{"id":569,"date":"2015-08-24T06:07:31","date_gmt":"2015-08-24T10:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=569"},"modified":"2015-08-24T06:07:31","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T10:07:31","slug":"cris-carter-and-protecting-the-shield-of-the-nfl-the-irony-of-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2015\/08\/24\/cris-carter-and-protecting-the-shield-of-the-nfl-the-irony-of-it-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Cris Carter And Protecting the Shield of the NFL, The Irony of it all"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cris Carter and Warren Sapp were chosen by Troy Vincent and the NFL to speak at the league\u2019s rookie symposium in 2014 to prepare for life in the NFL. Let that one sink in a second.<\/p>\n

Neither would be considered a shining example on how to conduct your life in the NFL. Carter had plenty of off-field issues and Sapp\u2019s have been well documented and have followed him long after his playing days were over. So what was Vincent thinking here?<\/p>\n

Granted his idea was to bring in players who hadn\u2019t walk the straight and narrow to illustrate to young players the pitfalls of life in the NFL. One of the more intriguing speakers to the 2014 Rookie Class was Donte Stallworth, the former Patriots wide receiver who was charged with and served time for a DUI that resulted in the death of Mario Reyes.<\/p>\n

Stallworth\u2019s message was clear, don\u2019t learn from your own mistakes, learn from others\u2019 and never put yourself in a position where someday you may have to live with taking another man\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

But then there\u2019s Carter. What advice does Carter give NFL rookies a year ago? If you get in trouble, commit a felony and get a fall guy to take the rap for you. This is Vincent\u2019s \u201cvision\u201d for the league\u2019s rookie symposium? No wonder the league is in such disarray.<\/p>\n

One can\u2019t imagine what is worse; the fact that Carter was allowed by the league to say such things to rookies or the fact that the NFL left the video on its own website for over a year for all to see.<\/p>\n

There was Carter, counseling future NFL players to obstruct justice while decked out in his gold NFL Hall of Fame jacket. The same jacket emblazoned with the shield Roger Goodell and Vincent supposedly strive to protect. Oh the irony of it all.<\/p>\n

The league (quickly?), distanced itself from Carter\u2019s comments, a year after the fact stating yesterday, \u201cThis was an unfortunate and inappropriate comment made by Cris Carter during the 2014 NFC rookie symposium,\u201d the NFL said. \u201cThe comment was not representative of the message of the symposium or any other league program. The league\u2019s player engagement staff immediately expressed concern about the comment to Cris. The comment was not repeated in the 2014 AFC session or this year\u2019s symposium.\u201d<\/p>\n

It expressed concern to Carter but didn\u2019t feel it necessary to take the video off of its website until yesterday when the backlash it generated a year later mandated it.<\/p>\n

Carter yesterday apologized and released this statement. \u201cSeeing that video has made me realize how wrong I was,\u201d said Carter said. \u201cI was brought there to educate young people and instead I gave them very bad advice. Every person should take responsibility for his own actions. I\u2019m sorry and I truly regret what I said that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Vincent\u2019s and Goodell vision for the league\u2019s rookies and protecting the all-important \u201cIntegrity of the Game\u201d is to shift blame and find a fall guy.<\/p>\n

How utterly appropriate.<\/p>\n

Follow me on Twitter\u00a0<\/em>@SteveB7SFG<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or email me at\u00a0<\/em>stevebpatsfans@gmail.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to our\u00a0<\/em>Patriots 4th<\/sup>\u00a0and 2<\/em><\/a>\u00a0podcast on blog talk radio as the writers Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and I from\u00a0<\/em>PatsFans.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0discuss the latest Patriots news Wednesdays at 12 noon.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protecting the shield and the integrity of the game. How many times have we heard that since January. 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