Roger Goodell showed his intent to bark loud and bite with rubber teeth today when he reinstated "Pacman" Jones. Am I way out of line in thinking that this is absolutely insane? And by insane, I don't mean in a slang, "this is awesome" type manner. No, ladies and gents, this is effing crazy. Justice just took a back-handed bitch slap today, and she's not going to be happy about that.

I think by now anyone that has a remote interest in The League, football in general, and their own personal safety for that matter, has an idea who Adam "Pacman" Jones is. You know, the dude that had a fantastic college career at West Virginia, was drafted as the 6th overall pick by the Tennessee Titans in 2005, and began his pro career with a bang until the NFL commish Roger Goodell suddenly realized that what Pacman had been doing off the field for most of his young adult life, get arrested, wasn't such a good thing for The League's image and suspended him after his umpteenth arrest. The god's of justice finally made a break through in professional sports is what it seemed. No longer would athletes continue to get away with being criminals in their free time simply because they happened to have talent by the boatload. No sir. Order was restored. Well, you can kiss that wishful thinking good-bye now that Pacman has been reinstated.

I'm sure there may be some of you out there saying, "You know what? The guy has served time in jail AND a one year suspension from the NFL. He's paid his dues." To you folks I say, "You've got to be kidding me!" The guy has been nothing short of a criminal for the past 7 years (that I know of) and all of a sudden he's a new man and ready to be a role model in the earth's greatest sports league? How does that make any sense? I'm not going to bother looking into how much money Adam is being paid by the Cowboys, but I'm gonna go way, way out on a limb here and say that it's in the millions annually. Can anyone tell me what other legitimate company would hire a proven criminal to fill a high profile, multi-million-dollar-a-year job? I'm waiting...still waiting...no takers? That's what I thought. So why is the NFL making such a bad judgment call? M-O-N-E-Y. That's why.

You see, the NFL is a well oiled, money making machine. The Super Bowl is seen in countries that I can't spell, much less pronounce. $250 player jerseys are prized possessions by fans around the world, and most game tickets cost more than a tank of gas in an SUV, yet most stadiums are still packed on Sundays. Still, The League looks for ways to expand it's dominance of the professional sports landscape. Regular season games across the pond, deemed as "home" games for one unlucky team? Check. Meaningless pre-season games played in Asia? Check. $9 light beers? Check (7-8 times a game for me, but that's not important right now). In order to get away with some of this B.S., though, Goodell and his brain trust have to find ways to keep things interesting. Repetition begets apathy. Apathy begets revenue loss. Enter comeback stories, and in this case Adam "Pacman" Jones.

We here in America love to see someone get up from the mat, as it were, shake off the cobwebs, and come out punching. The NFL knows this and is merely taking advantage of our collective soft spot for the Hollywood script. The Pacman reinstatement is a clear example of this. Sure, it's a bit of a gamble, but it's a well calculated gamble with safe, yet high paying odds. One scenario has Jones finding temptation too hard to ignore and eventually getting arrested again, or at least doing something bad enough to draw the ire of Goodell, at which point his career as a pro football player in the National Football League is over. The other places Pacman as a model citizen off the field, while returning to his once dominant self on the field. Maybe the Cowboys win the Super Bowl with his help. Maybe Pacman is even the MVP of said Super Bowl. At the very least, though, if the 'Boys only make the playoffs (a virtual guarantee this year) and never make it to Tampa, the NFL still stands to make a lot of money off of the media attention that will surround number 21 for the next 17-21 weeks. Why? Because Jerry Jones is behind the wheel of this magic bus, and Mr. Jones knows a thing or two about reviving careers of talented, but tainted image superstars. Just ask Terrel Owens.

The Cowboys are arguably the most well marketed team in the NFL, if not professional sports in general. The organization has a massive presence in print, digital, and any other type of media that exists. As a result, so do their players. It seems that no matter what city you're in, everyone who watches football knows somebody that is a Cowboys fan. This guarantees Adam Jones more exposure than he may even be ready for this year. He will be on national TV on a weekly basis, and if he can stay out of trouble and let his considerable talent do the talking, his NFL jerseys will practically walk themselves out of stores and into fans' homes. With success, he'll get more media attention each week. And guess what? So will the NFL. People will start watching Cowboys games just to see what happens with Pacman on the field (not to mention Pacman AND T.O. on the same team!). Ratings will proceed to go through the roof and the NFL revenue and exposure will grow faster than our country's National Debt. The league brass will be all smiles, the Cowboys will have their swagger back, and interest in the game will be at an all-time high. All of this could happen because Roger Goodell decided to make a widely unpopular decision to reinstate a multi-convicted criminal. Then again, the gods of justice could be angered by the NFL's greed and Adam could sustain a season-ending injury in week one. Or maybe he'll just suck, and the comeback story will lose its legs. Either way, I have a sneaking suspicion that the gods of justice will find a way to rebound and flex their muscles for centuries to come.


TWF