Titans' Jones has a decision to make

If this kind of news is going to go away, Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones is going to have to decide that he wants to stay away from trouble more than he wants to party:

The aftermath of a weekend in Las Vegas is ugly: three people shot at a strip club, with one still in critical condition. A combination of celebrities with money and strippers fighting over it started a melee that led to the bloody scene. It happened Monday at 5 a.m. at Minxx Gentleman's Club off the Vegas strip.

Pacman Jones was in the middle of it all, though on Tuesday his lawyer [Worrick Robinson] reiterated that the Titans cornerback is not a suspect ... "[Las Vegas police Sergeant Jon Sott] told me he was really disgusted at the way there were attempts to implicate Pacman," Robinson said. "But they said again he is not a suspect, and they don't see anything changing. He said they have a description but it's not Pacman. … I think this chapter is close to being closed..."

After a judge dismissed a case against him earlier this month, Jones said he had learned his lesson and would try and do a better job of picking his spots to hang out. [emphasis added] "Maybe I'll chill out as a jazz bar or something with some older folks,'' he said. As for what Jones took out of Monday morning's incident, Robinson said: "It scared him. Pacman said he was scared and he'll tell you he heard the gunshots and they stepped it up and got out of there. I think this is pretty much behind him now, but yeah, it scared him.''

I'm not convinced yet that this incident or ongoing trouble is "behind" Jones. The problem, in my opinion, is that trouble continues to be "in front" of him. When you are trying to overcome negative public opinion, being confirmed as a non-suspect is not enough.

The easy way out?

Has sports replaced religion in our society? I think maybe it has. It's hard to argue that point looking at the sports page in the newspaper or looking at football stadiums on weekends.

The more curious question, for me, is why. Are we looking for an escape? Are we looking for meaning? How many of us who are sports fans can honestly say that we are as invigorated on Sunday mornings as we are on Sunday afternoons? For those who aren't sports fans, how often are you more excited about a worship service than you are about your favorite television show? How many of us care more about what takes place on a screen in our living room than what takes place across the street?

Now that survival is generally no longer a challenge for us, are we desperate to escape the malaise of our everyday lives to be a part of something larger and more exciting? Are we looking for a gift for ourselves when we already have "everything?" Are we choosing the easy way out by escaping into entertainment and comfort instead of looking to connect with the people around us and finding ways to change our worlds for the better?

I think we are, and I think it's because it's easier to choose that path. Most of us in the U.S. don't have to work especially hard to eat, sleep and survive each day. The tribes and battles that would have engaged us centuries ago are gone or at least irrelevant for most of us, or they are half a world away where they are easily forgotten. For many people, questions of faith and reason are much murkier than they were for prior generations, and religion isn't the simple answer it once was (not that it can't still ultimately be a solution). Perhaps we are struggling to hold on to any meaning we can, even if it is as fleeting as wins and losses and jerseys and goalposts.

Don't get me wrong. I love sports, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I just wonder why it can become so important, sometimes excessively important, at the expense of more important things.