The New Adam Jones Non-Story and the Stories Behind Him; plus an ESPN update
October 9, 2008
ESPN.com reported, through their silent press arm at ESPN News Services/Associated Press (and supplemented by ESPN’s Ed Werder and Matt Mosley), that Adam Jones has jeopardized his status with the NFL.The Internet arm of the ESPN television network’s headline reads, ”Cowboys’ Pacman gets in fight with bodyguard at Dallas hotel.” What is interesting here is that the .com ascribes ownership to Jones by use of the apostrophe after the “s” in Cowboys. It is common in sentences to leave the implication of ownership out when using team names in association with the athletes playing for those teams.
Along with that subtle slight, the headline, derived by an anonymous copy editor at the .com, refers to Adam Jones as “Pacman” despite the defensive back’s request that he be called by his proper first name, Adam, and despite Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s refusal to call Jones “Pacman.”
It is this type of subtle racism that is a hallmark of ESPN reporting.
Onto the “nothing” that is the story.
According to a Dallas Morning News article by Calvin Watkins, Jones had dinner at the Joule hotel with his girlfriend and two of his bodyguards. One of the bodyguards left for the evening. Jones then is alleged to have hung out with rapper Ludacris, among other people.
At some point early Wednesday morning Jones and his remaining bodyguard got into an argument and Jones struck the bodyguard while still at the hotel. An unknown (to the press) person called the police:
Deputy Chief Vince Golbeck, commander of the central patrol division, said officers were called to the Joule about 1:30 a.m. and were told there was a disturbance between Adam Jones and one of his security officers. Golbeck said officers believed Adam Jones was drinking and that he may have stayed at the hotel. Sources close to Jones dispute the report.
Despite the differing stories and the fact that the bodyguard declined to press charges (which could mean anything from, the bodyguard saying there was no incident to there was a punch thrown and the bodyguard said he was not pressing charges), and despite Jones’ lawyer Worrick Robinson telling Werder that he is not so sure anything like what is being reported occurred, this has turned into a story that includes the possibility that Jones might be suspended indefinitely by Goodell::
“I’m not satisfied anything has happened,” Robinson said. “I perform due diligence on rumors anytime there is an allegation made against a player I represent, and at this point I can tell you that I’m not satisfied that anything occurred.”
As stated in Watkins’ article:
Should Adam Jones get suspended again, he would not be the first player who lost his status after returning to the field.
Linebacker Odell Thurman was suspended for two seasons for violations of the league’s substance abuse and conduct policies. He was reinstated this spring but was released by Cincinnati after he failed to report to a minicamp. Thurman was banned by the NFL indefinitely for more violations to the conduct policy.
Adam Jones is nearing that status if the league deems he failed to act properly.
Accompanying the “ESPN News Services” article is an “Adam Jones timeline” sketching all the reported incidents involving Jones.
It is now beyond all reportage concerning Jones to simply report what is known about what might of might not be a negative incident and leave the story as is until more facts are revealed. Any story of this sort regarding Jones must include a timeline of Jones’ prior run-ins with the police, a recounting of the trade by the Tennessee Titans of Jones to the Dallas Cowboys, and a recounting of Jerry Jones’ statements when he acquired Jones from the Titans.
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There is something missing from all the reports about all the black athletes who negatively encounter the police, or the rumor pages of the ESPN.com homepage and the E Entertainment News-like reporting style used by the ESPN television network. Both the .com and ESPN have room for deep reporting. There are “E Tickets” investigative articles on ESPN.com. There is the “E:60″ investigative program and Outside the Lines on ESPN.
But with the vast cadre of writers and producers at their disposal - and in mainstream sports writing, in general - there is consistently something missing.
What is missing is the reporting of the quest to find some of the reasons for what are deemed “negative actions” by black athletes. Not a soul writing for a sports news outlet dares tell the story of the super poor and its effects when one of the super poor hits the professional sports contract lottery and in an instant becomes super rich.
No matter the rookie camp warnings replete with skits telling of real life situations where the young man gets played by a huckster, no matter the words of a well-meaning agent or relative, no one who was super poor the day before can be prepared to handle their money when the next day they become super rich. Writers never tell the very real, very sad and grimy tale of the hangers-on, whether they be friends, relatives, or random women at home or on the road.
They cannot find the heart to tell the secret fear in an athlete’s heart when he realizes that he has never written a check in his life, let alone had a bank account or an ATM card and must find a way to ask his agent how it all works. These writers and producers are too privileged to relate how, to the suddenly super rich black athlete, their platinum credit card, that piece of plastic has no limit to what it can purchase; how a $25 million signing bonus is an inconceivable amount of money - but that $25 million is only two-thirds that from the jump due of taxes. The story of fiscal ignorance through no fault of their own is never told.
