Times are tough for Pacman Jones. The guy is picked up by the Dallas Cowboys with a "one strike and you're out" policy, gets in one little fight with a bodyguard in a public setting and now people are all over him.
The cornerback had five tackles yesterday in the loss against the Cardinals, but got burnt on a go route by none other than ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who said Friday that he is absolutely fed up with Pacman's antics, taking a particular stance that he feels many in sports media cannot.
"(Jones) is completely idiotic in this situation," Smith said on ESPN's 1st & 10. "I'm really ticked off right now because one of the things that I think a lot of people can't say, but obviously I can say being an African-American, I don't see too many white players getting into these kinds of situations."
Stephen A. was just loading the bullets into the gun. He went on to call out African-American players as a whole for a bad NFL image.
"It's entirely embarrassing," Smith said. "As an African-American, I'm really getting sick and tired of having to sit up here and give some kind of explanation as to why these guys find themselves in this situation.
"My last comment: White players are not finding themselves in these situations. We've got to start taking a look at ourselves."
As Daulerio so aptly pointed out over at Deadspin, the NFL is made up of nearly 70 percent African-Americans, so calling them out for all the troubles in the game is a little skewed. Sure, some black players get into trouble, but it isn't like all the white players are going from the shower to the soup kitchen. You give players gobs of money, you put their face all over the television and Internet, bad things tend to occur.
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Still, even though Smith is usually like a Saturday morning emergency broadcast test you can't seem to mute, the ESPN talent is at least heartfelt here.
To me, it just seems there are specific players that can't stay out of trouble. I don't believe making a personal decision to straighten up has anything to do with race, I think it has more to do with willpower and want. If you're going to quit screwing up and actually make personal strides, do it. If not, you'll find yourself in the face of a bodyguard before you know it.
