NFL Week Seven: My Three Wishes

Enough Pacman

Put your hand on your heart and tell me you couldn't see this coming. It never matter what the Cowboys did, it was going to take more than dropping the 'Pacman' from his name to make Adam Jones anything other than exactly the same guy that was suspended for the 2007 season.

If the Cowboys were thinking that, because they could calm down Tank Johnson, or make a team player out of a rampant egomaniac like T.O., they could bring Jones to heel, then they were always going to have another thing coming.

For every person who can give up drugs, give up alcohol or whatever it may be, there is at least one other who can never overcome their demons. Jones has never given any indication that he falls anywhere other than in the latter category. Frankly, you can suspend him for four games, four months or four seasons, it isn't going to make a lot of difference.

You know what would worry me if I were an Cowboys employee? The team's insistence that Jones broke no team rules. He fought a bodyguard employed by the team. If fighting your colleagues isn't against team rules, I'd be getting out of there.

Aside from that, can we stop talking about this loser now, please?

Enough Criticizing Officials

Once again, this week has seen a raft of players and coaches fined for publicly criticizing referees and other officials. I have no problem with this. The NFL is in the business of entertainment. The players, coaches and officials are in that together. No other business allows its stakeholders to publicly slag off each other and the NFL is, for once, in the commendable position of having decided that, for once, they are no different to anyone else.

The Ed Hochuli decision earlier this season seems to have led people to think that officials are fair game whenever they have a bad day on the playing field. If the NFL wants to be no better than soccer then that is fine, but it would be nice if everyone just shut up and let these guys get on with the difficult job that they do for a fraction of the money their critics earn.

Enough Hacking My Facebook Account

Apologies to anyone who receives this through a feed from Facebook. For reasons which I do not understand, the site is replacing the photo on last week's report with an advert for the new Oasis album. Which is one of the biggest insults imaginable.

I guess that Oasis might once have played a football stadium in the US, but I doubt it. Other than that, I fail to see the relevance. And I vehemently object to being made to appear to endorse a product which, frankly, I wouldn't endorse for all of the money in Jake Long's wallet.

I used to like Oasis once, but—like the Raiders—they've been rubbish since about 1996. What I have heard of this album sucks. Sorry for the ad, but believe me, it's nothing to do with me.