Oh jeez...

Around the 2006 NFL draft, I posted that Jay Cutler would be the best of the "big 3" QB's taken in that draft.  I then expressed my feelings about drafting Vince Young - basically saying okay, he's a heck of an athlete, I hope things turn out well.  Then he led the Titans to the most exciting 8-8 season ever, and earned a trip to the Pro Bowl as a rookie QB.  Things were all rosy in Nashville.  Then the Titans improved to 10 wins and a playoff berth last year, but with one key difference: Instead of VY putting the team on his back and carrying them to wins like '06 (amazing comeback against NYG; 50-yard TD run against HOU), the Haynesworth-led defense was now carrying VY to victories he shouldn't have had.

During this past offseason, VY let slip that he considered retiring after that first season because football just wasn't fun anymore.  Then he brushed the comment off as a joke - a total misunderstanding, he'd have us believe.  Now take a look: the petulant passer plays simply horribly, and earns every single "boo" he receives on his way off of LP field against the Jags.  Even his short, simple TD pass to rookie burner Chris Johnson was poorly thrown.  In VY's defense, he made some other decent throws that his receivers just plain dropped (an event to which we Titans fans have become accustomed), but you can tell from his overall play that he's still trying to be Peyton Manning, when he needs to try to be Vince Young.  The Titans won the game, but again, only due to a tremendous defensive effort.

I've always defended VY.  He's a kid, he needs time to grow...He's just getting adjusted to the NFL...He's never been booed in his life.  I've said all these things.  You know what?  I'm done.  I truly hope the guy comes back this season and tears it up like he did the second half of his fantastic rookie year.  But if you can't handle the boo's, go home to your momma and let her take care of you.

I was in the crowd this past weekend to hear Sean Glennon get booed as Virginia Tech took entirely too much time to dispatch Furman.  I hated it - the boo's, I mean.  This is a kid who (from what I've heard) works hard on the practice field, he's a senior trying to lead a powerful team to new heights despite a LOT of youth, and he doesn't get paid (well, that's the story, anyway).  Don't boo that guy - he's playing for the love of the game for a football-crazy program.  He's clearly not NFL starter material, but hey, you try to get out there and do what he does...It's tough!  You may support switching to Tyrod, but cut the guy some slack and show some love for the good things he's really trying to do for the Hokies.  If there's not a personal foul, a fight, or an ejection involved, you just don't boo a college athlete.  But the pros...there's a different story.

We fans love a guy who goes out there and leaves it on the field for our team.  Then we leave our expensive seats, go back to our 10-year-old cars that we paid $20 to park, and the next day, we're back to our menial jobs making our crappy money, just waiting to spend another $100 on cheap ball park food and beer next weekend so we can enjoy watching YOU play.  Yes, we are perhaps obsessed with the team and your performance, but we WANT to love you.  We WANT you to succeed.  We're on YOUR side!  Consequently, it really takes a lot to make us boo you.

Vince Young, you make X-million dollars a year.  Your face is everywhere.  You are a beloved figure in the states of Texas and Tennessee.  But you are NOT in college anymore.  Your antics are hurting a team that has a championship-level defense, as well as a fan base that has supported you since you became a Titan.  With great power comes great responsibility - translation: if you can't handle being you, then quit.  Don't beat around the bush; either #### or get off the pot. 

It's clear that there is no "Mrs." Pacman Jones. If there were a Mrs. Pacman, she'd keep her fellah straight. His butt would be back home by midnight, and he'd spend his Saturdays hosting barbecues and mowing the yard. Strip club in Vegas during NBA All-Star week? HA! Mrs. Pacman would have nothing of it.

(Sigh) I admit it. I have been one of Adam Jones' apologists. He's a young fellow who's just come into a BUNCH of money, and he truly has no clue how to deal with it. He had a tough upbringing, had some disciplinary problems in college at WVU and a few with the Titans, but until now, none of his exploits have been worthy of harsh penalties.

There have been people on Jones' back ever since the first night-club incident. Plenty of fans on the Tennessean newspaper's website have been name-calling and relentlessly calling for his excommunication ever since, especially because he was viewed as a "risk" when the Titans drafted him. Personally, I believe everyone deserves a fair shot, and Adam needed that. The Titans (rightfully) stuck by him through these minor problems, even if it cost them a few "character points" to do so. If it turns out that he is as involved as it looks like he is with this shooting in Vegas, he deserves not only to be booted off the team, but also out of the league and he needs to do jail time. He's had his fair shot, he chooses to hang with the same crowd, and if he's truly involved, he's lost his chance with me.

It's really too bad. Nobody was a bigger Pacman fan than me last season. He is a year shy of being arguably the best corner in the league. He had a good argument that he should have made the Pro Bowl as the AFC's return man. He's an unbelievable athlete and football talent, who could have a Hall of Fame career ahead of him. And when ESPN's Tom Jackson started making the "chomping dots" noise from the Pacman video games during highlights of Pacman's returns...I thought it was hilarious and brilliant.

It makes me sad, but I'm ready to kiss all that goodbye. From a sports standpoint, it really hurts to not have a first-rounder pan out. It will hurt even more to have him pan out quite well athletically, but to have to get rid of him because somehow his off-the-field life is a big enough negative to outweigh his near-Pro Bowl stats.

But from a human standpoint, football is still just a game. I love the Titans, but they cannot afford to continue to associate with this person, unless he hurries up and finds his Mrs. Pacman to settle him down.