The No-Class League

THE NFL IS AT THE TOP OF ITS game. It is far and away the most popular spectator sport in the United States, as its television ratings prove. But when you're perched on the mountain-top, there is nowhere to go but down. And at the risk of being the voice of doom and gloom, recent events have provided ample reason to worry.

The past few years have produced an exodus of some of the league's shining lights, including Marcus Allen, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Dan Marino, John Elway, and Barry Sanders. Not only were they some of the best players of their generation, but they also were outstanding ambassadors for the game. Without them, the NFL is sorely lacking good guys to tout.

As classy as they come, that generation won and lost with dignity. That's why fans from Birmingham, Ala., to San Jose, Calif., were overjoyed when Elway finally triumphed in a Super Bowl, and heartbroken when Marino retired this past off-season without ever winning a championship ring.

There still are some genuine role models from the old guard grinding it out each Sunday--Jerry Rice, Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Cris Carter--but they are in the twilight of their careers. And when they are gone, who will carry the torch? Who will provide the image control the league desperately needs?

Ray Lewis? At 25, he already is one of the NFL's top linebackers, but he also is one of its most notorious figures following his involvement in a murder trial in the offseason. In fact, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue fined Lewis $250,000 in August for his off-field transgressions.

Randy Moss? He is unquestionably one of the most gifted athletes to come into the NFL in the past 20 years, but he also possesses a dark side that rears its head every once in a while, such as when he squirted an official with a water bottle last season.

Ricky Williams? Frankly, this guy is just plain weird. What's up with his conducting interviews while wearing his football helmet, anyway?

Obviously, all is not lost. Players like Peyton Manning, Eddie George, Kurt Warner, Mark Brunell, Terrell Davis, and Tony Boselli carry themselves with extraordinary poise. But for every one of those individuals, there is a Mark Chmura or a Rae Carruth or a Dale Carter or a Bam Morris doing irreparable damage to the league's reputation.

The list goes on. If it grows much longer the NFL, will have no credibility. In other words, it will be boxing.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Century Publishing
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group