COLUMN: Could NFL be desperate to keep up with pro baseball?

By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
October 10, 2004
We here at the Rants &Rambles office are not conspiracy nuts, but the NFL has raised our eyebrows this week.
With absolutely no proof or logical reasoning, we believe the National Football League is trying to steal Major League Baseball's thunder with sweeps week-esque stunts.
Baseball is going through what appears to be minor renaissance, as its television ratings have climbed over the last two seasons.
As crazy as it sounds, the NFL may actually be worried about losing its precious TV audience especially since the league is currently negotiating new deals with FOX, CBS, ABC and ESPN to baseball.
So it is our belief that the powers that be in football have decided to pull some insane stunts to draw attention away from MLB's postseason.
Don't believe us? We don't blame you, frankly this theory is becoming more crack-pot with each click of the keyboard, but let's look at a few facts.
In just this past week, one NFL player cut a deal that will land him in jail, one ex-kicker showed his distaste in magic/animal acts with a gun and another ex-player is talking about coming back, after receiving 8.6 million reasons to return.
Now this is high drama.
Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. Just think if Melrose Place tried stories like this during it's prime, they wouldn't have jumped the shark they would have jumped into the shark's jaws.
That is the beauty of this past week of football off the field, this is all real.
Yeah, yeah, the games are great fun. The New England Patriots are going for the seemingly unachievable in the present-day salary cap NFL, and Michael Vick is simply Michael Vick. The Kansas City Chiefs are imploding, despite last Monday's win, and the San Diego Chargers are actually winning games.
Those things are all well and good for the football fan, but if you want to get the ratings, you have to offer more.
And thank goodness those associated with the league have taken it upon themselves to get their names and the NFL out there in forums outside of sports.
Let's begin with the latest publicity draw, Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis.
The 2002 rushing champ pleaded guilty to using a cell phone to try to set up a drug deal last Thursday. The plea bargain will land him in jail for four months after the season of course and he will have to spend two months in a halfway house and perform 500 hours of community service.
And this is how Lewis is trying to spin the hot water he has jumped into, "I made a mistake four years ago, when I was 20 years old, that I am paying heavily for," the running back told reporters.
'When I was 20 years old,' what the heck did he not know at 20 that he now knows at 24?
Lewis is seriously trying to pawn off setting up a drug deal as a misadventure of youth. Dude, it was a drug deal. That's a crime. If you don't know that at 20 years of age, it's a wonder how you were smart enough to sign your name on your million-dollar contract.
Speaking of millions, after a judge ruled that Ricky Williams has to pay back $8.6 million to the Miami Dolphins, everybody's favorite Rastafarian ex-running back says he wants to come back to his old team.
Williams as you may recall decided he was tired of football and never really wanted to play pro ball just a few days before the start of training camp. In other words, he quit on his team.
Williams' agent, Leigh Steinberg, speaking on his client's behalf told reporters, "He's excited and in good shape and misses football."
Now when the former Heisman Trophy winner left the game oh so few months ago, it was reported that Williams wanted to study for a psychology degree, travel the world and oh, yeah, he wanted to smoke dope.
It seems the former Dolphin had a penchant for inhaling marijuana, but the NFL's drug police had busted him too many times for his liking. Williams tested positive on a third drug test and was likely to get a full-year suspension from the league.
Williams decided it was better to whine than pay time for his crime, so he up and left. His departure was ruled a breach of contract, and now that he owes his old team millions, he is ready to play again and cash the checks.
Finally and you just knew this had to be a Raider story former Oakland kicker Cole Ford allegedly fired a gun at the home of magician team Siegfried and Roy this week.
Police identified Ford as the owner of a van that was spotted at the house near the time of the shooting. No one was hurt in the shooting, but a window was broken and a hole was blown into a wall.
Just because lion, tiger and magic acts are not your thing, this is no reason to fire a gun into someone's crib.
Now seriously, can you imagine this much soap-opera drama happening in the same week without some mastermind behind the scenes pulling the strings.
I mean come on this isn't "Playmakers." Wait a minute, the NFL had that showed canceled because it was bad for the league's image. Well this week has done wonders.