Adam Pacman Jones has been arrested over 10 times in the past two years and has forced the football world to decide whether if a player?s bad side outweighs his production on the field, should the player be cut or stay on the team. I truly believe that it is absurd to believe any coach or football organization can truly know before hand if they are bringing a criminal into their organization. These days teams use all kinds of resources to try to predict how a player will perform, think and act, if they draft them. The Titians did that, and have invested a lot of money in Jones. By simply releasing him, the franchise would lose a lot of money and someone who was part of that due diligence process and gave a okay on Jones, may be looking for work along with Jones. Jones has been great on the field and great off the field in his warped way of thinking. The same thing that makes Jones an outstanding player is the same thing that makes him a risk to society. Neither the Titans nor the NFL should be responsible for Jones behavior; after all he is a grown man (age, not maturity). But maybe everyone assumes Jones knows how to make a decision. If a player is unable to make a logical decision, you can bet they will choose wrong. I can tell you most players who enter the NFL have never had to make a decision in their life. (With the exception of picking which school to attend). Most of the time they have had people helping them and making decisions for them. In college, players are told when to study, go to class, eat, practice, etc. This leaves most players with limited ability to process good and bad decisions. To me, if anyone should be blamed for Jones behavior, its Jones and the people he was surrounded by prior to becoming an NFL player. Once a player reaches the NFL, trying to change him and teach him what he needs to know in the real world becomes extremely difficult. After all Jones is young and rich, which makes him hard headed when old players like me, or old white guys who are NFL executives tell him what he should or should not be doing. Players like Jones have the mental make up that is no one is better than they are and if you dare to challenge that theory; he will make the decision of protecting his bravado. I like to say that every professional athlete has a mental disorder when it comes to how he views the world. The question is when do players turn off that bravado, and focus on what reality is off the field. I once heard Lawrence Taylor say that fans wanted him to be LT on the field and Lawrence off of it, and he simply could not do that. In a way, every NFL player struggles with that issue. Football is a violent sport, and as a football player you are taught to protect your territory and find a way to eventually get your opponent. This fosters a world of competition that flows into other aspects of life. Go to any locker room in the NFL and you are sure to see players betting on everything from video games, to who can take a shower the fastest. Team charters resemble mini-casinos with every card game imaginable taking place in different locations in the cabin. Thousands of dollars are wagered between players, and the ones that win can be heard in the cockpit. I have often wondered why players get satisfaction out of things like this and the answer is simple, competition. It starts in college. College campuses are a lot more liberal now than when I went to school. It used to be all athletes were housed in a separate dorm away for the general student population. This let the athletes and the students know that athletes were different than they were. Anytime you take 80 football players and isolate them, you can best believe, there will be competition for everything. Who can drink the most? Who can get the most girls? Who has the best car? and the list go?s on and on. While full-blown athletic dorms may not still exist, young NFL players are entering the league with the same mentality. It is why Jones is at a strip club flashing thousands of dollars while other players try to outdo him. It is why players have to have the latest and greatest of everything. Go to any parking lot of a professional sports team and you will see what I mean. If a teammate puts a 20 inch TV in his car, I will put a 40 inch, because my has to be bigger and better than his. I win if mines are bigger. I always felt that if you really wanted to know the type of man someone is, all you have to do is talk to the parents. While at this year?s combine I witnessed team after team conduct all kinds of physiologic tests trying to determine the mental state of some of the top college prospects. In addition to the written test, they also interview those prospects one on one to try to find out if they are a good fit for their organization. Think about this for a second. Instead of bringing the kids to the combine first, invite the parents or legal guardians to Indy for a round of preliminary interviews. Most parents will tell you what a kid needs to truly stay on a straight and narrow path, and although a player may be 6?6 300 pounds, most are still obedient to their mother. I know for a fact that parents are the key to how an athlete handles his newfound fame and wealth, but no one in the main stream has attempted to even try to make the connection. In my opinion, if I were the Titans and Jones was found innocent of the charges that have levied against him, I would make him sign an agreement that he would have to live with his Mom, Dad, Big Brother or other guardian if he wanted to keep playing for the team. Then I would sit down with that key figure and make sure they understand what is at stake for Mr. Jones if he thinks about being in the news associated with anything negative. Call me old fashion, but even with my advancing age, I still listen and have to answer to my mother, and as she use to say to me when I would slip up, Your family has worked too hard to maintain the reputation that is attached to our name and I will not let you or anybody else damage what they have worked so hard to build.