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2011 Baltimore Ravens
Who’s Responsible Anyway?
The Baltimore Ravens are getting a bum deal. Not that this is unusual for football teams, which always seem to be held to an unusual standard. But before continue, let's establish something indisputable: the Ravens are a tremendous boon to their community. This is not just referring to financially, but socially. There are so many charitable causes to which they give and for which they volunteer that it's sad that the media try so hard to make them look like villains. Case in point: Rookie Tony Fein. Tony Fein was arrested this past August at Inner Harbor, a popular spot in Baltimore. The basic story could be – “Black Football Player Set Up By Police” or it could read, “Fein Plays Hard Even Off the Field”.
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So which version does one believe? Fein’s agent Milton Dee Hobbs contends that Tony was set up and it doesn’t look good for him. The Police officer, Sgt. Vincent Donato, contends that Fein shoved him to the ground and injured his shoulder.
The conditions could either be: Police officer, although mistaking a cell phone for a gun, was indeed doing his duty since the nightclub had a shooting occur there the weekend before. Or, Fein was objected to racism due to wearing a sweat suit and hoodie.
Life is complicated and isn’t what it always seems to be. However, I must admit I am tired of seeing sports players in the news because of their negative activity off the field.
We’ve had Michael Vick, Adam “Pacman” Jones and Plaxico Burress in the news this year. Marshawn Lynch, the 22-year-old star running back for the Buffalo Bills was arrested on a felony weapons charge. Before that he hit a woman with his car near a downtown Buffalo bar. She recovered but Lynch’s account was he thought he missed her.
Cleveland Brown’s Donte’ Stallworth wasn’t as lucky. Nor was the pedestrian he is charged for killing while Donte’ was intoxicated. He pleaded guilty to a DUI manslaughter, a second-degree felony and was suspended without pay for this season.
Now we have Fein’s story to track.
It’s not that players of yesteryear were stain free. Far from it! But it seems that as each year goes by there’s more and more violence of some kind being reported. In 2008 alone 73 NFL players were arrested for a DUI.
One could say that this is because of society’s downfall and football players like anyone else are caught up in this direction. But that’s an easy out to me. Sure it’s harder to live in the public eye than not. But because of that public eye, younger eyes are watching and learning.
In Wisconsin’s Waunkanee School District underage drinking by school football players was called into scrutiny. Not because they were not punished but because of the length of time it took to punish them. Many speculated that the school wanted to keep the football team at full strength during the season. Others maintain the slowness of discipline was due to the miscommunication between police and school.
In Salt Lake, Utah, a handful of Syracus football players were accused of burglary and theft. Three Lorena High School senior football players were cited for a Class C misdemeanor in the alleged hazing of a sophomore assistant trainer in a locker room restroom.
At Birmingham High in Van Nuys, funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen persuaded school officials to let him stage pictures with their football players. The photo in question was one where Cohen wore shoulder pads, tight red shorts, and athletic cup and little else while on top of a teenage player. The photo showed up in GQ a men’s magazine.
Bishop Gorman senior football player, 18-year-old Justin Chaisson, was charged with multiple criminal acts, including felony assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and three accounts of battery. Ironically, his ex-girlfriend was granted a restraining order against him the day before his altercation with her.
Mychal Bell, the first member of the “Jena 6” was convicted of attacking fellow high school student Justin Barker. He later attempted suicide but still dreams of playing professional football.
Sadly, Robert Marshall Jr. was murdered with all five suspects being teenagers. I agree with many commenters’ that just because one was a football player does not condemn the sport or all other high school players.
Maybe we need to look at this the other way around, that an aggressive behavior leads one to prowess on the football field.
Kathy McManus’ story “Pro Football: Dropping the Ball on Responsibility?” concerns the new “personal conduct” policy the NFL has in cracking down on players’ off-field behavior.
The Seattle Seahawks told their players the entire downtown entertainment district was off-limits. The Denver Broncos took another approach. They “employ” bartenders and bouncers to call their security chief when players show up.
When she asked whether NFL players were being held to an unfair standard of off-field responsibility, the answers are somewhat surprising.. Assuming that most people would advocate freedom of speech and therefore freedom to dictate their own lives, I was surprised that it was hotly divided 17 for Yes and 15 for No.
As school begins again many young sport fans are signing up for their schools football teams. It used to be that we encouraged sports to our kids to teach them team spirit and constructive competition. Playing hard meant giving it all you’ve got. Winning was the objective but so was good sportsmanship. Cheating was never allowed.
So just who teaches responsibility? Is it parents, peers, educators or football players? Maybe the answer lies in teaching responsibility
Whatever way this plays out, whether the officer or Fein went too far, I hope each person has the ability to not only publicly apologize but to also publically change their lives by actually living responsibly. That way we can start teaching – if a wrong is committed we do have the choice and the responsibility to correct it.
But most of all, I hope that the media will start focusing on the good that these teams do. And especially the Ravens, which seem to be especially generous and gracious to local charities. Baltimore fans should show their support to this team by attending their games.
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