To me the Pacman story is more one of sadness than anything else. I feel sorry for a man who hasn;t made the right choices at times and may have costed himself a career in the NFL. I dont disagree with JJ’s decision to cut him, but at the same time I hope he gets another chance and succeeds.

Once again Great post.

Posts like this one is why I read this blog. Every now and then, an excellent post is put up where I actually learn something. My background is about as far from Pac and Glory as you could be. After reading this post, maybe I have just a tiny bit of understanding where before I had none.

Comparing this to all the repetitive nonsense about Romo (which I occasionally get sucked into) is like night and day. Especially during the offseason, I hope we get more meaningful posts like this with new and original ideas/content instead of rehashing topics where we have already heard the same opinion a thousand times before.

Thanks Glory.

I am glad the cowboys cut Pacman but more because that team is a dysfunctional mess. I have been rooting for Pac since day one and I still hope he gets it together. He just needs a stable environment right now and, sadly, playing for the Dallas Cowboys is not one.

I never post but read this site religiously. This is one of the best I’ve read, Glory. Thanks for sharing…

I hope Terry reads this

You are an impressive writer. I always enjoy reading your thoughts.

Sorry but I see a guy that had all the talent in the world (remembering what the guy was able to do in Tenn.) I see a guy that had millions granted to him so he could play a game I love. I see a guy that had every person in his professional life trying to help him out. I mean, they hired a babysitter! I am sure he had psychologists and counselers in abundance.

Most of us get fired the first time…

But this guy wasn’t fired until… How many felonies? Is it 7 or 8 now?

Meanwhile there are millions that passionately wish they had such an opportunity do get out of their situations (violent, economic you name it.) There are people that really would make the most of it but they aren’t going to get the chance he did.

I wonder what old Pac did to blow off some steam after getting released… I will leave that to your imagination…

I remember when I was in the 6th grade and the first male teacher that I had asked all of the boys..“What is your definition of a man?”

Almost all the answers had something to do with how tall, or if you could grow a beard or if you were a good fighter, etc. Mr. Jones, some irony there, listened and didn’t disagree, but his definition was, “A real man is the fellow who gets up every day and goes to work, no matter how sick he feels, if it’s cold or rainy, if he doesn’t like his boss, he gets up and he goes every day, because he has a family, and he puts them first, above everything and everybody. That’s a man.” That stuck with me and I agree with his definition.

You stood up and became a real man, and didn’t accept the streets definition of a man. I respect that.

Your intellect shows through in your writing. Do you think that had something to do with your decision? What I mean by that is, you had to make a concious decision to risk rejection by your peers and because of your past, possible rejection from your new neighbors. Others from similar backgrounds as yours don’t make that decision. In your opinion, why? Do they lack your intellect?, courage? with all of Pacs advantages…he couldn’t make the break that you did.

Keep writing. You have good insights and can articulate your point very well.

This is not the response I expected when I got home today.
Glad you all have some open minds. I figured this post would start a fire. But the opposite is true.

Ok. I’m about to ramble guys so please forgive me.

the problem with the sports world, and the world in general, IMHO, are people are to quick to judge and too slow to empathize. it is not impressive to remain blissfully ignorant about why problems occur. why people do things. why people react certain ways. it’s not coddling anybody. it’s not eschewing personal responsibility. it’s just living in a world that isn’t black and white.

pacman made his bed and his lying in it. enough said. he blew his chance, he squandered his ability. he’s paying for it. but it doesn’t make you weak to say, “i don’t agree but i understand” or “he got what he deserved but it’s sad that it came to that.” that takes no time or no ounce of dignity at all. it just means you have this thing called “sympathy,” which every rationale human being should have.

my problem with this whole thing is people get off on seeing guys like pacman get punished. like they get some sick pleasure off it. same with T.O. (who isn’t anywhere near a criminal). these are the same people who after sean taylor was killed were looking for a way to BLAME HIM for getting shot in his own house. no time to feel sorry for him or his family. too busy saying I told you so.

