No Easy Answers for Gun Problems in the NFL

For the second year in a row the NFL season has been consumed with off the field controversy.

Last year it was the Michael Vick saga as all the ugly facts about the man that the Atlanta Falcons counted on to be their savior surfaced. However as heinous and despicable those acts were, it was an isolated incident, it was one player involved in dog fighting. (Or at least nobody else has been stupid enough to be caught) It was a black eye for the league, but it was resolved and put behind them, with Vick behind bars.

New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress has been suspended for the rest of the season after he allegedly shot himself in the thigh in a New York City nightclub on November 28. According to reports Burress had tucked the gun into the waistband of his sweatpants, the weapon slid down his pants, and shot him in his right thigh.

(You can’t make stuff like this up. If this was a proposed scene in a movie, it would never make the final edit. Studio heads would say the audience would never buy it!)

December 1, Burress pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal possession of a handgun in the second degree. He had an expired license to carry a concealed weapon from Florida, however he had never registered the weapon in either New Jersey or New York. There is a very good possibility that the NFL star could end up doing a long stretch in the “Grey Bar Hotel.”

The Burress situation, unlike the Vick case is not an isolated situation, it is a symptom of a disease that is endemic right now in the NFL. Guns and/or bodyguards have become part of the lifestyle of the NFL athlete. It spans race, ethnicity, there are young players as well as old, who feel that they must be armed and protected.

In an article for ESPN The Magazine entitled “Living Scared: A year after Sean Taylor’s murder, NFL players still live in fear” by David Fleming, the extent of how guns and/or bodyguards have become ingrained into the culture of the league.

Stars like Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Rothlisberger, and Jacksonville Jaguars veteran Fred Taylor, fear they are inadequately protected. How has this come to pass?

There is no one factor or person to blame, part of it is brought on the players themselves, some is inflicted upon them by society. There are times when stupid, or careless decisions by the athletes lead to trouble, other times trouble finds them through no fault or their own.

A news article published earlier this fall reported that wealthy citizens of Mexico can no longer go out in public without bodyguards. Is that happening here in the USA?

Why do men who can bench press a Buick feel the need to be armed as if they were heading off to war? Why do men who literally could break their necks 16 Sundays per year, feel they have to be armed to the teeth to go to a nightclub? Why do NFL players have to have bodyguards who appear to be auditioning for parts in the remake of Scarface?

Part of the problem comes from within the players making bad decisions, who they hang with, where they go. It is a very commendable quality to be loyal to the people you grew up with, but it is just foolish if you allow people to take you away from your dream. Anybody that would put you in a position where your reputation can be damaged, is not a friend. Friends look out for one another, they don’t try to exploit you, or take you down.

Then there are the contingent of “Gangsta Wannabes” (sorry you can not be a “Gangsta“ making seven figures playing a game!) The guys who are so consumed with the world described by Jay-Z, and 50 Cent, and try to act the part, leading them to nothing but trouble.

Being where you should not be at a time you should know better to even be out, have led to many situations involving athletes. Of course there is old reliable getting into a bar fight over a woman, which has been going on since the days that George Halas was playing. Being overly ostentatious (wearing too much bling) puts a target on an athletes chest. Again it all comes down to every decision you make has major ramifications that may effect you not only in the short term, but the long term.  

However, there are times when instead of a player looking for trouble, it comes looking for them. As far as we know Sean Taylor who was murdered in his bed last year, while his wife and child were lying hiding under the covers next to him, was killed during a botched robbery attempt.

There have been guys challenging men in bars with reputations as “tough guys“ since the days of the Old West. Back in the early days of the 20th Century guys would boast that they could “lick any man in the house.” Most times athletes are smart enough to walk away from such confrontations, unfortunately some times they are not.

There are also the segment of our society, the “Haters” who are just angry that athletes make the outrageous salaries that they do, some are angry enough to commit violence. There is no question that athletes like all entertainers are vastly overpaid. But that’s our society’s fault, not the athletes'.

Who would be willing to pay to watch the real heroes of the USA work? I’m referring to the men and women that have to work two and three jobs to feed their families. Their lives are not glamorous, but they are the backbone of our country.

Let us face facts though, ticket prices are not going to go down, unless we truly do go through a depression. So as a fan, are you paying your hard earned money to watch Tom Brady play, or Patriots Team Owner Robert Kraft do what ever it is he does?  The answer of course, when Brady is healthy, is you  are paying to see him play.  So if costs are going to remain the same, why should more money go in Kraft’s pocket? Besides, after watching these “Suits” walking away with “Golden Parachutes“, don’t athletes salaries seem a lot less outrageous?   

So now that we have identified some of the causes, what is the solution?

First just like everything else it comes down to education. NFL teams have to become more pro-active, anticipating problems instead of reacting to them. Players agents, should be held more accountable also, in order to be certified by the league to become an agent, there should be requirements put in place, so that the agent whom many young athletes look to for guidance, can give it properly.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has so far in his tenure shown he is willing to make tough decisions for the good of the game. Ending the gun problem in the NFL will require him to make a lot more.

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