Only the late nights and seemingly ludicrous spending sprees are told - and always with admonishments and mentions of the athlete being a “cautionary tale.”
These people do not tell of the abject fear felt by the young man as he vainly tries to navigate through an unforeseen traffic jam to reach the team facilities on time for his first practice. They do not make us feel what it is like to look at the eyes of that young man and see the fear behind his false bravado during the first lengthy road trip of his career; to see him play sluggishly after five days on the road because he is sick from not knowing what food to eat, so he resorts to what he knows - a massive intake of junk food he once ate to survive as a child living a bleak life with only a dream of making it in the pros to keep him alive and semi-sane.
We are never filled in on the fact that money management is the last thing learned by the suddenly rich because we are taught to be consumers. We are taught from infancy by constantly visible forms of mediums that our life is to be spent wanting “things” and finding a way to get those things, and when and if we have the means to get those things, we spend whatever it takes to have them. We are never told that “having” and having more than the next person is as much an addiction as alcoholism, or any other known addiction.
And we are certainly never told how that plays itself out with the young man who was suddenly poor the day before and suddenly super rich the next.
There are reasons Adam Jones and athletes like him exist as they do as humans in the process of being.
But to understand him as more than a living, black animal-human zoo exhibit, the reasons must be told.
The. Reasons. Must. Be. Told.
Tell them.
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Update: This morning on ESPN’s First Take, Chareen Williams of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram told Wendy Nix that Jones is to stay out of nightclubs and strip clubs and “obviously didn’t do that.”Since when was the Joule Hotel a nightclub or strip club? Additionally, on the 1st and 10 portion of First Take, Skip Bayless said Goodell must suspend Jones for the entire season.
In response to Bayless, Stephen A. Smith said, “As an African-American I’m getting tired of finding myself up here explaining why these athletes find themselves in these situations. … I don’t see white athletes finding themselves in these situations. … We need to look at ourselves.”
Ask Brandon Backe about “finding himself” in trouble, Stephen. … but more succinctly, Smith is saying that white athletes - and by extension, white people - have more “common sense” than black athletes and people.
Hmmmm.
Perhaps black athletes are easier targets than white athletes? Perhaps when white athletes go to clubs and grab women’s asses and get into scuffles they are protected by club security and club management because of the good old boy system that is in place throughout America. Perhaps black athletes are targets by people who hate the fact that they have money, that they hate their skin color, that they knoiw that black athlete can give them their five minutes of fame, whether it be only locally with their friends, or nationally because they know dumps like ESPN will hunt them down and shine their mugs on national television.
Perhaps, Stephen A. your silence is more appropriate unless you are first ready to explain to white people about the backgrounds of black athletes and why these events come before the eyes of the nation.
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26 Responses to “The New Adam Jones Non-Story and the Stories Behind Him; plus an ESPN update”
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ESPN already got its 1000+ comments on the Jones story and is just getting warmed up. They got the laundry list on the side. No surprise there. He is their cash cow.
“reasons” for white athletes = “understanding” and “explaining behavior”
“reasons” for black athletes = ‘condoning” or “making excuses”
Now the “just effing with him” phase begins. Actually, that probably started long ago when cops were pulling him over for driving a Lambo.
How about Adam Jones act like an adult for once. Maybe if he wants to stay out of the news, don’t do stupid things. I was reading earlier a post comparing the Matt Jones arrest to the multiple Adam Jones arrests. That is the whole point. I can understand screwing up once, stuff happens, no big deal. When you keep doing it, it is a habit. He does it because he gets away with it, just like a kid. I would be willing to bet the body guard he got in a fight with was hired by the Cowboys to keep him from going to jail. The guy probably wouldn’t let him doing something that would have landed him behind bars and he threw a fit and started a fight like a 2 yr old. If I were an owner I wouldn’t have this moron in my locker room for free, much less pay him and the poision that is TO is in the same boat. I hope Roger Gadell bans this idiot. How many chances should he get? I guess we should all just over look it because he is misunderstood right?
come on man, he was just acting rebellion… leave the man be
Did anyone hear Stephen A. Smith say on the 1st & 10 segment of ESPN’s 1st Take about how come white player never find themselves in these “situations”? If I wasn’t standing up already, I would have fell out of my chair.
Marc-
I just added an update detailing Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless and Chareen Williams and their take on Jones.
What it really comes down to is black, white, purple or green, you act like an idiot you deserve to be treated like one. Screw up once, correct it and go on but to keep acting like you are “somebody” and can do whatever in the hell you want. I have no use for you…. none. Adam Jones should be in jail not the NFL. He is a danger to himself and others. He can’t control himself and refuses to grow up and act like an adult. Until he loses everything he will never be anything but a little gang bangin punk that should be in jail.
