Pacman and strippers.... Duke lacrosse and strippers..

OK, I was being more than a little more than sarcastic by invoking a generality (re: when does black-on-black crime EVER make national news?)

Of course there are instances, but all I'm saying is that, sadly, we've become so densensitized to certain forms of behavior that it's difficult for it to be shocking and played in the news appropriately.

Like I said, black athlete plus strip club and shooting...doesn't exactly rank up in the top-10. Hell, it just happened a few months ago with Stephen Jackson.

You all know as well as I do, with practically any crime coverage, there has to be something unexpected about it. Tupac was a big deal because, at the time, he was considered the best rapper/entertainer in the game. Darrent Williams was a big deal because it's a NFL player being killed in a drive-by on New Year's Eve. Rae Carruth? A NFL player who takes out a hit on his pregnant girlfriend. Yeah, I'd say those were a bit different.

Locally, I do think the standards are different, but even there, you could point to certain trends. School shootings in urban, mostly-black schools? Likely not going to make the front page. A school shooting in a mostly-surban, white school? Lock it.

Expectation of criminal activity is a factor. To pretend it's not, would be a lie.

As an aside, although it's certainly not comical that a man is paralyzed or three people got shot, Pacman Jones is officially the stupidest athlete of the year. I thought no one would beat Tim Hardaway. But the idea that this moron had the nerve to be outraged because he dropped $80K amongst some strippers and -- GASP -- they tried to take the money...that is just astonishing.

Make it rain? Might be the phrase of the year.

 

That's because the murder ratre in DC is 200 a year for a population of 600,000 and in Rockville(Montgomery County)the murder rate is 30 a year in a population of 900,000.

The real difference in the Duke case was the immediate rush to trash the white players because, hell, they're white and it's a free shot. With Pacman, you have to be careful, no rush to judgement on a black man.

 

And that's the point. Pacman is a dolt.

I do smell a coverup of some sort here, whether it be by Stern or Goodell. I credit Whitlock for speaking the truth--that this past weekend was a powderkeg awaiting ignition. And it being on the NBA's watch is unfortunate because it was an NFL player doing the deed. I think it's time for sportswriters to start taking the NFL to task on the behavior of its players.

On that note, is there an (un)official count of athlete arrests among the four major sports (yes, including hockey, which is probably the least)?

 

No one's accused Jones of actually doing the shooting. While the case against the Duke kids looked shaky from the beginning and there never should have been the eager rush to judgement (led by the white prosecutor), at least they were supposedly the actual perpetrators.

As of now, Jones is accused of being an idiot (of course the strippers will know better than to pick up your 80 grand - you're just making an impression!) and having a posse of goons with him, one of whom took the macho posturing way too far and started shooting. Not a great parallel.

 

I don't see it like that at all, I didn't read anywhere until right now that the bouncers, promoters, etc. were black ...

 

Can we call it Pacman? Jones is our man jones and he is neither an idiot nor has a posse, unless you count that trip to see Jessica Simpson

 

pacman jones, according to the accusations, said, "I'm going to kill you." and "smoke they @$$."


if true, if he threw punches in the pre-shooting brawl and said the stuff attributed to him, he will face serious felony charges. he'll face attempted murder chargers right along with the shooter.

 

This whole story is so bizarre. I can't believe Pacman could be so dumb. Oh, wait, actually I do.

 

Pacman is like that lottery winner who blows it all at a casino and on bad investments. And he's not the only rich, young athlete to be that stupid. You would think money like that would buy someone to save one of these from himself.