Just so we know where we stand: Make an ass of yourself on national radio by making ignorant, hate-filled remarks towards homosexuals and watch as the media makes you public enemy number one.  Lose your job. Get dragged through the dirt in the ever-important court of public opinion.

Beat the hell out of a few strippers as your entourage shoots indiscriminantly into a strip club and get a story on the back pages of sports sections while websites put you under their small news of the day stories between Peyton Manning restructuring his deal and Dallas hirng a new quarterbacks coach.

Allow me to be the first to applaud the media in setting their priorities straight. 

How Pacman Jones is not in the national spotlight is beyond me.  The only explanation that comes to mind was one offered by a journalism professor not too long ago.  Then during a class discussion a student suggested that the media was somehow responsible for the bleak outlook on the world, as it only reported the bad news.

The professor smiled, replying, "The time you should really worry is when the news stops reporting negative events."  Her point was that the mundane events of our day to day lives are hardly newsworthy, and only the events that deviate from the norm are worth mentioning in the limited space available.  Therefore, when crime, poverty, etc. become so common that they are hardly worth mentioning, we have finally reached the depths of hell as a society.

That professor was a smart lady.  She graduated from NYU and Columbia University with a 4.0 GPA.

So it brings to mind the question of how far our society and morals have fallen when we get so accustomed to violence from our athletes that a rising NFL star, with a history of repeated violence towards women and numerous alteractions in clubs, is involved in a shooting that wounded two innocent people and paralyzed a man without it being a topic of national contreversy.

Just to put some things into perspective of how twisted we are:

A 25-year old mother of three faced two years jail time before being sentenced to five years probation; every time she is subjected to a background check (employment opportunity, credit, etc.) they will find that she is now a convicted felon.  Her crime: driving her three kids and pregnant sister -- suffering from early contractions -- to the hospital through hopelessly stalled traffic, the woman suffered a lapse of judgement when a car cut her off not once, but twice.

In a fit of roadrage, the mother threw a McDonalds cup at the car, spilling its contents on the passenger.  The court considered the cup as a missile, which is defined as any object launched with any amount of force, and her act is considered a felony.  The media has dubbed this the McMissile Crisis.

Pacman Jones, in comparison, most probably faces a two game suspension and a fat signing bonus after instigating violence at a strip club which led to the shooting of three people.

I'm sure the woman's husband can appreciate what he is fighting for in Iraq.

Another example, a 17-year old footbal player and honors student ruined his life when engaging in sexual activities with a consenting 15-year old girl.  The young man, now 20, lost his academic scholarship and his life as Georgia law use to state that performing oral sex on a minor is considered child molestation -- even when performed (probably poorly) by a minor and with consent.  He is now a registered sex offender for life.

Pacman Jones dropped $80,000 in one dollar bills on a strip stage, for "visual effect", and violently confronted the women when they attempted to pick up the cash.  He also assualted a woman he claimed attempted to take his wallet and spit in the face of another woman.  Yet he is the one deemed safe to members of the opposite sex.

Perhaps if the young man from Georgia had a 40 time that clocked as fast as Jones he could elude the law and our contempt just as well.

(Editor's Note: Just kidding about the last part of my title, it seems ths past week or two the only thing people are responding to is petty squabbles surrounding that guy...anyways, now that I got your attention...enjoy)