The news broke early yesterday morning about the Titans' first-round draft pick Adam "Pacman" Jones' run in with law on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Seems Pacman was out at a club and got into a bit of an altercation with Big Daddy Gaddy. Allegations are that not only was Pacman out picking a fight but he was smoking some marijuana as well.
Needless to say, the sports call in shows have been dominated by this subject the past 24 or so hours. Pundits have lined up on both sides of the aisle, some calling for him to not be signed to his contract and for the Titans to cut their losses now and others saying--oh, give him a chance but make this his last chance to straighten up and fly right. It's not helped that since there was no baseball yesterday due to the All-Star Game, there wasn't any other subject to switch tracks to (I mean, other than hockey and, quite frankly, that doesn't generate the same level of interest here in the great city of Nashville).
Now, I love the Titans...they're my hometown team and I want to see them succeed. And one of the things I've respected about them is they always chose players not only for their skills on the field but their character off the field. This is the team, remember, that passed on drafting Randy Moss becuase of issues about his character despite his huge upside on the field. And yet, they took Pacman Jones...who has done nothing since he got to Nashville to prove wrong the naysayers about his character. This latest incident is not helping things. And now my team faces a dilemma and everyone in Nashville has an opinion on what should be done.
It's interesting that as of yet, the Titans have not signed Pacman. Now this is not all that uncommon a thing with first-round draft picks at this stage of the game. It seems to me that Pacman's actions off the field might cost him a bit in the contract negotiations. I think that Floyd Reese should make sure Pacman's contract is filled with clauses for character because it seems as if this is going to be an on-going issue. Or better yet--not sign the guy. Trade him right now and dump him the team. Make a statement about who and what the Titans are as organization and team. Dump Pacman, get a Travis Henry who can play a role on the team this year and will be a better citizen that Pacman has proven to be so far...
UPDATE :
Here's a list from the
Tennessean of the previous incidents involving Pacman.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 7/14/2005 08:03:00 AM |
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