I remember this one. This is the three in the bar fight. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/1999/07/13/1999-07-13_jets__jumbo_problem__court__.html JETS' JUMBO PROBLEM COURT, LEAGUE TO TACKLE TWO BY LISA OLSON Tuesday, July 13th 1999, 2:11AM It's so easy to fixate on the details, disgusting as they are. The way Long Island police describe it, Jets tackle Jumbo Elliott and a couple of other thick-neck thugs acted worse than boozed-up fraternity boys in the midst of pledge week when they went on a drunken spree early Saturday morning that resulted in battered bodies and more rap sheets. The battered bodies were not their own, of course. They rarely are when the alleged culprits stand at least 6-5 and weigh more than 300 pounds. In this case, the bruises belonged to a female bar patron whom Elliott allegedly punched in the chest after she chastised him for urinating in a sink in the woman's rest room, and a male off-duty fireman whom Elliott then allegedly hit in the face. Ex-Jet Matt O'Dwyer's tough-guy conduct outside the team watering hole was much more dangerous, according to police: While handcuffed in the back seat, he is accused of kicking out the window of a squad car, causing the glass to shatter in the faces of two officers, who were treated for scratched corneas. They are lucky they weren't blinded. It took 31 cops to restrain Elliott, fellow Jet lineman Jason Fabini and O'Dwyer after the threesome allegedly treated the inside of a Long Beach bar called Bogart's like their own personal urinal. That's 10 officers per football player. Somewhere Jets coach Bill Parcells must be rubbing his hands in glee over what this portends for the upcoming season. Who cares what it means for the rest of society as long as two of his boys are primed and ready for war in the trenches? Well, the NFL, for one, seems to care greatly. Maybe the end result is what we should be focusing on, rather than the means. In this post-Sprewell age, when a vocal segment of the paying public is fed up with professional athletes getting away with antisocial behavior, the NFL, like the NBA, has adopted a violent-crime policy. That means after the courts decide what to do with this joke of a trio, the league gets to dole out its own form of justice. Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, any player who is convicted of or accepts a plea involving actions in a violent crime must undergo counseling and could be fined or suspended without pay. This is no longer the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil league when it comes to transgressions off the field. The social misfit that is Lawrence Phillips is the perfect example. Phillips has spent the past year playing in Europe, having been basically blackballed by American teams after his run-ins with the law became more prominent than his ball-carrying talents. While there are still current NFL teams tantalized by his considerable skills, commissioner Paul Tagliabue is said to be considering suspending Phillips a significant portion of the season before welcoming him back to the fold. Yesterday, Elliott, Fabini and O'Dwyer were arraigned in Long Beach City Court and ordered to appear before a Nassau County judge July 26. Jets camp opens three days later. Fabini, 24, the club's top rookie last season, was charged with disorderly conduct. At a recent league symposium, the 6-7, 312-pound tackle lectured incoming rookies on the pitfalls of life in the NFL and how to avoid them. Barroom-brawl etiquette presumably was not mentioned. Hot off signing a two-year, $2.7 million contract with the Bengals, O'Dwyer, 26, was charged with felony assault, harassment and criminal mischief. This is not surprising to some Jet followers, who remember the 6-5, 300-pound guard mostly as a pumped-up miscreant who picked fights with his own teammates. It is Elliott's alleged conduct that is the most puzzling. Don't be fooled by his nickname, which suggests a brainless lughead. Elliott, whose real name is John, is said to be a quiet, thoughtful, intelligent man who has spent almost every day of the offseason at the Jets complex, diligently training. He's also 34 years old, with a wife and two daughters. Most notably, Elliott, after pleading guilty to driving while impaired last September, lost his license for 90 days, was fined by the league and forced to undergo mandatory counseling. So we should be happy that at least this time he and his mates had the foresight to take a limousine on their pub crawl. They also managed to ring up a $300 liquor tab once they got to Bogart's, according to a waitress who noted that the players "were really, really loaded even when they first came through the door." There's nothing illegal about that, of course. But even 6-7, 300-pound tackles need blood in their alcohol stream, and a 34-year-old man has no business acting like a teenage boy at a Hole concert. While what Elliott supposedly did was despicable, it doesn't warrant the Jets cutting him. It would be nice, though, if Parcells, for once, took it upon himself to publicly make a statement that this sort of behavior is abhorrent and wrong, and encourage anybody who has a drinking problem to get help. It's his duty as a coach, as a leader of this community, and as a human being. As it is now, Elliott stands charged with misdemeanor assault, harassment and public lewdness. If convicted, the NFL could suspend him, and he'll forever be remembered in the annals of professional athletes as yet another violent criminal. What a sad, sad legacy, one that so easily could have been avoided.
