PSR Showdown
Does the NFL Have a Problem With Player Behavior?
By Scott Brown
Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Absolutely Not

Following the March arrests of linebacker James Harrison and wide receiver Cedrick Wilson thousands of fed-up Steelers fans cancelled their season tickets.

And if you believe that give my regards to Santa Claus.

Players running afoul of the law, whether it's in Pittsburgh or somewhere else, is unfortunate, and in some cases despicable. But to suggest the cumulative effect of player arrests are dealing a potential crippling blow to the NFL? Please.

Fans aren't tuning out the NFL because of the news it generates off the field. In fact, they are tuning in more than ever or ESPN would not have devoted two hours of analysis to the 2008 schedule after the league released it in the middle of April.

Two hours of talking heads breaking down matchups like that week seven showdown between the Lions and Texans. Yeah, the NFL is in real trouble.

Then there is the draft.

Fans obsess over prospects' 40-yard dash times as much as coaches and general managers, and anyone that questions why ESPN provides wall-to-wall coverage of the draft consider that almost 36 million people tuned in for at least a portion of it last year.

Even the player arrests that are supposedly such a problem for the NFL show in a perverse way how big the league has become.

Did the arrest of Colts backup running back Kenton Keith for refusing to leave a nightclub parking lot warrant making the first page of ESPN.com?

If Verron Haynes hadn't played for the Steelers would the fact that a car dealership is suing him for allegedly defaulting on car payments make both of Pittsburgh's daily newspapers?

No and no.

Unfortunately for the NFL, its immense popularity dovetails with hyperactive news cycles, and that can lead to a distorted view that lawlessness is running amok in the NFL -- even as Commissioner Roger Goodell has taken unprecedented steps to punish the small fraction of players that do get into trouble.

Until fans start tuning out -- and turning in their season tickets -- it's hard to take seriously the notion that a league followed by so many is getting dragged down by the actions of, what in reality is, so few of its players.