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Outlaw Mountaineers Adam “Pac Man” Jones and Chris Henry |
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Written by Wendall Stevens
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Monday, 16 April 2007 |
By now you may or may not have heard, and if you did, you probably don't even care that Tennessee Titan cornerback Adam "Pac Man" Jones and Cincinnati Bengals WR ChrisHenry were disciplined by the NFL this past week for behavior unbecoming of people of there status. Jones received the harsher penalty of the two with a one year suspension while Henry has to sit out the first eight games of the season. Does the punishment fit the crime? Will it make players think twice in the future? Hmmmm. We'll see but I'm extremely skeptical. You know its hard to build a heavyweight boxing champion and tell him he has to be docile outside the ring. Its hard to build and train a football player to be a warrior and destroy the opposition then tell him to control those "instincts" among mere mortals. Its like having a super powerful V12 motor with bi-turbos and obey a 55 miles per hour speed limit. The darn thing will do 0-60mph in 3.8 seconds!! The temptation not to stomp on it is darn near impossible because that’s what its built to do and thats why you brought it in the first place.
The same analogy goes into play with superstar athletes like Jones and Henry. They have been trained to be good at what they do a major part of their lives and have been adulated, applauded, patted on the back, handed papers to sign their names, extended hands to shake, and eventually awarded with professional football contracts. Now the warrior gets paid to do what he has been trained to do, compete for the entertainment of mere mortals. You think its easy to shut down those instincts when its the instincts that afforded them their status in society? To the victor goes the spoils; girls, women, cars, jewelry, free dinners, all access, commercial endorsements, entourages, TV interviews, highlight clips, radio time, MTV Cribs, DCMetrosports.com write-ups, DUB magazine shoots to show off your possessions, continue?? Okay, parties in LA & New York, NBA All-Star weekend passes, chartered private jets, and if you have a good company representing you a movie appearance. Oh yea, its a good life for those who are smart enough to understand how to milk it, but not Chris Henry or Pac Man Jones. Something went wrong along the way.
By well documented accounts over the last year, Henry and Jones seemed to operate as if they had diplomatic immunity. Its almost as if they had absolutely no regard for the law. The problem is not Jones and Henry as people but the thought pattern each use in their approach to life itself. Mix in a huge ego (NFL status), the match (immaturity) ,and a little gasoline (money, big money) and you have an explosion on your hands. The Pac Man Jones and Chris Henry escapades are nothing new under the sun in professional and amateur sports. Talented athletes from the 1919 White Sox (game fixing) , to Paul Hornung and Pete Rose (gambling) have all stretched the boundaries of what society deems acceptable behavior. I'm waiting on the "Jocks Gone Wild Video Series."
The real question is how in the world did the West Virginia coaching staff and administrators keep Jones and Henry productive and relatively "incident free" during theircollege football careers?
College football players because of the physical nature of their sport are viewed with an aura of awe. Star college football players at big time programs are seen as immortals. An acquaintance of mine who played football at Marshall in their heyday said "We weretreated like rock stars. We couldn't go anywhere without someone recognizing us. Sometimes we had to take our food to go because we couldn't eat in peace."
By accounts I gathered Henry and Jones were the big men on campus. They prettymuch did what they wanted. Descriptions of Henry and Jones were described as "edgy"around Morgantown which could be taken to mean no one better mess with them.This brings me back to the question, how did Jones and Henry thrive in Morgantown until they were drafted? My source explained to me that they're three possibilities.
1. Lack of money - They didn't have any means to venture about or any entourage to spend money on. The lack of resources limits options.
2. Location - Morgantown, WV lies nestled in the mountains close to the PA. border. Pittsburgh, the nearest city with any size is over an hour away. The thinking here is there was nowhere to go so the possibilities of trouble diminish because your options are limited. It also helps players focus.
3. Secrecy - Certain things done by the players may have been swept under the rug or made to go away if the incident wasn't serious enough to draw media attention.
The problems that have been created by Pac Man Jones and Chris Henry should in no way reflect on a fine institution like West Virginia. The Mountaineers are building quite afootball program under coach Rich Rodriguez. It comes a time that every person regardlesson his or her status on a college campus or in society in general should take into account their own behavior and be responsible for their actions. While celebrity status is earned by perfecting a skill and being good enough at it to gain recognition and make a good living, its not an excuse to act out of the normal bounds of what is acceptable mainstream behavior. Drug possession is not acceptable behavior and neither is giving under aged kids alcohol.
The reaping and sowing principle works two ways. You can sow the seeds of work hard, perfect a skill and reap untold rewards or sow the seeds of destruction and reap the rewards of jail time and the embarrassment of being a has been.
Pac Man Jones and Chris Henry should have a sit down interview with Mike Tyson, theworld greatest example ever of how to reap from the seeds of destruction. This maybe morepowerful than any suspension.
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West Virginia 