Angus
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Rogers has no appreciation of limits
June 13, 2007
BY DREW SHARP
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
I don't know what Shaun Rogers did -- or didn't do -- in the dressing room of a Detroit strip club last Friday.
And, quite frankly, I don't really care.
Detroit police are investigating a complaint from a 20-year-old woman who worked as a stripper at the club that the Lions' Pro Bowl defensive tackle forcibly groped her. No formal charges have been filed.
Who knows? Nothing may come of it.
But no matter what happens, the whole thing is tiresome. Another story about another athlete finding himself in a situation that could have been avoided if he had only exercised a fraction of common sense. This isn't about guilt or innocence. This is about appreciating the limits of privilege.
The Lions are too gutless to discipline their own, especially when he is one of their few credible players. So the NFL should step in, suspending Rogers if police charge him with criminal sexual conduct.
He already has a four-game suspension for taking a banned dietary supplement. Make him an example. Maybe then these guys will get the hint that they aren't entitled to the courtesies of the high life.
I'm not holding my breath waiting for that day.
Proper decorum has long since died in sports, which has become a cradle for enablers. There are always people willing to look the other way, rarely demanding accountability for the habitual bad decision-maker.
But just because you're innocent until proven guilty in a court of law doesn't mean there should be no consequences for blatant stupidity in willingly -- and regularly -- placing yourself in potentially compromising situations.
Somehow, that concept was lost in the national media pity fest for those accused Duke lacrosse players. The rape charges may have been dismissed, but there's no forgetting the fact they used Daddy's American Express platinum card to rent a house, furnish alcohol for underage drinking and to hire strippers -- placing themselves on a path fraught with potential vulnerabilities.
Whenever an athlete is suspected of wrongdoing, it's rarely because he was just walking down the street minding his own business.
Going to a strip club isn't a crime. Going there with a gaggle of sycophants whose sole mission in life is keeping the meal ticket happy isn't a crime. But it's that pack mentality that fosters the misguided perception that the star athlete is somehow insulated from the rest of the world.
He can be fearless. He can be reckless because there will always be somebody there to cushion the fall.
Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick is counting on that.
Who knows if he was directly involved in the illegal dogfighting operation allegedly run out of a Virginia house registered in his name? If he's charged, he's entitled to his constitutional due process.
But the opportunity to quarterback an NFL team or anchor its defensive front isn't a birthright. It's a license that can be revoked if certain unsavory accusations bring blight upon the brand the league so passionately protects.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell seems to have the backbone necessary for such a decisive course. That would once again let the Lions off the hook for demanding accountability from their own.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/COL08/706130328/1048/SPORTS
June 13, 2007
BY DREW SHARP
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
I don't know what Shaun Rogers did -- or didn't do -- in the dressing room of a Detroit strip club last Friday.
And, quite frankly, I don't really care.
Detroit police are investigating a complaint from a 20-year-old woman who worked as a stripper at the club that the Lions' Pro Bowl defensive tackle forcibly groped her. No formal charges have been filed.
Who knows? Nothing may come of it.
But no matter what happens, the whole thing is tiresome. Another story about another athlete finding himself in a situation that could have been avoided if he had only exercised a fraction of common sense. This isn't about guilt or innocence. This is about appreciating the limits of privilege.
The Lions are too gutless to discipline their own, especially when he is one of their few credible players. So the NFL should step in, suspending Rogers if police charge him with criminal sexual conduct.
He already has a four-game suspension for taking a banned dietary supplement. Make him an example. Maybe then these guys will get the hint that they aren't entitled to the courtesies of the high life.
I'm not holding my breath waiting for that day.
Proper decorum has long since died in sports, which has become a cradle for enablers. There are always people willing to look the other way, rarely demanding accountability for the habitual bad decision-maker.
But just because you're innocent until proven guilty in a court of law doesn't mean there should be no consequences for blatant stupidity in willingly -- and regularly -- placing yourself in potentially compromising situations.
Somehow, that concept was lost in the national media pity fest for those accused Duke lacrosse players. The rape charges may have been dismissed, but there's no forgetting the fact they used Daddy's American Express platinum card to rent a house, furnish alcohol for underage drinking and to hire strippers -- placing themselves on a path fraught with potential vulnerabilities.
Whenever an athlete is suspected of wrongdoing, it's rarely because he was just walking down the street minding his own business.
Going to a strip club isn't a crime. Going there with a gaggle of sycophants whose sole mission in life is keeping the meal ticket happy isn't a crime. But it's that pack mentality that fosters the misguided perception that the star athlete is somehow insulated from the rest of the world.
He can be fearless. He can be reckless because there will always be somebody there to cushion the fall.
Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick is counting on that.
Who knows if he was directly involved in the illegal dogfighting operation allegedly run out of a Virginia house registered in his name? If he's charged, he's entitled to his constitutional due process.
But the opportunity to quarterback an NFL team or anchor its defensive front isn't a birthright. It's a license that can be revoked if certain unsavory accusations bring blight upon the brand the league so passionately protects.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell seems to have the backbone necessary for such a decisive course. That would once again let the Lions off the hook for demanding accountability from their own.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/COL08/706130328/1048/SPORTS