Michael Vick and The Off-Field Behavior of NFL Players

I'm the type that doesn't approve of things "immoral". Immoral meaning things that to me are wrong and stupid in some sense. In the past I've attacked the Miami Hurricanes Football team by calling them "a bunch of damn dirty thugs" and the NBA for being more about "Hip Hop" than basketball. However, recently the NFL has been just as bad(or even worse). Michael Vick, Pacman Jones, and Tank Johnson...all three of these men have been making headlines throughout the 2007 Off-Season for all the wrong reasons.

As you all may or may not know Michael Vick has been linked to a "Dog Fighting" ring. Recently, it has gotten worse and all evidence has pointed to Vick knowing about it and being involved with it. A few weeks ago reports surfaced that the police have reason to believe that there are 30 dead dogs buried in the backyard of the house that Michael Vick used to own(that he sold recently) and according to a few of his friends Vick is a major player(as in money) when it comes to dog fighting(as I saw on Sportscenter). The whole story has made me sick and to me is not only hurting himself but fans who look up to Vick and the entire Atlanta Falcons organization.
Adam "Pacman" Jones in only a span of 19 months had 10 encounters with the law and most recently was in Las Vegas at the NBA All-Star Weekend he went to a strip club, and threw up several 1 dollar bills at the strippers but when one stripper took money from him he slammed her head on the ground trying to get it back leading to a gun fight with Security where one man was left paralyzed. Finally, Tank Johnson has had his own share of trouble. Two days before the New Year he was charged with possession of illegal weapons in his Arizona home. When police raided the house, he fled abandoning his children and went out to a strip club the next night where his security guard was shot thus leading to more trouble for Tank. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to 45 days in jail.

What I am saying is that the NFL needs to be more discipline. Now not too disciplinal(because I feel some of their decisions such as banning endzone celebrations make no sense) but enough to send a message to the players in the league because that was what kept players from trouble back in the pre-merge(pre-1970)era. Vince Lombardi and George Halas...two of the greatest coaches of all time, and Pete Rozelle(the NFL Commisioner responsible for the modern day NFL)would've never tolerated these actions. Now the punishments handed down I do agree with(though I believe that Pacman Jones should get a life-time ban)and I hope that it sends it message to the NFL players because I'd hate to see the NFL turn into the NBA where players(Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson(the Golden State player not the Rams RB)for example) are always in trouble because all it does is give the league a bad image.