Are You Ready For Some Football?

So, we are now nearing Bears training camp. The Lance Briggs issue is still prevalent, and we can always talk about Sexy Rexy’s troubles. But the Tank Johnson debacle is over………so we can start focusing on football now right??

Once again, mainstream media has answered back with an emphatic “NO” to that question, because this whole off-season has been about players and their off-the-field issues thanks to our new commish. Instead of reading about how the Bear’s rookies are progressing or who has looked good in the workouts thus far, I get to read about Brian Urlacher being told by a judge to take parenting classes.

Does anyone else see anything wrong with this? Urlacher ‘reportedly’ sent nasty text messages to his child’s mother because she failed to bring their child to the place outlined in their custody agreement. Might I also include, that this little fact was reported by ESPN…

“In 2003, Robertson (the mother of Urlacher’s son) filed a $33 million civil sexual assault lawsuit against former “Riverdance” star Michael Flatley, but it was later dismissed. Flatley countered with a still-pending lawsuit claiming extortion, fraud and defamation.”

Hmm…….this sounds very interesting.

But of course, Urlacher will look like the bad guy in this, and no good publicity will come of it. And still yet another thing really bothers me in all of this…….this doesn’t fall into the “code of conduct” problems that we have seen. Urlacher has done nothing legally wrong. He may have sent a few distasteful texts, but that hardly is enough to write headlines to tarnish his image. Or is it?

This is the man’s personal life that we are delving into, just due to his ‘celebrity’ status. Will it seemingly get mixed into the player conduct issues that there has been put so much emphasis on this offseason? YES. Will it again put a damper on the team’s image? YES. Is it really anyone’s business beyond him and his family? No.

I am a major advocate of the new player conduct penalties and applaud the efforts of the league in cases like Pacman, but when will the negativity stop. The standards and precedents have been set, so don’t let the real issues get confused with celebrity and media issues.

Regardless of whether Brian is in the wrong or the mother is trying to pull another “Riverdance fiasco”, I still only have one question on my mind……..

When can we talk about some Bears football?