2 Buccaneers' Rookies fight at Rookie Symposium (Criminality in the NFL)

Hazys

2 of the Buccaneer’s rookies, 1st rounder Aqib Talib and 7th rounder Cory Boyd fought each other in a meeting at the Rookie Symposium. The irony is that the Rookie Symposium is an event which is supposed to teach rookies how to stay out of trouble and handle the pressures of the NFL

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/07/02/symposium-sluggers-identified/


Players get arrested every couple of days in the NFL, and in the last week and a half; Lynch (Bills), Andrews again (Pats), Martin (Ravens), Keith (Cardinals), Marshall (Broncos). Its strange how many players get arrested, no other sport in the world is like this. I think the contributing factors when comparing the NFL to different sports are:

Backgrounds and economic situations of where players grew up
More media coverage than any other sport
Number of players compared to NBA


A lot of players are just down right scumbags. The NFL is trying to crack down by fining teams for their players misbehaving but it’s a long way off making a difference.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/turd-watch/police-blotter/

Comparing it to the Premiership (Excluding Joey Barton) you rarely hear of a player getting arrested maybe 3 or 4 times a season but that’s it. The only recent arrests involving professional footballers I can think off are Barton and the Plymouth goalie. For rugby all I can think off is Dougie Howlett enjoying the banter jumping up and down on cars in London and some arrests of English players in New Zealand. Is it the differences in society between the US and the UK and Ireland?

What are your views on criminality in the NFL? Does it hinder your support for the NFL?

jdivision

1. It's the number of players, 32 teams with 80 players at the moment is almost like the whole English league
2. The offseason is longer so more time to get in trouble, compare that to rugby having a 54-week season this past year!
3. I'm convinced players get juiced during the summer, it's no coincidence the number of anger/rage incidents increase at that stage of the season
4. Fights between teammates are a regular occurance in every sport, particularly physical ones. As for soccer, have you forgotten what John Hartson did to that israeli guy at west ham or barton putting out a cigar in a guy's eye. I could go on.

jdivision

PS having said that, what Rae Carruth did or had done is the worst crime I know of to be honest.

Hazys

jdivision wrote: »

4. Fights between teammates are a regular occurance in every sport, particularly physical ones. As for soccer, have you forgotten what John Hartson did to that israeli guy at west ham or barton putting out a cigar in a guy's eye. I could go on.

I understand that fights between same team players are common during training and sometimes games. I just brought this story up becuase of the irony of what the NFL is trying to achieve by having this rookie syposium. The two guys were in a class room learning about how to manage their money when they started kicking the crap out of each other

The point you make about the amount of time they have off is one of the main problems. The Texans are starting their training camp way earlier tham other teams to counteract this.

But if the premiership players had the same amount of time off, would they get into as much trouble?

kev_s88

you also have the lee bowyer and kieron dyer having and on-field fight when they both played for newcastle a few years ago.that was a very funny fight.

it happens in all sports.the americans just make more of it then anyone else

themont85

kev_s88 wrote: »

you also have the lee bowyer and kieron dyer having and on-field fight when they both played for newcastle a few years ago.that was a very funny fight.

it happens in all sports.the americans just make more of it then anyone else

To be fair the NFL is just getting ridiculous. Watching an episode of Total Access is like watching the nine o'clock news at times. Everyday there's either gun, assault, drink driving and even dog fighting ffs. And a lot of players don't seem to learn their lesson-Cedric Benson for example done twice in as many weeks for drinking and other alleged activities. The length of the off season is obviously a problem but on the same token if a guy who went to college and gets payed huge sums to play a game gets involved in such stupid things then why should they be allowed to play. How the Nfl has so many incidents baffles me, its probably the best organised sport on the planet and each guy is generally over 21 with a better education than most most. How there's not more in soccer is strange too.

jdivision

The other thing to bear in mind is that more people get arrested in the United States rather than anywhere else on the planet.
OP, I wasn't trying to excuse their behaviour, which was ridiculous but trying to explain some of the reasons why it happens in general.