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Monday, January 22
NFL wary of another Super Bowl mishap
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- When Pete Rozelle first envisioned the Super Bowl, he saw it as the crown jewel at the end of each NFL season. Almost as important as determining the season's best football team was presenting the league in the most grandiose of light.
But in the wake of the off-field arrests involving Atlanta's Eugene Robinson and Baltimore's Ray Lewis each of the past two seasons, the NFL and its Super Bowl week have suffered a tarnished image. So this year, the league is taking a proactive approach in hopes of restoring its positive postseason impressions.
Coaches for both the Giants and Ravens already have addressed the issues of Super Bowl conduct with their teams and plan to do so again in greater detail in Tampa. Pounding the topic home will be the annual briefing by the NFL's director of security, Milt Ahlerich.
"I'm sure we have yet to hear the bulk of it," Giants cornerback Dave Thomas said. "We're going to get the orientation on things we should do, things we shouldn't do, places we shouldn't be, people we should be wary of. But basically, it comes down to using your best judgement in those situations."
Of added concern this year is a year-old law that prohibits nude lap dancing at Tampa area strip clubs. Police captain Jane Castor issued a warning this week that anyone who gets within six feet of a nude dancer risks arrest.
On Jan. 13, two Dallas Stars hockey players were arrested for violating the ordinance. Three days later, the NFL provided written warnings to all 31 teams, as well as the player's union, about the issue. Included in the warning was a copy of the ordinance.
"That's the focal point this year; everyone is aggravated about this lap dancing issue," said Major K.C. Newcomb, the Event Commander for the Tampa Police Department. "It essentially prohibits any physical conduct. It's something that is certainly going to be enforced."
In addition to the league's security personnel, about 400 officers will work the night of the game, and others will be dispersed for events throughout the week, Newcomb said. As added protection, the Ravens have hired a small group of off-duty Maryland police officers.
None of this is out of the ordinary. Prior to Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami two years ago, Robinson, a defensive back with the Atlanta Falcons, was charged with soliciting an undercover police officer for sex less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to play in the game.
Last year, two men were stabbed to death outside a dance club in the Buckhead neighborhood in Atlanta. Lewis, the Baltimore Ravens linebacker, and two friends were charged in the murder. Lewis, who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, was placed on probation for one year. The NFL fined him $250,000 for conduct detrimental to the league, which he is appealing.
Newcomb said that there is no "most wary" list circulating through his department or the league to warn of people NFL players should avoid, though there have been conversations about specific individuals and events in the past.
"We've talked a lot about things to watch out for -- the league has shared a lot of information with us about that," Newcomb said. "You know, guys pretending to be team security, stadium security -- this, that and the other."
The league has been very tight-lipped about its security plans and Newcomb declined to specify details of the Tampa police's action plan. He did say, though, that there is only so much the league and his office can do to prevent the events like those that occurred in the past.
"Hopefully, these are full grown, intelligent men we are dealing with that have seen what can happen in the past and will make the right, conscious decisions this year," Newcomb said. "But there's no way you can control someone's irate personal emotions. It's like if you were angry and were thinking about going home tonight and beating your wife. How do you prevent that? Hopefully you're the kind of person that is rational enough not to act that way. But you can't put a cop at everybody's doorstep."
Coaches of the Giants and Ravens tend to agree. Both Jim Fassel and Brian Billick said they hope their players could act responsibly.
"We'll turn them loose and hope that they show good judgment," Billick said of the Ravens. "I think that this group will. If you can't be where you're supposed to be, particularly in an environment like this, we've got problems bigger than you not being in at night.
"I have a tough time going around and knocking on the door seeing if a grown man is where he's supposed to be, doing what he's supposed to be doing."
Fassel agrees, though he said he has made the purpose of this trip crystal clear to his team throughout the week.
"We're going down there for one purpose, and that's to play a football game," he said. "Were not going there for a vacation."
Giants defensive tackle Keith Hamilton said he believes both teams will use a buddy system of sorts to keep an eye on one another and ensure nobody veers into trouble.
"And anybody who gets the nerve to get out of line, one of the veterans will knock him back into place pretty quickly," Hamilton said. "Ain't one person going to (expletive) this up for the rest of us. It's precious."
Wayne Drehs is a staff writer for ESPN.com.
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