01-24-2017, 02:45 PM
(01-24-2017, 01:54 PM)PDub80 Wrote: Hey, man, if you want to appoint yourself moral police for Pacman Jones, go for it. To counter your points...
- He represents the city of Cincinnati no more than does any other guy working in the city. He's not even from there. He's not a product of there. He is living and working in Cincy for a few years. End of story. Once he's gone, nobody is going to look at or reference the city. They will mention the Bengals and associate him with that. Yeah, they're the Cincinnati Bengals, I get that, but the players are there during a season and then they move away. Think about it, nobody associates Chris Henry with the actual city of Cincinnati or it's residents. Perhaps hard core football fans. That's a small small small section of fans in general, nor does it represent any significant portion of the general population. It just doesn't.
Does anybody.... ANYBODY look at the Panthers and associate them with Rae Carruth in a negative light as if they are culpable for his murdering his pregnant girlfriend? Or do they associate Rae Carruth with the state of North Carolina or Charlotte? Of course they don't. Does anyone associate Pacman Jones with the city and citizens or city of Dallas, TX? NOPE. What about the Titans, the state of TN, or the city of Nashville? NOPE. And he did WAY WAY WAY worse things when involved with both of those organizations. When he moves on, whether by being cut or retirement, so will any negative talks about him and the city of Cincinnati.
People around the US in general do NOT care enough about sports to hear, care, or understand what happened in a bar in Cincinnati between Adam Jones and a bouncer or cop. YOU might think they do because you're a superfan on a message board, but normal people don't.
- It's his personal business that he got arrested. There are no long term repercussions from his actions. Nobody lost anything (property, injury, etc.). He embarrassed himself. Thousands of people in the US do stuff like that every week and nobody cares. They (usually) get to go back to their jobs the next day. I differentiate him getting into it with a security guard he's having direct, personal interaction with and someone being a thug to random strangers, robbing people at gun point, or selling drugs. He was drunk at a bar and got into it with a security guard. That happens all over. Joey Porter did the same thing. Charges dropped. It's too minor and too common for the court to bother with. Same thing will happen here.
- People often times say moronic stuff to police when they get arrested. To not understand or admit that is well... equally moronic. There are 10's of thousands of videos on youtube of people doing this. There are thousands of videos of cops saying and doing stupid things to people while being arrested as well. It can be an emotionally charged event for all parties involved.... especially when under the influence of alcohol. To throw your hands up in the air in a "I can't believe this. This is unfathomable!" kind of way is sensationalizing and dramatic.
- Bringing up the wild card game is childish and shows a lack of perspective between sports and real life. Relating what he did on a football field to him being angry at a bouncer at a bar isn't rational. Could he be a hothead? Sure. Probably. But a year ago on a football field and what happened that night in that bar have zero to do with each other unless someone talked junk at him and set him off. In which case good. At least he cares.
I'm in no way justifying his actions or defending them. I am saying that just because he plays football doesn't mean he should be treated any differently than any other drunk guy getting into a scuffle with a night club doorman (or whatever) and then yelling at the cops as he gets arrested. I don't hold athletes to any sort of higher standard when it comes to misdemeanor BS.
Chris Henry has a long list of public incidents and he has only played for one NFL team. Being on an NFL team in Cincy brings you more exposure than working as a banker in Cincy. Athletes are celebs and get paid lots of money because people are willing to throw oodles of cash at the NFL. If people are willing to spend their hard earned money on professional sports to extent that we do in this country it no doubt puts athletes up on a pedestal which raises their status in society. Entertainment is king in the USA. Just simply saying nobody associates Chris Henry with the city of Cincy doesn't make it true. You said nothing to back that up. If that is the case why do people still refer to Bengals as criminals even though are arrest numbers have dropped drastically since the days of Henry? It's because that stigma hasn't been dropped because of what Henry and others caused. Look at the comment section to the link I gave there are people commenting that...
"Anyone surprised that this guy has the Cowboys on his resume?"
"Jerry Jones thinks he’s a leader"
Adam Jones had a brief stint with Dallas and yet people still mock Dallas for it.
Just because you choose not to associate pro athletes with the city they play in doesn't mean others in society don't.
If you get arrested out in public for what he got arrested for there is no way that's personal. He wasn't sitting in his house smoking a joint he was assaulting people physically, verbally and with his bodily fluids. Just because it happens all over doesn't justify it, doesn't make it funny and it doesn't make it a personal incident.
Strictly speaking about the football team how is this not another example of what we saw during the WC game or during the Bengals vs Oakland game bashing Amari's head? If he can't keep his cool while facing the law knowing the consequences if he acted out like a fool how can we trust him to do it on the field?
Real life scenario with harsh consequences = can't keep control
Football game with football game consequences = can't keep control
One is obviously more serious than the other and he failed at both.
That's not just a coincidence that's how Jones is a as a person and why he will be a liability for this team. Most people have issues with talent but Jones issues happen to intertwine with his real life issues.
