Theismann, For Once, Not Impressed The Most With Someone

Joe Theismann called out Ricky Williams today. saying that Ricky is a 'disgrace to the game', and that he's embarrassed to be a former Toronto Argonaut right now. Here's a longer quote:

I don't ever want to be mentioned in the same breath as Ricky Williams as a football player. He's a disgrace to the game. The man doesn't deserve to play football. He should go on with his life and treat his drug addictions or go do whatever he wants to do. He's been suspended from the National Football League on multiple occasions. Doesn't anybody have any class anywhere? For gosh sakes, let the kid go do what he wants to do. He doesn't want to play football.

While Theismann probably has a point about Ricky not wanting to play football, he's going overboard beyond that. Perhaps it's just my value judgment, but I would be far less concerned with sharing a jersey with a pot smoker than I would be with a player who killed someone while driving drunk, or a player who punched his wife on Valentine's Day - to name two guys still employed by the NFL. I've yet to hear Theismann get self-righteous about the presence of these players in the NFL, so it's hard to take his indignation seriously. While what Ricky did was against the rules, and he deserves the punishment he has received, if we're going to look at it broadly, his misdeeds are not nearly as bad as some of those committed by other NFL players, past and present. (On a complete side note, it's not like marijuana is even a performance enhancer, unlike most of the drugs that professional athletes take).

While we're on the subject of moralizing, Joe, some people would say that changing the pronunciation of your last name so that it rhymes with a trophy is disgraceful as well. Just a thought.

So, Mr. Theez-man, please stick to being a subpar color commentator and compensated endorser. Thanks.

Sports Matters has more coverage of Ricky to the Argos here and here.