What a day for upholding the image of the Canadian Football League.
On Tuesday morning, word surfaced that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had signed National Football League castoff Adam (Pacman) Jones, one of the new breed of bad boys who make more news for their conduct off the field than on it.
This is a player whom the NFL has banished because of numerous off-field incidents, including one in which he allegedly assaulted a stripper after she dared to pick up, without his permission, some bills he threw on the stage.
Jones's signing leaked out before the Bombers confirmed it, even though a member of the team's football operations was quoted about the deal. We can only presume the contract had not been registered with the CFL, or the League wanted to keep the signing on the down-low in lieu of an impending announcement directly related to the club.
Following an investigation triggered in part by an article written by Bombers' defensive lineman Doug Brown, it was determined the B.C. Lions had engaged in a questionable act by pointing towards their crotches while looking directly at the Winnipeg players prior to an Aug. 21 game. The Bombers, by the way, thoroughly whipped the Lions in said game.
The Lions' act, commonly known as a crotch chop, deeply offended Brown, who wrote about it in his weekly newspaper column. Brown is not only one of the CFL's toughest defensive players, he's also a hard-hitting writer.
The CFL pursued the incident with the Lions organization, which indicated its strong disapproval of the players' actions and sought permission to impose its own discipline.
CFL commissioner Mark Cohon issued a statement on Tuesday to indicate the Lions organization publicly acknowledged the "embarrassing" behaviour and extended an apology to the Bombers. Moreover, it was revealed Lions' GM/head coach Wally Buono and the 42 players on the roster for that game self-imposed an unspecified amount, the proceeds from which will be used to make it possible for a significant number of underprivileged Vancouver youth to attend an upcoming CFL game.
Cohon commended the Lions organization for its decisive response, while also taking the opportunity to remind all CFL players, teams and associated personnel that "when we respect our opponents, we respect our game, our league, and ultimately, our fans."
So on the one hand you have a player with a history of questionable conduct joining a league, which wants to uphold its image of proper conduct and respect. While the two news items are not directly related other than the Winnipeg team is connected to both, they are both not mutually exclusive either.
This was supposed to be the week Cohon wanted to talk about the League at the halfway point of the season and, presumably, prop up good-news stories. And he may, in fact, do that, but anything that may have been newsworthy from a positive P.R. perspective surely loses its traction in lieu of the Pacman Jones and B.C. Lions stories.
