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What a surprise, players with inflated attitudes as to their "above the law" lifestyles defending a player who constantly has a relationship with the law albeit on the wrong side of the law. What I find amusing in the article is the line that says, "raised questions about punishing a player retroactively." How else would you do it? Punish him before he even does something wrong? Or their argument that the punishment is, "Clearly excessive and much greater than discipline imposed upon players for the same or similar incidents." Doesn't that usually happen when you impose a "NEW PERSONAL CONDUCT POLICY"???? Imagine, we implement a new policy and it is more stringent than the last resulting in harsher penalties and they question the difference and severity of the punishment. What a bunch of morons. Good thing they can put on pads and hit someone because apparently that is all their bruised and obviously damaged brains can handle.

Very well said, Tribe13!

Tribe & Hawkeye the problem is the league didn't have this policy in place when Pacman was arrested. It is always problematic to punish someone for conduct that wasn't governed at the time of the infraction. while I certainly believe Pacman needs punishment it is difficult to argue that he can be punished under a policy that wasn't in place.

Pacman is an idiot and deserves any punishment they give him.

Any average human would be in jail for some of the things he's done. Give hm jail time. Then he would value football and freedom a lot more.

djsoul23...I understand what you are saying and to an extent I agree. HOWEVER, the NFL is out of control. Between the Bengals, Jones and all the other players that feel they are above the law something has be to be done to make a statement and I think Jones has to be the example to show the rest of the league enough is enough. I don't care what policy was in place at the time. This guy has had numerous run ins with the law, said he would put a curfew on himself to be home by midnight and didn't even stick to that the night before appealing to the commisioner in a face to face meeting to have his suspension lowered the following day. Broke the curfew by going to a strip club which he also said he would stop doing. Now if a guy is dumb enough to have the opportunity that he has and not respect it, his team, or the league then he deserves what he gets. I mean lets be honest, we're not talking a single incident here, this guy has had different troubles in several cities! He's a P.O.S. plain and simple and for the union to defend him and want a shorter suspension is pathetic for every angle you look at. He needs to take his suspension and ****.

of course they did..this is why more and more people will turn away from this league in favor of the college brand where the games are actually the highlight of the sport, people like vick, pacman, chris henry and even briggs who whine about making 7 mil a year are killing this league and making good guys in the game look bad...its a shame why these guys act like this, they need a slice of humble pie so they will wake up and realize that what they do for a living is a dream for virtually every kid is this country and they dont know how to represent that, not only that, they're setting bad examples for those same kids

When is Ray Lewis going to be retroactively suspended for double homicide?

Good point midwestniner. That is why I say suspend him for the whole season and then tell the union, "Next guy that does it will get the same, now go tell your players the commisioners office is done dealing with criminals, you want to act like criminals, you're going to be treated like criminals." Everyone is always making comments of "this is a business". They're right and if I did the things these clowns are doing my business would have fired me a long time ago because my conduct is detrimental to the atmosphere of the office and brings shame to the company itself. So have a seat Jones and we'll see next year if you've cleaned your act up or if you've been in trouble with the law a few more times.

amen tribe

Are you kidding me? This guy needs to be suspended. "Pacman" Jones is nothing but a thug; what normal person throw $81,000 at a stripper and has been questioned by police more than 10 times. How can the players union support him in good concience?

No offense, djsoul23, but I think you need to do more research. The league has always been clear that the conduct policy is determined solely by clubs and the commissioner. There never was a concrete policy written down - at least, nothing to determine what punishments would go with which situation, or even the situations to be reviewed under the policy. This lessens your argument about Jones' issues arising under a policy that wasn't in effect, but what really kills it is the fact that most of his offenses did happen under Goodell's new tenure. Because of this, and the fact that Goodell had not enacted his disciplinary will heretofore, it's impossible to say what that conduct policy was or should have been until the new commissioner - responsible for those disciplinary actions - hands out said discipline. In short, you can't say a judge, wich Goodell basically is, is being too harsh based on his predecessor's previous leniancy when that judge is still acting within the boundaries of the laws set before him. Sorry.
And, as nfl2007.wordpress.com is saying, the NFLPA is being hypocritical on this one... I really dislike them.

Good for the NFLPA let's back up idoits who aren't respnsible enough to stop even when their familly warned them. Real brilliant !

I think this is just politics playing out here. Sure, the Union is going to support him, and request that the suspension be reduced. This should be of no shock to anybody, however, behind closed doors I would bet that most of the Union management agrees that Pac-Man totally deserves the season-long suspension.

I understand politics, but how can you publicly support Goodell's decision and then reverse your stand? That destroys any credibility you may have had.

WOW...bucs1980...well stated. And I agree with your opinion or whomevers opinion it is about the NFLPA being hypocritical on this one. They know the guy is a bigger mess waiting to happen. He can't even stick to the curfew he gives himself, what makes anyone, player, fan, owner or union alike think that in the future he'll abide by all the rules the NFL has in place and be a model athlete?

Thank you, Tribe. Obviously I feel strongly about this one. And that's a good point you made. As the post in my blog states, Henry and Johnson are taking their fate like men. As far as I've heard, they're being model citizens now. Only Pacman has whined and continued to be shady. That speaks volumes about his charachter right now.

I knew the union was lying through its teeth when it said it supported Goodell's policy. The policy was going to be imposed, might as well appear to support it. Then, the first time someone gets a real suspension handed to him, scream unfair. That's what unions do. Put their members above the good the company. Of course, those licensing fees that the union gets a cut of will dry up real fast when companies are not willing to be associated with thugs anymore. So, if the union wants to save its paycheck, it better go along with the new policy -- publicly and consistently.

I was going to say something, but cowboyfan pretty much summed it up in the first line. First, the policy was fine and dnady, now it's too harsh? Hmmmm.

I feel Pacman should be suspended for his actions at the strip club in Vegas. Unfortunatly, we live in America. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.

You cannot suspend him until the courts ruling.
Remember the Duke Case. These kids were berated for a year. They were also 100% innocent.
I do not believe Pacman Jones is innocent, but we must wait until the courts have made their decision.