anybody that has a wayward loved one can tell you there is a mountain of heartbreak behind pacman. i’m sure he’s got dozens of relatives, friends, family members, coaches, players who are behind him and praying for him and pulling for him. he let all of these people down. i feel bad for those people. it’s easy for us to cut him loose, but i darn sure wouldn’t if he were my brother or my friend.

my sympathy comes from experience: i have friends and family members who’ve made bad decisions. some are recovering from them. some aren’t. my sympathy also comes from my awareness that if I had not have been raised in a particular way, I could’ve been a similar cautionary tale. I’m not so enamored with my own success that I’m not cognizant of the fact that it’s not entirely based on my own merit. I was helped. I was taught. I was looked after. I was lucky.

the thing that bothers me about sports and the world in general is entitlement. nobody owes you anything. pacman found this out. but nobody owes us anything either. we’d like to think the players owe us a good faith effort and so does the team we live and die for but they don’t. not really. and if pacman isn’t entitled to a sports career filled with legal troubles, fans aren’t entitled to sit in judgment or act like robots with no ability to have sympathy for another human being. you can do that if you choose. i just feel there’s no honor in that.

with Joe Simpson
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.tmz.com/media/2009/01/0108_tony_romo_flynet.jpg

But I can use those who have transcended a difficult upbringing and become model citizens. White, black, whatever, people given opportunity who don’t take it do not have my respect. Just because you’re from somewhere doesn’t mean you can’t change.

Pac’s grandmother called him, “a brat”. Brats don’t order people shot, don’t “make it rain”, don’t beat up their own bodyguards. Pac scored a 1300 on his SAT’s, he’s not an idiot. He just doesn’t have it in him to transcend his upbringing, where respect is given to the violent and uncivil. Respect is something that should be earned, and outside of his upbringing, Pacman has no one’s respect.

These guys get payed millions of dollars…. that’s right millions. If they are getting this much money they should have to adhere to stricter rules. Some people never see millions of dollars in their lifetimes I do not care where you are from, if you are playing in the NFL it should be a privilege. I am all for second chances in life but it shouldn’t be there in the NFL. Do not condone players with reputations like Pacman or else people will continue to believe they will still get a second chance when they mess up. I want one and done in the NFL. There are plenty of high quality players with heart out there that are getting undermined by the thugs in the NFL today. Let the game return to its former glory of hard nosed players playing for the game and not the money.

I believe that often times we are a product of our environment,with that said Pacman had exponentially more opportunities than “the guys hanging on the same corner since1996”. At a young age people realized what a gifted athelete Pac was and coddled him and gave him a free college education, then millions of dollars to play in the NFL and even after trying to throw it all away by being arrested eight times he served a one year suspension and again given a new shot at life and the opportunity to make millions again but couldn’t resist the temptation of alcohol and violence after only five weeks of the regular season. By the way, the man that was paralized in a Pac involved shooting in ‘07, I wonder how many extra chances at a new life he’ll get from that wheelchair? To compare your life to his would say what a lucky man you have been and some how I still believe pacman saw the hardships of life growing up but only from afar.

I have enjoyed your work for some time. God bless.

I’m glad to see the OP get his life on track. You deserve all the credit in the world. I still think Jones is going to end up dead before he’s 35. He doesn’t see the problem with living his life the way he does. It’s cool to him. I’m glad he’s gone, but I do hope he finds something in life he can excel at and make a decent wage. But it won’t be in football.

The NFL is full of individuals who were dealt a lousy hand at birth, but only a few end up getting arrested. Only a tiny percentage do it more than once. But only one has the police involved in his business 11 times before he’s 26. This isn’t about upbringing. It’s about maturity. He already has the means to avoid the ‘hood. But he won’t leave the ’hood ethos.

Thanks.

I hope Pac can make it back and I would like him on the team. He seems to be improving all the time. There’s still a ways to go but I hope he makes it and can still play, hopefully for us.

I’m not excusing any of his actions, just rooting for him.

I think its important to realise that its a little tougher to keep your life straight when you come out of the ghetto vs the leafy suburbs.

That being said, Pacman’s talent has given him the opportunity to do just that. I just hope he realises before he runs out of chances, he doesn’t have many left….