The NFL Boredom Epidemic

NFL players got no jobs, getting arrested, James Harrison is bashing the commissioner and teammates, our PETS HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!!!

The common denominator, in my opinion, is simple: these guys are bored and frustrated.

It's completely understandable.  Think about it.  For most of these guys lives, they have been compeltely structured around football.  Eat, breath, sleep football.  They have a routine, coaches, trainers, teammates that all are focused on the same thing, day in and day out.  It's kind of like messing up the schedule of a child.  And NO I'm not calling grown men children, I'm just using a reference.

When a child's life is upset by their family moving, career change, divorce, or any major life changing event, they tend to act out.  They cause drama, get in trouble, whatever it takes to get your attention.  I think, again in my opinion, that the guys are going through the same thing.  They don't have their coaches or normal trainers to go to.  They can't even go "home" (field, practice facilities).  So they have to try to come up with their own routine.  It's not the same as they knew life to be for all the previous years before.  So they are going to mess up when they are frustrated and act out.  After all, who isn't frustrated with the way things are going.  Mommy and Daddy can't come to an agreement and all we want to do is get back to our normal lives!

So we've had our problems with a few players recently...



Our beloved WR Hines Ward made a bad judgement one night while out with friends in Georgia.  Now, I think it's time for someone to make sure that if you play for the Steelers, STAY OUT OF GEORGIA! Everyone thought that Ward was doing such a great job by using his time wisely during the lockout by going on DWTS and then winning the whole thing and bringing the mirror ball trophy back to Pittsburgh.  But the lockout has remained after DWTS wrapped up and Ward still has nothing to do.  We all know that even during the season, all players go out and drink, but now since they have no one to answer to, I think they are a little more loose than they would be without the lockout.  So, after a night of drinking, Ward gets pulled over after a cop followed him for 4 miles and watched his Aston Martin hit a curb.  Ward gets booked after failing a field sobriety test and recent reports are saying he took 3 breathalyzers and blew a .128 at some point.  Whatever, he should have had his sober passenger drive, he made a mistake, and because he is the great Hines Ward, everyone had to know about it.

Ok, now here's good PR work from his managers.  Despite the DUI charge, Ward claims he was not "driving drunk".  Which maybe true because alcohol affects people of different sizes different ways.  BUT realize he didn't say he wasn't "drinking and driving", which he was.  So, he's denying the charge, which is fine, but he's very careful as to how he's portraying himself.  He admitted to having 2 drinks but was not drunk driving.  Doesn't matter.  If you have alcohol in your system over a .08, by law you are impaired.  A freind of mine lives around the area where Ward was that night and says the cops down there are bad.  No favoritism at all.  I was actually surprised they booked him. 

Not even a week later, we are hit with another form of acting out from his teammate, James Harrison.  The Steeler's bad boy was interviewed in Men's Health magazine and from the excerpts that were given online, he had more than enough to say to keep his reputation as is.

He started off with Goodell: “But up until last year, there was no word of me being dirty — till Roger Goodell, who’s a crook and a puppet, said I was the dirtiest player in the league. If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn’t do it. I hate him and will never respect him.”

Then moved to Roethlisberger: “Hey, at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again. Or hand the ball off and stop trying to act like Peyton Manning. You ain’t that and you know it, man; you just get paid like he does.”

I can understand where he is coming from.  A lot of the Steeler nation would probably agree.  But it was a little extreme and unproffessional.  I back Harrison for feeling the way he does.  He is a target and that is very clear.  The team in general has a bullseye mark on them, which has grown with all the controversy throughout the past few years, primarily starting with Mr. Roethlisberger himself.  (I won't get into his troubles, because it's not worth it.  What's done is done and everyone has moved on.)  After the media had a field day with dissecting every word from this story, Harrison realized he had a little explaining to do, not about Goodell, but to his QB.


This morning, Merril Hoge called in Pittsburgh's DVE morning radio show to talk to Jimmy Krenn and Randy Baumann about his conversation with Big Ben after he received a call from Harrison about the article:
http://www.dve.com/cc-common/podcast/single_page.html?podcast=amshow&selected_podcast=Merril%2520Hoge%2520-%2520Harrison%2520Comments.mp3


As of now, the two teammates are fine.  All has been talked through and put to bed.  Which is, to repeat Mr. Hoge, most important for the team.  I agree that journalists twist things to make a person or a story come out a certain way.  For impact or personal opinion, it happens.  I am nobody, but I've been lucky enough to have had a couple people interview me.  And more than once have I either been misquoted or been portrayed in a way that I did not appreciate.  I believe as long as the people who matter or you have affected, know the true meaning of what was said, that's most important and it's the most you can do.  And that's what Harrison has done, well, to one person so far.

To defend Harrison as a person, I have been around him several times and not once have I ever thought of him as anything other than a good guy.  Others who know him say the same as well.  When my son was just a toddler, I brought him to an event and my dad and I were talking with him and his focus went to Braedon.  He was great with him!  He was joking around about how big Braedon was and how funny it would be if he were a Steeler one day.   He's always been professional and cordial with media and fans.  I always viewed him as a great player who epitomizes the Steelers defense and how football should be played.  He is dedicated and serious about his job and I believe he is unfairly tagged as a "thug" in the NFL.  He's not playing flag football and he makes sure the opposing offense knows that.  He's also made sure Roger Goodell realized that too and unfortunately, he's paying the price, literally.


We can also bring up Rashard Mendenhall's twitter rants, but that's not news anymore.  Things like Twitter and Facebook need to be monitored by their managers or whoever (even their wives might have something to say about their opinions) so they can approve or disapprove whatever they are going to say for the sake of their reputation and maybe give them an outside perspective.  After all, as much as some would like to say they are only representing themselves and their opinion, once they sign their name, they represent a team.  


To end where I started, I believe most of these problems we are having with our beloved NFL players are steaming from boredom and frustration.  These guys are athletes, made to GO GO GO!  For the most part, they are structured and disciplined.  They know one way of life.  They aren't supposed to know what it's like to not have football until they retire and have to find another outlet.  Of course you will have your trouble makers throughout the league, but until 2010, I never thought of James Harrison as one.  I hope there are no more troubles for the Steelers and they get it together so they can be ready for the hopeful 2011 season.  I know I'm ready for some football.  I can't imagine how hard it is for the guys to be told they can't play until "Mommy and Daddy" say so.