M. J. Masotti Jr. / Reuters File /

Adam "Pacman" Jones has embarrassed the NFL, and now he should pay with a lengthy suspension, writes columnist Michael Ventre.

But it isn’t just Pacman. The Tank Johnson episode was also disgusting. He was eventually sentenced to 120 days in jail for probation violations regarding weapons charges. But the judge let him play in the Super Bowl prior to that. What kind of message does it send when he’s given special treatment? Athletes see that, then behave as though they deserve and expect special treatment.

The Cincinnati Bengals are appalling. I tried to Google them to determine how many times their players have been arrested in recent months, and one of the results I got was “The Longest Yard.” If recent trends continue, they won’t be covered by sportswriters, they’ll be followed by bounty hunters.

The NFL is entering a strange period in its history. It has never been more popular. And yet, because of the proliferation of media — especially Internet sites and blogs — every misstep is magnified. Besides actual arrests, there are the issues of contract hassles, performance-enhancing substances, clashes between players and coaches, clashes between players and coaches with reporters, marital woes, carousing and other unflattering situations that distract mightily from football itself.

The league is almost bulletproof and Teflon-coated. Almost. While Madison Avenue lines up to associate itself with the NFL, there are limits to everything. Goodell and his fellow league executives are businessmen who understand the detrimental effects that bad publicity can have on revenue. Maybe it doesn’t seem so now, but the more the police blotters fill up with names of NFL players, the more anxious advertisers become. Savvy suits should be prescient enough to detect a negative trend and act to halt it before it hurts profits.

I’m sure it wasn’t easy being Pacman Jones as a youngster. But he’s not a youngster anymore. And if he doesn’t wise up, he won’t be an NFL player anymore, either.

That would be bad for Pacman, Tank Johnson, the Bengals and just about any other knucklehead on a pro roster who has spent time in the back seat of a squad car lately, but in the long run it’ll be good for the NFL.

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