attitude

The Carolina Panthers are having a terrible year on the field - but one of our best "off the field" years that I can remember.

Ours is the franchise that released one of it's wide receivers after he was arrested for murdering the woman carrying his child. About a year later, one of our ex-running backs was killed when his estranged wife blasted him in the chest with a a shot gun. No charges were filed against her because he was violating a restraining order. Later, we released one of our offensive linemen when he skipped a court date for domestic violence charges.

A special teams player of ours was released after several DUI's, including an arrest where he had pills rolling around on the floor of his car. Steve Smith once jumped a fellow player in a team meeting and broke his eye socket. Almost the entire offensive line from our superbowl has been linked with a doctor in south carolina who apparently proscribed testosterone cream - a banned substance in the NFL. Our old punter was also implicated, and after he got a dui we sent him to Denver, where he has subsequently been replaced because the team doesn't like his off the field problems.

But this year, this year we have (so far - knock on wood) not had off the field problems. This article in the Post lists arrests of NFL Players this year - is it a coincidence that 3 of the better defensive teams in the league (Bears, Chargers, Bengals) all have a lot of players who have had run-ins with the law? Maybe it takes a certain attitude to play football at a consistently high level, and that attitude also gets you into trouble. Take away the outlaws, and you take away the edge that makes the difference between good teams and the best teams.

If that is the trade that we have to make, I'm fine with it.

list available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/nfl/longterm/2006/nfl_chart_12162006.html

article available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/15/AR2006121502134.html