Stephen A. has become a tool if he wasn’t one already. There are plenty of stories about white athletes. The problem is that Smith’s colleagues aren’t paying the undue attention to them that they do to the black athletes-it’s not part of the narrative.
Chris Benoit murdered his wife and child and I have never heard of any black athlete doing this. Most ensuing articles went out of their way to understand his behavior. Some blamed the steroids, others blamed concussions, and the story came and went. As a fellow white brother of Chris Benoit and someone concerned about the lack of responsibility that we whites take in our community, I think that it is time that we look at ourselves.
Ray Carruth?
Rae Carruth.
Screamin’ A. is sad in that he hasn’t figured out how to join the chorus and shift the conversation totally around to guy like Jones — all the while prodding Bayless to agree with his positions. He could talk about how shocked, I mean SHOCKED, that guys like Matt Jones and Jared Allen are playing…Surely he could corner Bayless…that would be easy. In fact, he could put words in his mouth and watch Skip backtrack. I guess he’d rather ride Byatch.
I can’t believe Stephen A really said that. Unreal. Everytime you think they can’t step to a lower level….
Allegedly fighting with someone who was hired to protect you and all of the sudden there’s a call for all the white brothers to look at the Chris Benoit situation and realize that it’s not just black athletes who are killing people?
wtf?
Pac was just being rebellion man, that’s all. Ain’t no shame in smackin’ a b*tch
temple, that whole pregnant thing is a pretty tricky distinction. Benoit straight murdered his child. Unlike Caruth, he had to do it two times.
Boney, I think that you may have missed the point.
Not a surprise here. Steve A a million dollar slave.
He11 I am surprised he just said that.
Boney once again you miss the point.
Does anybody really think Peyton Manning or Brett Favre could get a DUI? John Riggins the former running back from the Redskins, an ESPN employee, brags to this day about getting out of DUI’s, because of his stature in Washington.
As for Stephen A. Smith, touche Stephen, touche!
This article speaks for itself
Updated: October 8, 2008, 9:12 AM ET
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Matt Jones’ cocaine charge will be heard in drug court rather than in the regular criminal system and will allow him to keep any conviction off his record.
Jones
Jones, 25, was to have gone on trial Friday for his July 10 arrest when a Fayetteville police officer saw him inside a car allegedly cutting up cocaine with a credit card.
Prosecutor John Threet said his office reached an agreement with Jones on Tuesday to send the case to drug court. Threet and Jones’ attorney, Woody Bassett, said Circuit Judge William Storey approved the transfer Tuesday.
Bassett said Jones has to appear in drug court on Monday afternoon before Circuit Judge Mary Ann Gunn. Jones is a former quarterback at Arkansas and a first-round draft pick of the Jaguars in 2005.
Prosecutors said the felony charge will be dismissed if Jones completes the drug program.
Jones will have to undergo a nine-to-12-month intervention program in which he is to take part in group therapy sessions and serve 30 hours of community service, officials said. He also must submit to regular drug tests.
Gunn told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Jones will likely not be required to move back to Arkansas to participate in the drug court program if the NFL allows him to continue playing. She said Jones must adhere to the NFL’s anti-substance abuse program and pass all its drug testing requirements.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Origin,
Once again, I see sarcasm is not a part of your everyday life.
MODI,
While I am appalled (sp?) at the Chris Benoit story, it does not cause me to want to stand up and speak to my white brothers and sisters because Adam is being once again reported for “being rebellion”.
Same with Matt Jones OR with Adam Jones… none of this sh*t moves me enough to make me want to say “hey my white brethren, let’s all get together for a cause”, why? Because I couldn’t give more than 1 sh*t about any of the Jones, must less 2 sh*ts.
But then again, I’m not as easily offended as you are. I guess it’s all those years of watching Beavis and Butthead and playing Grand Theft Auto that has desensitized me, not at all. I enjoy the fact that you have the liberty to do what you do, which is why I read what you write. It makes me scratch my head when you choose to call out the very government that gives you the liberties to do and say all the things you say. We only know about “human rights” here because our government allows us to believe we all have rights as humans, in other countries genocide is a fact of life, here? We want to have concerts and raise money to give to people who can’t help themselves or who are born into a government that chops their hands off when they steal an apple from the market rather than putting them in jail for a day or two as a misdemeanor.
