Javon Walker. J.J. Arrington. Cedric Benson. Chris Henry. Ahmad Bradshaw. The list goes on and on. And there’s no end in sight. In the span of just a few weeks, several big names in the NFL are making more appearances in police reports than on the practice field. Let’s face it: players these days are making more money, want to show off that bling. This causes them to have big egos and a sense of entitlement. In other words, the fame is getting to their heads and they are ill-equipped to deal with it.

It’s a sad state of affairs and it’s taking away from what’s important, which is the product on the field. What happened to the good ol’ days? Are those days forever gone?

I think both the modern day player and the modern state of sports is to blame for the increase of player-related off-field issues. For many of these players, they are the first to complete college in their families. They’ve seen many of their friends go to jail and run into trouble with the law. Getting drafted must seem like a dream come true, and it is, but only for a short time. Before long, they were living the “life”. Fancy cars, big houses, gold-digging women, sycophants who wanted a piece of their money and fame. Who wouldn’t feel jaded and insular at this point? When something goes wrong, this player may have the financial resources, but lacks the emotional maturity to deal with it appropriately. They resort to the base instincts, that which they learned in their rough upbringing. Pain, violence, and crime results. The media has a field day and fans are left scratching their heads. There’s just too much for these players to handle, the pressure to perform and balance all the responsibilities in their lives become too much.

I also blame the NFL (or professional sports leagues) to a certain extent. They say, we’ll give you all this money and want you to perform. We don’t care about where you’ve come from, but we also don’t care what you do, just perform. Players aren’t given help, they are just summarily cut by the team if management deems them a problem. Players, meanwhile, have a sense of urgency, they have to make as much money as possible, as they don’t know when the gravy train will end. They don’t know what it’s like to be responsible, to be professional, all the while they don’t know how to deal with their frustrations.

We’re just asking for more of this to happen. And it will. The teams will turn the other cheek. Fans will continue to wonder why this happens. The media will gleefully cover the stories. And pro athletes will be stuck in a continual vicious cycle of rags to riches back to rags. It’s sad to see.