NFL Players are no Role Model's!

[PBamber16]

You say off the field issues...and then you say OTAs and mini-camps. What other sports have these? These players right now are not sitting out training camp. Which is the parallel to other sports...Does NBA have summer leagues, sure, do the pro/veteran/stars do it, no, I don't even believe MLB or NHL have anything like this. Compare training camp...do guys hold out of camp yes...why is this different then any other sport...because the NBA, MLB, and NHL have somewhat guarenteed contracts. The NBA being the worst...why would players hold out? They could get hurt/say they are hurt/play bad they still get paid the same...in the NFL you can be cut the next day and not make a dime...As George says with salary cap/contract structure/etc the NFL is completly different with stuff like that. In every sport you have a risk of every play/every down/every practice you take part in could be your last, but consider the physicality (if thats a word/i may have made that up) NFL players go through the other sports do. Am I a football fan first before anything else and slightly biased, probably but thats my take.

When you get to the off field issues, I give you that, there is a lot more recently...but I say Urlacher and Chad need to be removed because of things mentioned above...The Benson story is on hold...a lot of people are saying the police handled this wrong, this could happen to anyone...Mike Vick...there's nothing to say there...he is just a horrible person, has nothing to do with playing football to any other sport. Pacman...I'd say similar, but you have your outlandish personalities in other sports...Steroids in baseball which recent reports are saying over 100+ veteran/star names could be released. Is that not a drug or a big deal? Ron Artest...Dennis Rodman...Barkely/Gambling...NBA Ref scandal, yes some go back a while but Ricky Williams isn't exactly this years news either...I'd say hockey is the cleanest in this realm of the topic.

Every sport has problems, every player is different, it's hard to lump it all together and come up with a consensus one sport over another.

I certainly understand your point, and it is a valid one! Firstly the reason I say off the field issues and then mention OTA's and Training camps etc, is that the reason they are missing them is due to off the field issues such as sorting out contracts, wanting to be traded etc. I was also not comparing what the likes of Urlacher and Johnson are doing, to some of the law breaking that others have done. What I was meaning is that in both instances they are not good images for the sport (I feel), even though they are worlds apart!

With NFL contracts, I still feel that whilst a player is under contract (no matter if it could be terminated tommorrow), they should participate in all compulsory team activities, and try and sort out contract issues around these dates! This will not always be possible, but I think this is a better way to try and solve things.

As for comparing the NFL to other sports, I wasn't saying that the NFL is a bad bunch as a whole,(I love watching these guys, and their off the field charity work that numbers of them do is great!) but purely that the bad apples seem to get highlighted on a more regular occurance than others. I understand you have the likes of the Mitchell report and the other bits and bobs surronding Barry Bonds in Baseball, but I just feel that even for small little things, NFL stars seem to be mentioned more often.

[doniceage]

I agree with all the union/mgmt issues brought up here, I wouldn't lump sitting out of training camp with drunk driving and baby momma beating... those are 2 very different animals.

One thing to think about with seemingly more football players getting in trouble than other sports... there are simply MORE of them. The NFL has 32 teams with like 60 players on each team, that adds up to almost 2,000 players. By comparison the nba has 30 teams with like 12 players, that's more like 400.
More players = more people to get in trouble w/ the law.

Well doesn't hockey have more teams in North America at a pro level (You can use the College) NCAA as a comparison. The NHL has the 30 plus teams. We also have the AHL, OHL, WHL, QMJHL, ECHL, and I barely started to get rolling. Of course those are all leagues throughout North America. I would say you could throw Arena Football in there as well. There not a lot more footballer's than hockey players.

I just think it has more with what PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT!! Bottom line!!

All sports have their issues and if you started digging down deep you could even find some in hockey. Of course who knew Patrick Roy beat his wife. I mean it happened but that was under the radar. I can't remember who it was but a Tampa Bay Lightning Rookie had a court date with a club fight. There ton's of things like that but it depends how far you go looking to find it.

NEWS WILL DIG ANYTHING INVOLVING THE NFL as it the NUMBER ONE WATCHED SPORT. So with that your going get to more share of bad news compared to other sports. Look up a NFL score and easily find it look for a NHL score and you have to scour the sport section LOL.


DON

[PBamber16]

All sports have their issues and if you started digging down deep you could even find some in hockey. Of course who knew Patrick Roy beat his wife. I mean it happened but that was under the radar. I can't remember who it was but a Tampa Bay Lightning Rookie had a court date with a club fight. There ton's of things like that but it depends how far you go looking to find it.

NEWS WILL DIG ANYTHING INVOLVING THE NFL as it the NUMBER ONE WATCHED SPORT. So with that your going get to more share of bad news compared to other sports. Look up a NFL score and easily find it look for a NHL score and you have to scour the sport section LOL.

This is what I was asking in my original post! Whether or not the few NFL personel problems are publised more than that of other sports, so this seems to suggest they are. So thanks for that.

[lil5up3rman]

Not really on topic, but to me a lot of these problem players disappoint me as they are star athletes, here is what I am talking about.

M. Vick - star QB, made Atlanta a contender where are they now.
Pacman Jones - this guy is incredible when he actually plays, he is one of the best in the league, but can't stay out of trouble.
R. Williams - a great running back who can't stay off some form of drugs long enough to play a whole year anymore.
C. Henry - I think he could be a great receiver if he just stopped getting in trouble.

I could go on and on, the thing is bottom line these athletes have no excuse, I don't buy the whole I had a bad life thing or any other excuse these athletes have for their legal woes, bottom line is you have a choice you choose to make the wrong one, no one forced them to make their choice, and a lot of the excuses they use are cop-outs in trying to justify their downright horrible behavior. Daniel.

[bearfield]

aren't you guys are forgetting something? most of the guys getting in trouble have been babied, had trouble with the law covered up in school and collage, been given grades and other stuff in school and collage, and basically been treated like they didn't have to obey the laws common folk do? all this treatment just because they have some skill.
this attitude needs to change from high school on, and they need to obey the same rules as the rest of us. no more pampering, its time to ban the ones that are bad for the sport. screw the contracts and labor agreements. retire the bad apples.

[NiteWolf777]

personally i'd say the bears need to man up and give urlacher a new deal, they did it with briggs and i don't think it's too rash to say that Urlacher's bust is gonna be in canton in the future. He's gonna be lucky if he can walk away from the game with the variety of injuries he's played through the last couple of seasons, at least pay the man for that.

[hagansp]

just a side note...Jokim Noah

[redraiderdc8]

all athletes are role models. whether they are good or bad is up to them.

[PBamber16]

all athletes are role models. whether they are good or bad is up to them.

But a bad role model is a little contradictive in terms isn't it?!

[redraiderdc8]

i've always defined role models as people that are looked up to (by mostly kids). so in my view, a guy like kurt warner would be an example of a good role model, a guy who puts family, faith and team before himself. on the other hand, a guy like pacman jones who regularly seems to get arrested would be a bad one to follow. i guess it all depends on how you define role model. that's just me.