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overreported, and 2) few of the crimes which Cowboys players have been convicted for in recent years compare in seriousness to the crimes detailed in this book.
    I t’s no secret that NFL teams draft players who have had run-ins with the law, even players who have served time. (As long as they are “players,” of course.) And why not, the logic goes. These guys are not being drafted into the Boy Scouts of America. This is pro football. Besides, if you listen to coaches and NFL team spokespersons, these past “indiscretions of youth” are not serious crimes. Consider Dick Vermeil’s comments after drafting Ryan Tucker. “First off,” Vermeil explained to the press, “character guys get in fights from time to time, especially when they didn’t start it. I like the guys that don’t start it but finish it. I like those kind of guys. This is a physical contact game. … But we’ve got a ton of guys in the National Football League that have some true character problems. I don’t believe this guy does.” Of course not. What coach wouldn’t try to minimize the negative public exposure that his team may face when drafting a violent criminal?
    Another popular excuse used by team and league officials to justify the drafting of criminally convicted players goes something like this: as long as these players have served their jail time, it would be unfair to deny them an opportunity to earn a living and become productive members of society. After all, what adult wants to be judged on the basis of the follies of adolescence?
    Sounds fair enough. But with mottos like “Just Win Baby,” how far will NFL teams go to rationalize giving players with checkered pasts a new lease on life? Will they forgive a habitual criminal offender if he can run a 4.3 forty? Or draft a violent felon because he can bench-press over 500 pounds? How about a drug dealer? A convicted sex offender? A member of a violent street gang? An accused killer?
    The evidence suggests the answer is yes to all of the above.
    In researching this book, the authors identified 509 players whose criminal records could be checked in two states or more (see Authors’ Note). Of these 509 players, an amazing 109 had been formally charged with a serious crime.
    With NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s recent strong public stance against players’ off-field deviance, one might wonder how many of the players in the authors’ survey were kicked out of the league.
    Answer: zero.
    The closest Tagliabue has come to taking a stand against a criminal player was in 1990. Four years earlier, backup offensive lineman Kevin Allen was cut from the Philadelphia Eagles due to poor performance. Days later, he raped a woman and was arrested. After serving thirty-three months in jail following his conviction, he petitioned the league for the opportunity to play again. Tagliabue denied the petition, saying, “The public perception of [Allen’s] being released from prison and then being allowed to return to football is very negative, and there’s validity in the perception. There is a negative public reaction to NFL players who engage in criminal conduct and then are allowed to re-enter the league.”
    The commissioner’s stand against a journeyman lineman rings hollow considering the number of other players
in the league today
who have served time in jail or prison for serious crimes. And his statement in the Allen case flies in the face of the league’s more commonly stated approach toward criminal conduct. “We’re not the criminal justice system,” NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello told the
Washington Post
in 1994. “We can’t cure every ill in society. You know, we’re putting on football games. And unless it impacts on the business, we have to be very careful [from a legal standpoint] about disciplinary action we take. A player has rights too.”
    Unless, of course, he gambles. This misdemeanor offense will get a player banned right quick, and there will be little clamoring from