we neatly swept it under the rug so as not to upset our grandparents.
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
Along comes the sobering moment in 1987 when Southern Methodist University was slapped with the death penalty for cheating. The nation caught it's collective breath, realizing it could never allow a sports program to suffer that sort of fate again, and we did the only thing that could be done to further the manifest destiny of windfall prosperity. We sold our souls to the devil, and in marched the lawyers to make good on that contract. It wasn't enough to keep Pete Rose from being banned for life betting on baseball in 1989, but onward we tread toward the land of plenty, at least for the few and talented, if not morally upright.
FEEDING THE MONSTER
From that point, the salaries got bigger, the athletes got younger, and the cheating and criminal behavior became more blatantly unnoticed until we reached the final checkpoint. On June 12, 1994 it became possible to get away with murder. It has been a nexus of one-up-manship from that day forward. Now we have reached critical mass. In recent years, we have been confronted with our own monsters time and again. Bonds has been accused of being a juicer, Tim Donaghey has been caught cheating, Rafael Palmeiro has been exposed as a cheat and a perjurer, Mark McGwire has taken the 5th amendment, Michael Vick has been accused of abusing animals and profiting from it, Kobe Bryant has settled a sexual assault case, Darrent Williams has been killed, Joe Cullen drove naked drunk through the streets, Vikings players had public orgies, Ken Caminiti overdosed, Terrell Owens pouts like five year old and attempts a $21 million suicide, Tank Johnson is packin heat and the band plays on until we just can't take it anymore. While it is understandable to see how Pacman has come by his mentality, it is just no longer acceptable.
MISSING THE POINT
As an American culture we have completely forgotten what sports are all about. The definable difference between sports and life in general is honor. Sports by definition is about competing against others based on the merits of your own ability to overcome your human imperfections and shortcomings in an honorable fashion to win a fair contest. When you remove honor, and replace it with cheating, and chemical alteration, and misdeeds, it's no longer "winning" and "sports", it's just cr@p, and at the end of the day, nobody will want to pay for cr@p. In short, without honor, you have accomplished nothing and in the end you will be nothing.
THE RECKONING
That is why Roger Goodell is making an example out of Pacman, and Michael Vick, and why Bud Selig should make an example of Bonds et al, and why Stern should have made an example of Kobe Bryant and will ultimately pull the plug on some of his charges. Whether we realize it or not, American sports are edging ever closer to brink of the slippery slope, we're drunk on the money, and that is a more deadly combination than Pacman, Tank, and OJ in a strip club brawl.
