Friday, July 02, 2010
Suspension of disbelief
-- LenDale White has been suspended for four games for violating the leagues substance abuse policy. White can still sign for a team, train with them in pre-season and play in pre-season games, but will have to sit out the first four regular season contests.
-- Just when you think all the suspensions are done, TA-DA, here comes Vincent Jackson to add to the mix. Jackson will face a three game ban for a breach of the leagues conduct policy, relating back to his second DUI charge since entering the league. Having not signed his free agent tender it's expected that Jackson will be on his way out of San Diego, so this suspension can hardly have helped his cause.
-- And just when you think we're done with suspensions... well technically we are, but for how long is anyones guess as new details emerge about the shooting related to a Birthday party being held by/for Michael Vick. A spokesman for the nightclub where Vick was celebrating has claimed that Vick left the club just three minutes prior to the shooting, contradicting the story given to the press by Vick's attorney that Vick had left 10-20 minutes prior to the incident. The nightclub spokesman claims that footage from a surveillance camera shows Vick leaving the area in a vehicle and heading off in the direction of the shooting which - from what I can discern - appears to have taken place about a block away from the club. The footage was shown to the Associated Press despite a request from the police not to show it to the media. It is believed that the footage does not clearly show Vick inside the vehicle.
As always with these things, it's impossible to make any really informed comment until all the facts are known and proven, but at this early stage I don't like Vick's prospects should commissioner Goodell decide to take action. He made it quite clear that Vick would be on a short leash as far as off the field issues go, so this incident can only increase the chances of the ban happy Goodell bringing down some heat on the Eagles back up QB.
Have a great day everyone.
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2 comments:
So does the NFL raise it's standards? It is clear that the current penalties are not enough to stop the players. Now, I am not one to make sweeping generalizations so I am not. But speaking in percentages, I think the athletes are falling quickly. The sad thing is that it has started to pour into the college level. Is it that or is it just being over reported? Trust me I know how the media works. A lot of us lose our jobs with "substance abuse" issues. I am in a job that requires testing. I know some jobs don't. It is tough to compare but this is just my own tired rambling, Chris..
It does raise big questions about the state of discipline in the NFL today. My big concern is that Suspensions serve only to deter the average player from crossing the line. The ones who don't "get it" will never be stopped by the threat of suspensions. Take Roethlisberger. He knew another slip up would see him banned, yet he still put himself in a comprimising position. He hadn't learned from his previous experience.
I don't want to sound like a preacher or a "jail is bad for peoples human rights" type person, but jail and suspensions have their place. What the league needs is high quality reform programs. Now no disrespect to Tony Dungy, he means well, but he's not a highly experienced councillor with the required time and skill to properly deal with a guy like Vick. Vick doesn't need a mentor, he needs someone to grab him by the nuts and start teaching him some serious life lessons.
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