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The Way I See It
THE National Football League has long been accused of welcoming and supporting an unhealthy number of players with criminal records. NFL suffers another
blow to its imageBooks have been written on the subject, and there's been a clamor among a lot of fans for the NFL to clean up its personnel image.
Now two players, Baltimore Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis and Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth, are charged with murder in the same month, and that's an alarming frequency rate for crime in any organization.
The stock of any American corporation would plummet due to such a double whammy.
The fact that when Lewis was arrested, he was preparing to fly here for Sunday's 50th Pro Bowl, sure doesn't bolster the NFL's moral image.
Paul Tagliabue's public disclaimer Friday on the recent rash of criminal charges against NFL players now seems especially ill-timed.
"We can't predict what NFL players will do any more than we can predict students shooting other students," said Tagliabue.
That's more than a little disturbing because impressionable kids look up to the players in this league.
But this is America's most popular game and the NFL sits atop the American sports scene right now.
If the O.J. Simpson trial couldn't diminish the NFL empire, I doubt Lewis and Carruth will.
LEWIS' teammates are stunned. I spoke briefly with outside linebacker Peter Boulware and defensive end Michael McCrary last night and both vouched for his character.
"I know him pretty well and I don't believe he'd do anything like that," said Boulware.
Asked if he considered Lewis a good man, McCrary said, "Of course."
"If they can get a high-profile guy like Ray Lewis, people will blow things out of proportion," said Boulware. "Until I hear all the facts, I'm not going to judge."
Lewis was outside a nightclub in Atlanta when the alleged incident occurred, which leads me to another thought on NFL players' propensity to get into trouble.
Nightclubs are high on the list of pitfalls NFL players are advised about when they attend their rookie symposiums.
Whether or not he goes looking for trouble, trouble seems to find the NFL player in crowded places where booze is sold.
PITTSBURGH Steelers running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala sympathizes with the plight of his fellow pros because he's seen teammates harassed when they're away from Three Rivers Stadium.
He remembers being at a wrestling event with a dozen Steelers teammates when one player became the target of a section of the crowd. They were taunting him for a costly penalty he committed in a loss to Cleveland.
Fuamatu-Ma'afala said the player had to be restrained as the taunting became more vicious.
"It's hard when you go in public," he said. "You have to put your pride on the side. If anything happens, everyone looks at the athlete. The athlete takes all the heat."
Fuamatu-Ma'afala, who doesn't drink or smoke, knows that NFL players might as well be wearing neon signs on their clothes in nightclubs . So he keeps his current low profile even lower.
"I stay home most of the time," he said.
Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.