I mean that sarcastically, but I wouldn't bet against it not being a competition with the way NFL players are racking up police records every offseason.
We are now accustomed to seeing an NFL player making bad choices and being plastered all over SportsCenter. This year seems to be no different than recent year's past and the San Francisco 49ers are looking to lead the way in this year's offseason class.
New England Patriots former tight end Aaron Hernandez ran away with the biggest arrest of the offseason last year when he was arrested in connection to the death of Odin Lloyd. Well Aaron I know you probably won't be able to read this where you're at, but no need to worry about your trial stealing headlines this summer.
This year, the 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith has decided to move ahead of the pack when he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport over the weekend. Smith was arrested for indicating he had a bomb when TSA had randomly selected him for secondary screening. He posted $20,000 bail and was released shortly after.
He hasn't been the only 49er to make it into police records this offseason. Just last week 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was linked to a police report out of Miami that included Quinton Patton and former 49er and current Seattle Seahawk Ricardo Lockette.
Even ESPN has their methods of persuading someone to believe a player may be guilty with the way the represented Colin when they referred to the incident. ESPN usually uses a player’s team photo when they are talking about them but with the Kaepernick news, the producers at ESPN used a photo of him wearing his hat backwards and to the side with headphones, mildly hinting a "Thug" look. Now one might not first think anything of the photo but they are showing him in a bad light when so many people already are quick to judge the QB based off of his tattoos and the way he dresses.
The truth surrounding this incident is slowly making its way through the media and it seems like no convictions will be made to any NFL player.
Oh but that's not all for the 49ers. I know by now you have to be thinking theirs no way that the 49ers let another one of their players have a run-in with the law. Well it happened. 49ers Cornerback Chris Culliver just pleaded not guilty to a hit-and-run incident and felony possession of brass knuckles for an incident that occurred late last month.
The drama is far from over in San Francisco, with a lot of information still unknown at this point. I wouldn't suggest you rush to an opinion on any of these matters until they have been convicted but this has to same something about the 49ers organization and their handle on things.
A majority of the players who end up having a run-in with the law during the offseason usually tend to have had some talk about their behavioral issues before they were drafted including Aaron Hernandez and Aldon Smith.
What should matter to the 49ers management most is why they are having so many behavioral issues with their players? I know people get caught up in situations where they are just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you also have to take accountability for yourself with these situations.
The 49ers have acknowledged each players incident but will not speak further until each issue is resolved.
Is this what we should expect from the NFL and its players? There are a lot of kids who grow up watching football and this is the message that the NFL is sending to them. Aldon Smith can miss five games because he was in rehab at the beginning of last season and within 6 weeks of being back is pulled over and found with assault rifles and marijuana, and maybe the most mind boggling part is that his coach, John Harbaugh, let him suit up for the next game that was about three days after his arrest.
After Harbaugh's speech regarding the Seahawks and their off-the-field problems from last season when he said, "We want to be above reproach in everything and do everything by the rules. Because if you don’t, if you cheat to win, then you’ve already lost, according to Bo Schembechler (His former coach at Michigan). And Bo Schembechler is about next to the word of God as you can get in my mind. It’s not the word of God, but its close.”
Now it looks like Harbaugh needs to point all that attention he was giving the Seahawks last offseason to his team this year around.
The NFL's bad boy reputation is exceeding itself once again this offseason and doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. For a record of arrests check out this link I found, it’s missing the most recent but the size of it alone is incredible.
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