Steve Smith- Changed Man or Fallen Villain? Only Time Will Tell...

Steve Smith.

Not to be confused with the solid, mild-mannered retired NBA player Steve Smith.

Also, apparently not to be confused with a team player.

How immature can this guy be? He continuously jaws and runs his mouth to opposing players during games, and seems to always have something to say.

Trash-talking is a part of the game, as many players do it all of the time.

Training camp fights happen too, but they usually look more like a high-school wrestling match than a Manny Pacquiao title fight. They also don't result in surgery.

Not only did Steve Smith fight teammate Ken Lucas last week, but he broke his nose, which will require surgery and blackened his eye.

Now he wants to apologize and act like such a changed man, but can we believe him?

Athletes and their apologies, supposedly humbled and totally different than what provoked their actions before.

Yeah, we're supposed to believe that.

I'm not buying it.

I didn't buy Smith's apology when he punched another teammate in 2002, and I don't buy it now.

Allegedly, Steve Smith punched practice squad player Anthony Bright during a film-session, and was suspended for a game. Also, Smith was required to take anger management classes and had to settle a civil suit, resulting from the incident out of court.

This guy has a problem. Unfortunately, the Panthers and the NFL won't punish him fairly because he is a star wide-out.

We can give players four games for assaults in the club against assailants unknown to them, but to give a guy 2 games for bashing his own teammate for seemingly little reason?

Not to mention, he is a repeat offender.

Personal conduct policy, Goodell? Control your players while they're on the field, and don't be one-dimensional. If fighting in the club warrants 4-game suspensions, then how about clocking your own teammate?

Didn't we need more information?

It kind of reminds me of Spygate. Goodell destroys the tapes and although we know that they probably weren't much more than Walsh showed us, the speculation is there.

Now he suspends Smith for two games for an altercation that we have no idea of its' origin. For all we know, Smith could have hit Lucas for no reason or because of something he said.

You can't punch people for words that you don't like, especially your own. If Smith punched Lucas for saying too much, won't he do it again? He already has and missing two games just isn't enough.

Smith should've at least been fined significantly and required to speak in front of people about controlling their anger. He needs to be reprimanded further for his actions or he will always revert back to who he is today.

Upon arrival to training camp Monday, Smith offered an apology straight from the head with no notes and offered this to say: "I'm not going to get into who's right, who's wrong. I'm completely wrong."

He followed that with, "It was an asinine decision. And I'll move forward better than I probably have ever had to. It's the first time in my life that I really haven't forgiven myself."

Of course, you haven't forgiven yourself. It was a mere three days ago. And to say that it was the first time you haven't forgiven yourself shows what kind of arrogant individual you are.

We all have made many mistakes that it took time to forgive ourselves for, and after you punched another teammate in the past it shows that you weren't very remorseful about that.

Am I saying that Steve Smith isn't sorry for his actions? No, he probably is very sorry, considering he went and apologized to Lucas almost immediately.

What it shows is an arrogant punk who feels that the way to handle confrontation is to swing on the other individual, despite the circumstances and your position as a team leader and role model.

With the problem of violence riddling many communities, that kind of mentality is unacceptable for any NFL star and has no place on the field.

Fortunately for the Panthers and Steve Smith, Ken Lucas is a Christian with a good heart and forgiving personality, and was willing to make amends with the man who punched him while he crouched on one knee.

"We're bigger than that. Sometimes when emotions are involved, you do stupid things. ... For me being a Christian, I have a forgiving heart and I'm willing to move forward to help this team win this year," Lucas said.

Evidently, Smith isn't bigger than that, and in the future we'll see just what he is really made of.

He fell into a trash-talking battle against the Falcons and DeAngelo Hall last season, and fortunately for Smith, Hall was on the bad end of that confrontation. I previously believed that Hall was the bone head who spurred that situation, but now I'm rethinking it.

Maybe Mr. Arrogant had more to do with that than we know and his jawing-off and anger issues got to Hall.

He routinely talks a lot to opposing players and is known for it, but he went too far this time. Hopefully the Panthers can move on from this incident and come together.

For now, he's the former villain who was humbled by his own arrogance and bad decision making; the same affliction many other athletes have been plagued with.

Is he a changed man?

I hope so, because he sure is fun to watch on Sundays.