Trouble-Maker Comeuppance Hits the NFL!

Is it me, or has the NFL – its coaches, players, and the League itself – suddenly adopted a new, get tough approach to dealing with players that are prima donnas, trouble-makers and general malcontents?

To wit:  Pacman Jones gets the boom (well, incrementally, but way more than he would have in previous years); Mike Singeltary throws a player off the field during the game; the Panthers suspend a player for insubordination during a team meeting; Kansas City suspends it's star running back for a series of off-the-field bullshit; and yesterday, Drew Brees got all up in that total DICK Jeremy Shockey’s face for half-assing it (something that Eli Manning should have done when Shockey – a stud in his own mind and no one else’s – was half-assing it for the Giants).

I think that there is a trend here, and I have a feeling it is all happening because of the messages being sent by the League office – specifically by Commissioner Goodell.  I think there are subtle clues being given off – starting with the treatment of Jones and the League's treatment of sociopath Michael Vick – that the NFL ain’t interested in seeing its image be defined by these sorts of players.

I am in favor of it.  I am a big free-speech kinda guy, but this has nothing to do with that.  When you, me – anyone – work for an organization, that organization has the right to address and punish behavior deemed detrimental to the organization, within the bounds of the law.  And I think that is what is going on.

Let’s see more of it.

(Photo: Getty Images)

A Cubs and Northwestern fan, Joe Moag is a major sports junkie, and although he still runs, he hasn't been able to dunk anything more than a donut for decades.