NFL has talent, but what about character?

Van Walker, Special to the News

Published December 19, 2006 at midnight

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Like the old saw about sausage and politics, the NFL is best seen from afar.

Brett Favre breaks the completions record held by Dan Marino, and Marcus Vick gets named in a sexual assault involving a minor. LaDainian Tomlinson breaks Paul Hornung’s 46-year-old record record for points in a season, and Tank Adams’ bodyguard gets shot to death.

What are we to make of this seemingly odd confluence of events?

Actually, what else are we to expect from a league that values on-field performance over off-field character? While it is nice to be able to report that LaDainian Tomlinson seems to be the kind of man that we all want our sons to grow up to be, the fact is that he could be a sociopath like O.J. Simpson and it wouldn’t matter as long as he could take an off-tackle dive 85 yards for a touchdown.

In many ways, the NFL has never been in better shape from a talent standpoint. Every connective tissue in Tomlinson’s knees could disintegrate right now, and he goes into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Shaun Alexander and Edgerrin James need only a couple of more seasons of their usual production, and they go on the first ballot as well. And kids like Frank Gore and Larry Johnson might be at the beginning of something special.

Still, one can’t ignore the fact that the Cincinnati Bengals might send more people to jail than to the Pro Bowl. And what in the name of Kwame Kilpatrick does 300-pound defensive tackle Tank Adams need with six unlicensed weapons and a now-deceased bodyguard? What kind of off-field lifestyle mandates that kind of protection?

I’d bring up the Marcus Vick situation, but this is the same league that tried to employ Lawrence Phillips and Maurice Clarett.

Equally disturbing about the weekend’s lowlights is how quickly they will disappear from the radar. Due diligence demanded that they be reported, but NFL Network Newspeak will breathlessly report Terrell Owens’ latest expectoration before any more light gets shed on something like Shawne Merriman’s four-game suspension . . . which, according to the collective bargaining agreement, is actually his second violation of the NFL drug policy.

The fact is that while the NFL appears to be healthier than ever, these kinds of things are like the dry rot that secretly attacks a tree from within. Left unchecked, all it will take is one major storm to bring the whole thing crashing down. While we routinely ignore the reports of DUIs and assaults, how much heat will the league take when one of its name players gets busted attempting to carry 50 kilos of cocaine across the border? Nate Newton’s ill-conceived attempt at pharmacology wasn’t that long ago, and only the naf believes that his was an isolated incident.

Amid the records being broken and players being celebrated, the NFL’s future is so bright, one needs shades.

Or a blindfold, all things considered.

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