MORGANTOWN - Every time Pacman Jones does something stupid or illegal (or both), I simply shrug it off. Over the course of the past three or four years, I've shrugged so much I think I've done permanent damage to my shoulders.
MORGANTOWN - Every time Pacman Jones does something stupid or illegal (or both), I simply shrug it off. Over the course of the past three or four years, I've shrugged so much I think I've done permanent damage to my shoulders.
Let's face it, nothing the erstwhile West Virginia cornerback has done since leaving Morgantown has surprised you either, has it?
OK, so maybe his attempt to get involved in pro wrestling during his banishment from the NFL last year was a bit out of character. But bar fights, showering dollar bills on strippers, punching or spitting at women, being at least peripherally involved in a nightclub shooting?
Who couldn't have seen that coming?
Truth is, Jones is a tough guy without much in the way of common sense or morality. How he managed to stay out of trouble during 90 percent of his three years at West Virginia is stunning. Yet with the exception of his famous pool cue assault in a bar here before he'd probably even unpacked his bags as a freshman, he kept fairly clean.
This isn't a piece about Jones, though. While he at least has a team to call his own these days - even if he won't be able to play for the Dallas Cowboys until and unless the NFL sees fit to lift the suspension he's still under - another former Mountaineer bad boy is out there in limbo.
If I'm not surprised any time Jones is looking for bail money, every time Chris Henry does something stupid or illegal I wonder what went wrong.
It's easy to lump Jones and Henry into the same pile. They played at West Virginia at the same time, left early for the NFL at the same time, seemed to get arrested with the same frequency and were suspended by the league for their misdeeds at the same time.
From WVU's perspective, the only good things to come out of that was that once players reach that level, they generally lose their college identity very fast. (Quick, from last year's All-Pro team, where did offensive linemen Walter Jones, Matt Light, Alan Faneca, Steve Hutchinson and Jeff Saturday go to school? If you know without thinking hard or looking it up, you have too much free time on your hands). So WVU's two miscreants weren't always automatically linked with the Mountaineers in most media reports.
Jones and Henry, though, just aren't much alike. Unlike Jones, most of Henry's troubles have stemmed from drunkenness or marijuana possession. On the occasions when he was accused of actually hurting someone (once for a sex crime and a handful of assaults), those charges were usually dismissed.
OK, so Henry hasn't always helped himself. Once he was arrested on gun charges while actually wearing his Bengals jersey with his name on the back. But the last I checked, stupidity isn't a felony, although it probably should be.
The point is not that Henry isn't culpable in all of his troubles, but that to equate his misdeeds with those of Jones is off base.
MORGANTOWN - Every time Pacman Jones does something stupid or illegal (or both), I simply shrug it off. Over the course of the past three or four years, I've shrugged so much I think I've done permanent damage to my shoulders.
Let's face it, nothing the erstwhile West Virginia cornerback has done since leaving Morgantown has surprised you either, has it?
OK, so maybe his attempt to get involved in pro wrestling during his banishment from the NFL last year was a bit out of character. But bar fights, showering dollar bills on strippers, punching or spitting at women, being at least peripherally involved in a nightclub shooting?
Who couldn't have seen that coming?
Truth is, Jones is a tough guy without much in the way of common sense or morality. How he managed to stay out of trouble during 90 percent of his three years at West Virginia is stunning. Yet with the exception of his famous pool cue assault in a bar here before he'd probably even unpacked his bags as a freshman, he kept fairly clean.
This isn't a piece about Jones, though. While he at least has a team to call his own these days - even if he won't be able to play for the Dallas Cowboys until and unless the NFL sees fit to lift the suspension he's still under - another former Mountaineer bad boy is out there in limbo.
If I'm not surprised any time Jones is looking for bail money, every time Chris Henry does something stupid or illegal I wonder what went wrong.
It's easy to lump Jones and Henry into the same pile. They played at West Virginia at the same time, left early for the NFL at the same time, seemed to get arrested with the same frequency and were suspended by the league for their misdeeds at the same time.
From WVU's perspective, the only good things to come out of that was that once players reach that level, they generally lose their college identity very fast. (Quick, from last year's All-Pro team, where did offensive linemen Walter Jones, Matt Light, Alan Faneca, Steve Hutchinson and Jeff Saturday go to school? If you know without thinking hard or looking it up, you have too much free time on your hands). So WVU's two miscreants weren't always automatically linked with the Mountaineers in most media reports.
Jones and Henry, though, just aren't much alike. Unlike Jones, most of Henry's troubles have stemmed from drunkenness or marijuana possession. On the occasions when he was accused of actually hurting someone (once for a sex crime and a handful of assaults), those charges were usually dismissed.
OK, so Henry hasn't always helped himself. Once he was arrested on gun charges while actually wearing his Bengals jersey with his name on the back. But the last I checked, stupidity isn't a felony, although it probably should be.
The point is not that Henry isn't culpable in all of his troubles, but that to equate his misdeeds with those of Jones is off base.
Granted, I'm not a psychologist and I certainly never spent enough time around either Henry or Jones to know them beyond what could be gleaned in a five-minute conversation. But Henry, despite his sometimes stupid behavior on the field (remember the meltdown at Rutgers?) and his apparent disdain for anything academic while in Morgantown, always seemed like a shy, nice kid. He never said more than two words to anyone.
In fact, I remember being in the press box at the Georgia Dome for the Sugar Bowl after the 2005 season. Henry had left school a year earlier and was playing for the Bengals at the time. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I looked around and there he was. He didn't say anything except "Hi," sort of half smiled and apparently just wanted to see someone he recognized.
That's not to say he was always some sort of victim. He pretty much tore apart the last West Virginia team he played on (2004) because he refused to associate with anyone and never, ever practiced hard, if he practiced at all. One of his last acts as a Mountaineer, just before the Gator Bowl that would be his last game, was to tell former coach Rich Rodriguez to go do something to himself that is anatomically impossible.
(Just as an aside, that Rodriguez put up with any of Henry's antics is shameful. But we're not going to go there.)
Still, while Henry was troublesome, he also seemed shy and confused, and no one ever took the time to try and do something about that. So now here he is, having been cut loose by the Bengals and needing to get a judge's permission to leave his house to go interview with other NFL teams.
Even when the Bengals released him, Henry was apologetic. Have you ever heard Jones apologize for anything?.
"I'd like to thank [Bengals president Mike Brown] for everything he's done and for giving me the opportunity to be a Bengal,'' Henry said after his release. "He pretty much understands me and knows I'm a good guy. I just got caught up in some crazy stuff. I wish I could take it all back, but I can't do that right now.''
Again, everything Henry has gotten himself into is his own fault. And if he never plays another down in the NFL, that will be his fault, too.
But every time he gets arrested for smoking weed or punching a guy and breaking his car window with a beer bottle - as he did last month - I can't help but think somewhere along the line that someone could have helped the guy if they had really tried or, more importantly, if he had let them.
If Jones never plays another down in the NFL, I couldn't care less. If Henry never does, it will be sad.
To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, call 348-1734 or send e-mail to dphickm...@aol.com.
Post a comment