Commissioner Goddell has made headlines with his tougher personal conduct policy, which goes after teams acting as enablers for their bad boy players. While fans and media both celebrate what is perceived as another step in erasing the thug culture in the NFL, a news item slipped right under the radar. I believe this statement should have been just as newsworthy. The Associated Press reports that Commissioner Goddell will work with the teams in an effort to curb rowdy fan behavior.

A pause as I jump for Joy!

I have attended many a professional football game both in my hometown of Detroit, and my present home in Arizona. Every week you can count on fights, drunken and disorderly fans disrupting the game, people screaming profanities in front of kids who are trying to enjoy the game, and from what I learned, in a few select cities, we have witnessed young ladies removing their tops and making their impromptu audition for the next Girls Gone Wild video.

Many fans spend hours at the water cooler, on talk radio, and listening to the righteous media talking heads all chronicle the exploits of Chris Henry, Pacman Jones, and on and on. I was at a football game a few years ago when Leonard Little was playing in a game, where a fan started screaming at him for his well chronicled DWI and subsequent manslaughter conviction. The screaming fan was totally wasted. I’m pretty sure Mr. Stupid drove home drunk , but because he is Joe Fan, in his mind, he is such a better person than Leonard Little. (For the record, I am NOT excusing Leonard Little, and it is my view that anyone driving under the influence is just as low, regardless if that person kills someone or not.)

Lots of football fans drive home intoxicated. They start drinking as early as 10am and don’t complete their drinking until well after the game is over. Even if teams cut off beer sales by the end of the 3rd quarter, the drinker is more than hammered as he has been ingesting a steady diet of alcohol for over 5 hours by this point in time.

Fan behavior is out of control because people believe when they purchase an expensive ticket, they can act any way they want. Who cares if their behavior is offensive, obnoxious, and possibly even dangerous to themselves or others? They play big money for the ticket; as a result they have certain inalienable rights to act a fool as they damn well please. These will be the same people that will criticize Vince Young as photos of the quarterback, shirtless with a cold one in his hand, are appearing on the internet . Vince Young is having a good time just like football fan is. He was at a party during the off season, not on company time, and enjoying life. Surely you don’t think that he should be studying football 24-7? Let me see the hands of those who work 24-7, Saturday through Sunday-Monday. I didn’t really think I’d find any.

It is very disingenuous and hypocritical for fans to always bag on athletes for enjoying their hard earned spoils. (Side note; NFL players are paid due to market value. They also pay with their bodies in ways we can’t imagine. Just watch the Hall of Fame Ceremonies and see some of the HOF’s try to walk around or do something simple like lift their grand children.) Fans always want to believe that players should be like those on the Madden Video Game. They don’t smoke, drink, or even talk, and if they are not injured they always play, make plays, and are all perfect citizens.

No one is perfect. No player nor fan is without sin. One can read some of the messages on the blogs to know that fans do behave badly. If an NFL player was quoted as saying some of the things I have read on these blogs, they would be skewered and severed from the league. Players have a responsibility to their employer to honor their agreements and to follow the code of conduct, and obey the law. Most importantly, players and fans alike, have a moral responsibility to themselves. I do agree that athletes have been enabled for far too long. But at the same time, we cannot criticize with gusto the inappropriate, boorish, bad behavior of athletes, while fans by the hundreds are being arrested at football games weekly for exhibiting the same thug traits as the players we berate.

As a final thought, we all know this is really about players envy. Deep down inside, we all look at these gifted athletes acting wild and we are mad. We all believe that if we were in the same position as the players, we would honor the true letter of our contracts, do exactly as we are told, not go to strip clubs; nor would we be chasing every skirt that allows us to catch ‘em. Truth be told, many fans are hatin’ because they wish they could do what these athletes do. The difference is that fans are getting intoxicated by drinking Schlitz while angry at the players’ cash flow and entitlements. The Players are getting intoxicated by drinking Cristal, and are mad because angry drunk fan will approach them at a bar, pick a fight, and in a split second the player must decide if he should defend himself like we all would; or will he throw the punch that will land him in trouble with the league and will get the so called victim 15 minutes of fame and a check after the lawsuit.

Let the hating begin.