That’s all… I pick up what you put down, doesn’t mean I agree with it. I hope Obama wins, but not for all the reasons you want him to win. So we agree… just not all the way
[…] they were used as pawns in the power struggle just discussed. The other players in this god-driven soap opera all have tough games this week, just to even the field once again. Thank Goodness For Football […]
Lets be honest the criminal justice system has a different standard for African Americans when an athlete or celebrity of color is indicted he or she is used as an example by the criminal justice system. See Michael Vick, Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, etc. Now when a White celebrity gets in trouble with the law the prosecutors and law enforcement officials go to great lengths to tell us that they are treated just like anyone else. See Matt Jones, Roger Clemens, Nick Kaczur, etc. Kaczur, an offensive lineman for the New England Patriots, case is a great example. He was arrested for the illegal possesion of a painkiller but rather than give him the Michael Vick treatment they got him to wear a wire so they could make other arrests.
You hear little if any mention of any White athletes trouble with the law giving the impression that they are all completely law abiding citizens. They break the law, party, have kids out of wedlock, beat their wives, miss practice and everything else that athletes of color do. Most of it shouldn’t be reported and ESPN and others don’t report it. I just wish they would extend that same coverage or lack of coverage to African-American athletes.
As for stephen a. he is a house negro. Next week he will probably try to act tough on some trivial matter like Kobe being better than Dirk but he has shown us all his true “bojanglin” nature.
Boney,
First, regardless of differing opinions, I appreciate that you are a regular commenter on this site. While the majority of regular readers are likely white, a minority of commenters are (probably cuz they know that their ass will be handed to them if they say dumb shit). So I just wanted to say that, if I haven’t already expressed that in between “bumping heads”.
My statement about “white brothers” getting together on account of Benoit’s actions was ironic. It was to illustrate the absurdity of assigning an individual athletes poor behavior to an entire race — a common unchallenged sentiment applied to black athletes.
However, I do believe that whites need to get together to have very serious conversations — and actions — about reducing racism within our country and within ourselves. It can’t just come from non-white folks telling whites about ourselves. No one has more influence over reducing race bias in white families, white institutions, and white communities than ourselves.
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“But then again, I’m not as easily offended as you are”
No, no, no Boney. It is not about being “offended”. There is very little that “offends” me. Institutional racism in media — sports or politics — has very real consequences beyond “hurt feelings”. The Matt Jones sentence is a symbolic example of a crack-cocaine and black-white enforcement disparity that has put thousands of young black youth in jail who don’t belong there. The only reason we have to talk about Matt Jones is because no one will pay attention to the bevy of studies that have exposed this institutional race bias for the last 25 years. Because we whites collectively won’t fight or are in blatant denial about institutional racism, Matt Jones is all the only hope we have to crack through thick white skulls. Sad, but true.
Look around Boney. hate groups are up 50%, the internet hate-fests are breeding more bigotry everyday, and have you seen the fucking mobs at this weeks McCain rallies in Ohio and Pennsylvania? Seriously,
OHIO MOB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E
PENN MOB:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEucdhf4Us&feature=related
Boney, please look at these videos closely. This is a serious WHITE problem. Change has to happen in white communities. Don’t get “offended”. Just DO something!
Not to pile on, but i gotta cosign MODI here (although he doesn’t really need it). When you see those mobs responding to the McCain campaign it really lets you know how real the danger is. It’s not just the statement people make at these rallies, its the thundering applause that greets them. Its not just a couple of fringe loonies. It’s a mob that is getting angrier and angrier at the thought that something is being taken from them.
I hate to mention this because I haven’t actually brought myself to watch it, but there is a video floating around that seems to be comparing and contrasting 50 Cent and Obama.
Think about that for a second. Would anyone ever stop and compare McCain to Kid Rock or someone. Absolutely not. They are polar opposites. Same with Obama and 50, but someone (and the person who made the video could well have been a minority) still thought to put them together. Just like in the article MODI wrote about the author paralleled Manny to T.O. and Moss ignoring the Farve situation.
Basically, the point is repeatedly made that it doesn’t matter if you are from Harvard Law or you’ve been shot 9 times or you’ve been arrested several times or you just like to show boat, all minorities, specifically black people, are the same. And all it takes is the right combo of events and all the typical stereotypes bubble to the surface. It’s happening with the election. It’s happening with Manny. And its happening with Adam Jones.
I’m not much of an Adam Jones guy. I, personally, just don’t think he is good enough to warrant the attention he gets. But that only adds to questions of why he is constantly berated by the media. Stat-wise, i think it can easily be argued that guys like Matt Jones are better than Adam Jones, yet the coverage simply isn’t there.
And it is beyond just being offended. It’s time to take the necessary steps to rid America of this period. Its start with dialogue like the ones that have been excellently provided by the writers on this site and the work of Big Man, Temple3 and countless others.
I just got back from my first visit to Europe…and I’m impressed with how different the news is…or rather looking at the truth for the first time. You’re right Shon, there is a real danger in these mobs around McCain’s campaign…hate to say it, but its true.
How is it that Matt Jones can get rehab and still be playing after a coke bust?
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