[CBFF] [NBR] Why character matters

[mactbone]

Everything I've read makes it seem that at the very least he was with a group of people that initiated violence upon someone with no physical reason for doing so and he didn't do anything to stop them.

I raised the question of RMJ in another e-mail, but what about the people that hired Spellman or any other athlete that had issues before being drafted and signed? I would wager that at least 50% of the teams have hired someone who had been arrested at some point before they were signed and it's probably a lot higher than that. There are tons of guys that have gotten second chances and it's easy to label the people that enabled them as jerks of the highest order but I think it would be better to look at more than a few anecdotes - and even then it only speaks to one aspect of a person. There are lots of reasons that people do this kind of enabling - they trust others to a fault, really believe that they can turn someone around, in some cases really are selfish jerks, desperate or whatever other reason. It just seems easy to say that we would never hire someone arrested for a crime without being in that situation. Obviously at this point I can't see how
 anyone could hire Stevens given his long history, but there was a point where all anyone knew about him were one or two isolated incidents where the authorities didn't even press the issue. Boys will be boys, trust in the competence of the authorities, whatever, there were certainly reasons to doubt that he was a destructive idiot who couldn't be a productive member of society and it was up to each individual to evaluate that likelihood - hindsight being 20/20 we can say they made the wrong choice.
-Chris

----- Original Message ----
From: Jim Ferolie <ferolie at charter.net>
To: post at chicagobearsfanforum.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 11:53:36 AM
Subject: Re: [CBFF] [NBR] Why character matters

Hmm, yes and no. I have no doubt it matters more than it did to Bruce Allen 
and Mike Holmgren.

One thing you have to bear in mind is that because this is the pros, with 
grown men who decide whether they want to work for you or not (when their 
contracts are up), you have to be careful about how you come down on people. 
I don't know the reality of the RMJ case except that there seemed to be 
somewhat varying accounts of what it was really about. I'm sure he was being 
a dick, but I somehow doubt the victim's complaint that the group attacked 
him simply because he was using a laptop. I recall a story about Charles 
Barkley throwing a guy through a plate-glass window that sounded pretty bad, 
but upon hearing the details, I'd stand up and cheer if I saw that happen. I 
imagine RMJ was in the middle there somewhere, and I hope that Angelo was 
fair and just -- at least in terms of pro football. I know I'd get some sort 
of discipline from my employer in that situation, but I'm not sure I'd get 
fired, and I know I wouldn't get fired for it if they had to pay several 
million dollars to fire me.

I don't know that JA is immaculate in holding to his principles, but he does 
ultimately have to answer to Virginia, and you know she wouldn't want to see 
Oakland Raiders East.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jason Cetina" <jason at cetinas.org>

> It makes me glad that the Bears got rid of Tank, but sad that they gave
> a pass to RMJ.
>
> I know Angelo and Lovie say character matters, but do you believe them?
> I think I do, but I drink a lot of blue and orange kool-aid.
> -
> Jason
>


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