By Tully Corcoran, FOXSports.com Chad Johnson, Adam “Pacman” Jones and Terrell Owens were three of the most infamous characters in the NFL’s Early Roger Goodell era. When Goodell took over as NFL commissioner in 2006, he set about cleansing the league from the kinds of behavioral disturbances for which those three had become known. Johnson and Owens didn’t invent the “loquacious wide receiver” but they turned it into a trope. Jones wasn’t the first NFL player with a fondness for strip clubs, but he did as much for the phrase “making it rain” as any rapper ever has. They were just three guys, sure, but they were three guys who were seemingly always in the news, often for reasons an image-obsessed commissioner of a league that is all about protecting The Shield would find bothersome. Well, time passed, fines were levied, nicknames were dropped, names were changed, steps were lost, names were changed again and soon enough none of these guys were the NFL’s problem anymore. Jones is the only one still playing in the NFL, and he’s kept a low profile for the last few years. Until now. Somehow, those three men, all of whom played for the Cincinnati Bengals at some point, broke into the news once more within days of each other. Johnson on Monday was thrown in jail for violating his probation, and irritating a judge with a slap on his attorney’s butt.
Jones on Monday got arrested for his role in an altercation with a woman at a Cincinnati bar on Thursday. According to his agent, Peter Schaffer, Jones went to the bar after a Cincinnati Reds game and while there two women Jones perceived to be drunk asked him to take a photo with them. When he declined, one of them hit him over the head with a beer bottle, and he responded by pushing her away. Schaffer said there are witnesses and surveillance video that corroborate his client's version of events, but that police have not spoken with any witnesses. "There's no obligation you have to take a picture with someone," Schaffer said. "Certainly not if you're married with kids, taking a picture with two young ladies. It would be all over Facebook and the Internet. ... They get mad, and there's a surveillance video that clearly shows her hit him in the face with a beer bottle. He responds by turning around and pushing her away. She says he punched her. It's crazy." Schaffer believes police are pursuing charges against Jones because of his reputation. It is true Jones is no stranger to barroom altercations resulting in arrests and court appearances, but when I asked Schaffer if bars might be places best avoided by Jones, Schaffer said he resented the question. "This is a free country," Schaffer said, "and I resent the implication of your question. This is an absolute free country. People have died fighting in wars to make sure we have freedom, the right to association, the right to free speech, a whole bunch of stuff. If everybody goes out to a Reds game and goes out for a beer, he can't go out for a beer and be left alone? The mere question you ask shows how the presumptions that are out there are crazy." Oh yeah, and Owens? He said last week wants to become a professional bowler. "Hopefully, one day if I get good enough I can be out here competing (on the PBA Tour)," Owens told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.. "The more I get involved and the more competitive I get with the sport, I can envision myself out there competing against these guys."
It demands pointing out that these three events are not similar or connected, except for the curiosity of this particular threesome finding the media spotlight once again , and at the same moment. Owens, of course, can’t be accused of anything worse than attention seeking, and unlike Johnson (who pleaded no contest to a battery charge last year), Jones remains presumed innocent until proven otherwise. Jones’ agent, Peter Shaffer, told Pro Football Talk his client was approached at a bar by a couple of drunk women who wanted a photo with him. When he declined, one of them threw a beer bottle that hit him in the head, so he slapped her. Shaffer thinks Jones was arrested, in part, because of his reputation. That someone other than Pacman – a nickname Jones has tried to suppress – likely would have been perceived by police as the victim of an assault, not the perpetrator. And that basic idea is what binds these three together. These three guys are in the news today because of who they once were, for better or for worse. Questions? Comments? Send them to lacesoutmail@gmail.com and we might respond in our weekly mailbag!
