[CBFF] David Haugh: Well, said

[Jason Cetina]

I disagree a little bit.

While I think it is dumb for Tank to be out that late, as long as he 
isn't breaking the law I don't think he needs to be punished.

The other side of the coin is that he may very well be guilty of DWB. I 
have no evidence to back this up, just that I wouldn't be surprised. If 
the people of AZ love this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio, 
then what else will they tolerate?

Additionally, they've got a history of screw-ups there: 
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0622gr-report0622-ON.html

All that coupled with the weak sounding circumstances surrounding the 
arrest (""made observations that led him to believe Johnson was 
impaired" & "being impaired to the slightest degree" - WTF?) make me 
think there is more to the story here.

With apologies to any good cops on the list, I'm *always* suspect of the 
police. I've been dicked around by cops before (not arrested, just 
jerked around), so I might be the wrong guy to ask.


Tom Shannon wrote:
> This article parallels my own thoughts exactly.
>
> Tom S.
> ----------
>   
>
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/site/premium/interceptlogin.register 
> Tank has already failed biggest test
> Latest episode lets down Bears, everyone who has shown support for tackle
> David Haugh
> On the Bears
>  Advertisement 
>    
>  
>
> June 24, 2007
>
> Due process dictates the Bears wait two weeks for results of a blood test
> from the Gilbert, Ariz., police department laboratory to guide them in the
> latest Tank Johnson dilemma.
>
> A sense of fairness demands the team withhold judgment on Johnson driving
> while "impaired to the slightest degree" until the legal system decides
> whether this was a DUI or an overzealous officer.
>
> But the evidence that could weigh most heavily on the Bears already was
> presented to coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo at the
> precise moment Friday when they found out Gilbert police had issued Johnson
> a citation at 3:30 a.m.
>
> It wasn't a fact at all. It was a feeling.
>
> The disappointment Smith and Angelo likely felt upon finding out Johnson
> thought hanging out until the wee hours of the morning was a good idea could
> be as damning for Johnson as any blood test.
>
> Granted, Johnson is guilty of nothing at this point but poor judgment. But
> that was the primary standard by which the Bears were measuring Johnson and
> the only factor that matters when evaluating whether he deserves to remain a
> member of the team.
>
> Johnson no longer does. He has betrayed the trust placed in him.
>
> It's a privilege and not a birthright for Johnson to be a Chicago Bear.
> Maybe it will take Johnson becoming an ex-Bear to realize how lucky he was.
>
> Spending 60 days in Cook County Jail didn't faze Johnson. Getting an
> eight-game suspension from the NFL, with a chance to reduce it to six by
> avoiding legal entanglements that most players have no problem avoiding,
> didn't faze him. Fearing the loss of $60,000 more in pay for Games 7 and 8
> of his suspension didn't faze him either.
>
> Cutting him might.
>
> Under Appendix C, Part 11 of the latest collective-bargaining agreement, NFL
> teams can terminate the contract of a player if he has "engaged in personal
> conduct reasonably judged by [the] club to adversely affect or reflect on
> club." One acceptable justification for releasing a player is engaging "in
> personal conduct which, in the reasonable judgment of the club, adversely
> affects or reflects on the club."
>
> Ask anybody at a sports bar or train station in Chicago or any NFL city this
> weekend how Johnson's latest incident reflects on the Bears. It embarrasses
> them.
>
> Not to mention how it will nag and distract the organization over the next
> two weeks as team officials await results of the blood tests. Instead of
> focusing on their Super Bowl chances in '07, the Bears have to worry if Tank
> exceeded .08.
>
> No matter how popular Johnson is among teammates, Smith cannot give Johnson
> another pass without being viewed by the rest of the locker room as an
> enabler.
>
> Just as the front office cannot let Lance Briggs bully them into a new
> contract without opening the door for other players to follow later, Smith
> really can't afford to be seen as a head coach who keeps redrawing the line
> in the sand.
>
> It's beyond getting old. This incident confirmed Johnson only will
> disappoint the Bears if they give him another chance to do so.
>
> Ridding themselves of Johnson made less sense for the Bears in December
> after he ignored their edict and went clubbing hours later with friend
> Willie Posey on the night Posey was shot and killed. At that point the team
> rightly felt a responsibility to provide a structure for Johnson it
> previously had failed to and the support was understandable.
>
> Not anymore, not with Johnson flouting all the advice and instruction so
> many people had given him by staying out all night on his first real free
> day of the off-season. Not with Johnson talking one way and acting another.
>
> Forget the legal semantics of this case, and the blood-test results that
> will determine the nature of any charges, and the narrative details that
> mention how Johnson cooperated fully with Gilbert police.
>
> Forget that technically, Johnson's record could still be as clean as a
> kicker's uniform by the time the lawyers are done with this.
>
> Forget all the wild accusations from Johnson's supporters that have been
> made through e-mail and the Internet about him being pulled over in a nice
> neighborhood because of the make and model of his vehicle or the color of
> his skin.
>
> The two key words about this incident Johnson cannot explain away or expunge
> to his employer are "at 3:30 a.m."
>
> At 3:30 a.m. There might be more to this story. But isn't that detail
> telling enough?
>
> Sober or not, that alone implies Johnson didn't learn a thing in jail other
> than he has a knack for fooling his friends, teammates and coaches. Unless
> he was headed to his paper route, he had no good reason to be out that
> late-or early.
>
> Someone with Johnson's track record shouldn't do anything after midnight but
> sleep. Someone with as much experience as Johnson has in finding trouble
> needs to find a way to get home sooner.
>
> He couldn't have afforded to call a cab or hire a limousine? Why weren't his
> family and friends looking out for Johnson when he needed it most?
>
> When Smith and Angelo staked their reputations on Johnson staying out of
> trouble after he was released from jail, it was with the assumption he had
> been scared straight.
>
> They expressed faith that Johnson would be diligent about changing his
> lifestyle, minding his own business, living as close to a monastic existence
> as an NFL player can. They bought the act, as many of us, including Goodell,
> did.
>
> There were 147 names of people who visited Johnson during his 60 days behind
> bars. They included Smith, Angelo, 15 teammates, Bears Chairman Michael
> McCaskey and Jesse Jackson.
>
> He let those people down. He let every Bears fan in Chicago down. Most of
> all, he let himself down and he will have to live with those consequences.
>
> "He has shown us his willingness to make changes for the betterment of
> himself and the people he cares about," Smith said on the day Johnson left
> jail last month. "We believe in him."
>
> Now Johnson has made fools of good people, smart people, caring people who
> nodded enthusiastically when he predicted last month he had changed enough
> in jail to become the NFL Man of the Year.
>
> Now those people are left to shake their heads at his lapse in judgment.
> Again.
>
> dhaugh at tribune.com 
> Copyright C 2007, Chicago Tribune 
>
>
>
>
>
>
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