National Felon League

Remember the days when you’d watch your favorite football player running down field and scoring one for the home team? Nowadays, it seems like professional football players spend just as much time running from the police!

The latest prison sentence of NY Giants wide receiver, Plaxico Burress, continues a trend of NFL’ers in trouble with the law. It seems like they make as many headlines off the field these days as they do for their actions on the field.

Back in the day, professional footballs players would blow off some steam after the big game by knocking back beers with teammates. Yeah, they may have gotten a little loud, but for the most part, no one got hurt. Today, when ball players head out to "celebrate', there's no telling what can happen!

Most people have heard about the Michael Vick dog fighting ordeal. Vick recently completed an eighteen month prison stint for his illegal dog fighting activities. I personally think that he’s a sadistic asshole and shouldn’t be allowed back into the NFL. But no sooner Vick changed out of his prison jumpsuit, the Philadelphia Eagles signed him to $1.6 million contract (there’s a second year option worth $5.2 million). I guess crime does pay! I hope the Eagles never win another game with Vick on the team.

Adam “Pacman” Jones from the Dallas Cowboys could probably be considered the undisputed champion of the National Felon League. Because of his regular brushes with the law, some fans affectionately refer to him as “Crimetime”. Nice! During his few years as a Tenneessee Titan, Crimetime was in trouble for assault, vandalism, drug possession, disorderly conduct, a nightclub shooting, and punching a woman in the face at a strip club. After the Titans got tired of his bullshit and cut him, the Dallas Cowboys thought it would be a good idea to sign him. Of course, it didn’t take long for Crimetime to find trouble again. Big surprise!

When it comes to “all-crime” teams, the Cincinnati Bengals win hands down! In roughly a one year span, between 2006-2007, ten Bengal’s players were arrested for a variety of charges. The team actually had more arrests than wins during this time! There’s a great trivia question to throw at the guys the next time you’re knocking back a few beers! My prediction for Cincinnati’s upcoming season is 10-5-1. Ten arrests, five convictions and one mistrial.

I’m a Baltimore Raven’s fan. I look forward to watching the game every week with family and friends. However, the Ravens have had their share of legal problems. Most notably, the arrest of Ray Lewis for a double murder in Atlanta several years ago. Lewis ultimately took a plea deal and wasn’t convicted for the murders. And Baltimore fans quickly forgot about the whole thing. It’s almost as if fans have the attitude, “He’s a helluva linebacker! Who cares what he does off the field?”

If there’s anything positive to say about OJ Simpson, it’s this: At least he waited until after his playing days were over to start his life of crime!

I don’t know what to make out of all of this. It’s almost like it’s now acceptable to dabble in crime if you’re in the NFL. Whatever happened to accountability? The role model days of Johnny Unitas and Tony Dorsett and pretty much over.

I get a kick out of commentators saying things like, “Well, Joe Running Back is a pretty straight guy. He’s never had any issues with the law.” YOU”RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH THE LAW! Especially, if you’re a multi-million dollar professional football player!

KW