Pacman Jones offers lame apology

Filed in archive NFL on April 23, 2007

Courtesy Deadspin.com

Adam "Pacman" Jones is sorry. At least that's what he says in a one-page ad he took out in The Tennessean of nashville.

Jones, who has been suspended for a full season by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for a myriad of off-the-field offenses and arrests, claims he's sorry. He's even "learned a lifetime of lessons" in recent weeks, he declares.

As long as Pacman Jones is sorry, the NFL and Roger Goodell should forgive and forget, right? After all, Jones says he has no excuses for his behavior, which includes more trouble with police in the past two years than many prison inmates have had in their entire lives.

One has to wonder, though, how heartfelt Jones' newspaper apology really is.

In the same formal apology in which Jones says the first thing he needs to do is stop making poor choices, he adds that he will appeal his suspension.

Someone needs to tell Pacman Jones that this nonsense appeal is one more bad choice. A better decision, Pacman, would be to follow your apology with a tidy little, "Now, I'm going to shut my mouth, make my penance, stay out of the back of police cars and take my medicine like the man that thus far I've never been."

Instead, Jones wants an appeal. He says he wants to clarify some of the facts. Hmm, what exactly does he need to clarify? In February, he incited a fight in a Las Vegas bar that led to three people being shot. He is facing potential felony charges.

Does Jones need to clarify that he's talked to police 10 times since being drafted into the NFL in 2005? Maybe the commissioner needs some clarification on Pacman's five arrests. Now, the fact that Jones bit a Georgia policeman last year and faces a charge for this incident coming in May just might need clarifying. Maybe Pacman was just really hungry and it was all a misunderstanding.

So, is Adam "Pacman" Jones sorry? It's highly unlikely that he is.

Because of ridiculous decisions like the newspaper ad, the lame apology and the forthcoming appeal of his suspension, it's hard to believe anything Pacman Jones says.

If Jones were truly sorry, he'd now be a non-story. We wouldn't hear from him again until the 2008 NFL season.

He'd return to the Titans, behave like a good citizen and stay out of the public eye.

Then, we could all believe that Pacman Jones is sorry.