This holiday installment of Playmakers proves that the NFL has few silent nights, its halls are decked with criminal behavior and its “Joy to the World” includes trashing their own teams, fellow players and fans.
During one of the Dallas Cowboys’ biggest wins of the season last Saturday, Terrell Owens shared the gift of giving by presenting DeAngelo Hall with some of his spit. The NFL sent Owens a Yule card demanding $35,000 for his action.
Earlier in the week, Rams running back Steven Jackson labeled some fans as an embarrassment for selling their tickets to Chicago Bears fans. As of Tuesday, there were 3,000 seats left for the Christmas Eve game against the Washington Redskins. Jackson might have to buy most of those himself if the Rams’ streak of sellouts – and televised games – is to continue.
But these ridiculous acts pale in comparison to those of the Bears’ Tank Johnson. The Feds knocked on his door with a search warrant last week and found enough guns to overthrow a small country. Johnson, who is on probation for other anti-social behavior, also had a bit of marijuana in his home. Not three days after his arrest on gun and drug charges, Johnson’s bodyguard was gunned down at a nightclub during the wee hours of the morning. Johnson was at the club at the time. Look for him to receive his unconditional release for Christmas.
By the way, with the DWI arrest of Deltha Jones of the Cincinnati Bengals, an astonishing 15 percent of coach Marvin Lewis’ team has been arrested in 2006. With eight players facing various charges, the Bengals’ locker room is challenging St. Louis for America’s most dangerous city honors.
Close behind the Bengals in bizarre behavior are the San Diego Chargers. While going 12-2 and becoming a Super Bowl threat, some of the Chargers were getting into retail sales.
The Drug Enforcement Agency has sent a case involving Chargers players to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The DEA thought monetary transactions between some Chargers and China (yes, the country) involved steroids. The money wasn’t going for steroids but it is believed the players were making the overseas payments for knockoff athletic shoes that could be portrayed as name-brand merchandise and sold for a profit in this country. The Chargers already have had one player, safety Terrence Kiel, arrested by DEA agents this season at the team’s practice facility for illegally shipping cough medicine. They’ve had another player, linebacker Steve Foley, shot and wounded by an off-duty police officer in an incident in which Foley was charged with drunk driving.
Finally, coach Jim Mora was overcome by that warm holiday feeling while during a radio interview with one of his former Washington University running buddies. He announced that he would walk away from the Atlanta Falcons coaching gig in the middle of a playoff run if the Huskies job was open. First, the job isn’t open; it belongs to Ty Willingham. Second, the Falcons had their biggest game of the year two days later against the Cowboys. Now, there’s a coach that demands the respect of his players.