Usually These Sorts Of Things Don’t Take Two Years

There are all kinds of unanswered questions regarding the release of Cowboys cornerback Adam Jones in the wake of a proposed Outside the Lines report by ESPN’s John Barr. The quick rundown, from the Four-Letter’s standpoint, is that Jerry Jones released the cornerback after Barr contacted the Cowboys’ organization about a response to allegations that Jones hired someone to shoot at men he had a dispute in while a member of the Titans (albeit suspended) in 2007. (This happeend in the ATL; a random reminder that all sorts of cool stuff goes down in that city late at night, but for an athlete, not much of it is good. I had a hell of a time the one time I set foot in there, at least while not cursing the traffic.)

While lamenting that Jones is again getting cut or disciplined for shit he was never convicted of in court (yes, I understand Lord Rog is gonna nail ass to the wall for even being arrested; that doesn’t mean I have to like it as policy), a bigger question arises: if the inquisition from the Four-Letter is behind the release and the NFL knew about the allegations, then it means a couple of things:

1. This obviously was of no concern to the league because no one could put Jones there at the time. There wasn’t enough evidence.
2. Jerry Jones had to have known about this when he signed Adam Jones. I find it hard to believe otherwise.

That said, why the uproar now over a confidential informant whom we don’t know a whole lot about (and with good reason)?  There’s obviously a lot of bluster behind the whole thing, and Jones appears to be very, very pissed, even threatening a lawsuit against ESPN. Be looking forward to Sunday; see if this OTL piece tells me anything or is a hack job on what seems to be the channel’s favorite subject: athlete misdeeds.

A Tale of Two Joneses

Matt Jones is a lucky man.

You get busted with six grams of cocaine bheind a bar with your friends, and you usually run into intent to sell — doesn’t matter who you are. But, the Jacksonville wide receiver is going to be heading to drug court, as a first time offender, because prosecutors and investigators couldn’t find any intent to sell.

“Matt made a mistake and he knows it, but he’s learned from it and he is doing all the right things in his life, both on and off the football field,” Bassett said. “He has handled this and reacted to all of this in the right way and I commend him for that.” Washington County prosecutor John Threet has no problem with Jones being transferred to drug court.

Threet said that after the arrest there has been no evidence uncovered indicating Jones had any intent to sell the cocaine. Drug court is an option for anyone convicted of possession for the first time.

If a person doesn’t have a criminal history, Threet said, possession typically results in probation or drug court. He said the transfer has nothing to do with Jones. “Without any intention of selling, it’ll be straight possession, because that’s the law,” Threet said.

Again, a lucky man. Compare that with Adam Jones. Through his own fault and an overzealous commissioner looking to establish his own brand of law and order, his every move is now tracked like a target of the paparazzi — and now, if you look at the copy surrounding every story of an alleged fight with one of his team-issued bodyguards, you can see this coming: all of the talk on ESPN or any sports talk radio show later today will be about, “What will Roger Goodell do; when will he suspend this bum again?”

But no complaint was filed against Adam Jones for the fight by the bodyguard. Reports say Jones may have been drinking at the Joule Hotel, but the bodyguard has not filed a complaint. So, right now, this is nothing. It is probably a regrettable personal action, and may be worth a couple games of suspension down the line. But right now, we just don’t know. There’s not enough, but it’s not going to stop anyone tomorrow when the arguments that Jones has blown his second chance are promptly rolled out.

Meanwhile, everyone will forget how Matt Jones was doing coke behind the back of a bar, especially if he completes that program and that felony never shows up on his record. (Again, I know; he’s a first time offender — but I thought that we were supposedly to be collectively outraged at everyone who goes of fthe rails in Lord Rog’s regime equally.)