Quick Hit: NBA vs. NFL

Now just which league is the Thug League?

After all of these arrests, allegations, and God knows what else, how is it that the NFL hasn't gotten the Thug label that the NBA has? The NFL has a rap sheet at least twice as long as the NBA's, maybe three times longer, and they get away with it while the NBA suffers and gets labeled the Thug League that mainstream America just couldn't bring itself to support in large numbers anymore. How does that happen? Chris Henry alone has more arrests than we've had from NBA players over the past several years, and yet the NBA is the criminal league. Pac Man Jones is the only pro athlete facing charges for what happened at the NBA All Star Weekend, and yet the NBA gets tarnished for it as much as the NFL? I know I've been down this road before, but everytime I see an NFL player get arrested and the way the media handles it, I get upset. This Marvin Harrison thing is no different in that it's being treated as an individual incident and not being symbolic of a league run amok.

Now we all know the double standard is more about imagery than actual criminality. Tattoos, jewelry, baggy pants, hip hop, and conspicuous entourages all conspire to inspire both fear and hostility in a large portion of the sports fanbase, and these things are all on display much more in the NBA than in the NFL. Some people see those things and jump to conclusions whereas you don't see any of that during a football game. The tats are covered up by jerseys and pads, as are the jewelry. The entourages, if they're even in the building, don't stand out among 50,000 plus people the way they do sitting courtside at an NBA game. You don't have postgame press conferences where star players go on rants about 'practice' and 'both teams playing hard', so the attitude isn't put on display like it is after NBA games. And finally, with football players you're dealing with a lot of guys who could easily fit amongst us regualr folk in that most of them are no taller or bigger than you and I. There's no mistaking Rahseed Wallace for a keyboard puncher like myself.

All that being said, how about some objectivity from the media? How about we treat everyone as an individual, no matter the sport they play, and judge them for what they do instead of their entire league. No sports league is full of noble gladiators or criminals; there are many of both in all of them. How about we tell the truth instead of playing up the usual narratives? How about we not act so shocked at Marvin Harrison, especially with his history, and then turn around and treat Josh Howard like he's the typical NBA player? That's all I'm asking; is it too much?