Pac Man Jones on ESPN's first take
 

Is anyone else watching this?

It is amazing how stupid this man is. A few of his gems

Interviewer: " After all you have been through why go into a strip club in new york before your hearing?"

Pac Man: " To get something to eat"

Pac Man " I have to wrestle, I have to keep doing my thing. I have people to take care of. My mom, my cousins. I can't have them sitting around saying what next?"

hmmmm, maybe they could get jobs?

and my favorite

Interviewer " You have been arrested six times"

Pac Man " six? I've only been arrested 2 times"

lol.

i caught this one. i don't know where the hell he went to college and how long he stayed, but there is no way in hell he can complete a college level course. my 6 yr old cousin can put together better sentences.

he went to West Virginia

Noel who?

huh?

Noel Devine, RB. Big WVU recruit who's like 18, barely/somehow qualified. I think he has a couple of kids too.

weird, it's as if you work for a college football program....

Devine's agent is Deion Sanders

In fairness, both Pacman and Devine grew up in terrible environments. Both of Devine's parents were dead of AIDS by the time he was 11 or 12, and basically all of the men in Pacman's family were dead by 20. His dad got shot when he was a toddler.

so thats an excuse to squander his talents by being an ass?

Whoa. In fairness to who? If you grow up in that type of enviornment, shouldn't you choose to do everything possible to avoid ending up in that same situation, repeating history, whatever you want to call it? It seems to me that he's just using it as an excuse to further his bad behavior and bad choices in life.

First of all, he's never used that excuse. Even when mentioning it myself, I wasn't using it as an excuse for the stupid things he's done.

This thread has nothing to do with his legal problems anyway. You guys are making fun of the way he talks. I was just pointing out he was raised in the projects with no dad, and I don't think that's hilarious. OMG LOLZ

that was never my intention, I was mocking "what" he was saying, not how.

It's not hilarious at all, but it's also not an excuse for anything. He went to college, if he didn't go to classes and realize what an amazing opporunity he had there, then that is his fault as much as it is the teachers who passed him just so he could play football. There are plenty of people in the world today who were raised in less than stellar circumstances, but chose to work their ass off to get out of it and rise above it rather than allow it to be an excuse used to defend them (as you are doing with him).

The guy is a millionaire, so he has done OK for himself in that respect. If you want to argue facts instead of what you assume about him, he is back in college now to finish his last year toward a degree while he sits out suspended from the NFL this year. So clearly he has some interest in an education. Plus he passed classes legitimately for 3 years.

Fair enough. I do see some humor in the ridiculousness of Pacman's predicament. (The joke article about him having a strip club built in his house was funny.) I guess something about the way some of the stuff was worded along with people already making all the same assumptions about Noel Devine just rubbed me the wrong way.

Hear, hear!

I get so sick of people making excuses for people. With our public education system (with all its faults) people that want to work hard to improve their lot can. If you work hard to get good grades, you can get into college. You can get student loans to pay for your college. They might cost a lot, but you can get the money to go to college. If you don't qualify for loans, you can probably qualify for grants. Heck, if you know those items are going to be issues, try to get scholarship money. There is a lot of money out there for some pretty wierd stuff that you can get a scholarship for.

Yet, here is someone that didn't have to go through all that. He had an opportunity to get an education. He chose not to take it seriously. That is his problem and his issue. No one is going to shed any tears over me if I can't support my family because I get a general studies degree rather than something I can do something with. Rather than make excuses for people, we should be teaching the young people of all walks of life the concept of personal responsibility and hold people accountable for their actions.

I never even heard of Noel Devine.

I just thought it was funny that in New York City he claims he was at a strip club to eat.

Not enough options for him?

As Titans fan I can not believe they wasted a 5th overall draft pick on this punk ass hood.

Completely agree. Yes, some people have the "deck stacked against them" but people can rise above their circumstances. I just saw one kid today who is one of my favorites. He grew up in one of the worst projects in New Orleans and then after Katrina moved to one of the worst areas of Baton Rouge. He was in some bad situations, but he is now about to turn 18 and in the last year, I've seen him legitimately turn his life around. He's stayed drug free, he has stopped hanging around with his friends who are into a bad scene. He is reading constantly, trying to improve himself. He's actually won national awards for some of the stuff he has done in the last few months. He's a kid who is bright enough to go really far in life if he continues to work as hard as he has in the last 8-9 months. He's gone through so many bad things (including losing his dad to a murderer when he was very young) and risen above it all. I'm sure there are plenty of other people out there who do the same, and I think it is an injustice for anyone to allow themself to make that excuse for their failure to live up to their responsibilities as an adult.

BIG TIME college football program.

I wonder if he wasnt a star football player at WVU how many classes he would have "passed legitimately".

Jason Gwaltney was a 5 star running back recruit that chose WVU over USC and Ohio State. He flunked out of college after a semester. He tried to come back the following fall and get his grades in order to work his way back onto the team. He flunked out again. Brandon Barrett was a 4 star in state WR recruit that also chose WVU over Ohio State. After a huge spring game in '06, he was the talk of the town. He failed summer classes and flunked out before fall camp started. These guys were both much more highly regarded recruits than Pacman.

Pacman went to class and passed. He is also back in school now to finish up his degree. Obviously, with the massive signing bonus he got a couple years ago, he probably doesn't need a college degree, but it must mean something to him.

Money isn't everything - as has been proved time and time again by people like Jones, Vick, Spreewell, Spears, Lohan, Hilton, etc... Being successful is more than having money in the bank and an Escalade for every day of the week.

And as for his being back in school while he is suspended...that to me is a moot point for 2 reasons:

1. If he wasn't suspended I doubt he would be working toward getting his degree, he'd just be checking his bank account and laughing at how much money he's making.

2. There isn't a doubt in my mind that his "decision" to go back to school was more a side effect of his PR Manager trying to do some damage control rather than Jones truly wanting to better himself. If it was the latter he'd be willing to admit to his errors and have a serious interview, instead of giving lame ass answers like "I went to a strip club to eat dinner". If he showed ANY remorse then maybe I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, but at this point, in my mind he's just another thug.

Actually when he left WVU early, he promised his mom he'd come back to get his degree some day. He has the time now.

Clearly if he even has a PR person, they aren't doing a very good job. He is definitely a nightmare client, though.

Yes, because unlike every other college program, WVU doesnt sugarcoat it for their players. After hearing him on ESPN its obvious he worked hard in every class. I am COMPLETELY convinced he didnt get any breaks from the teachers or have someone do his wok for him.

Thankfully we have a number of experts on here who have heard him on ESPN.

He didn't earn a degree while at WVU. He managed to stay eligible for two-and-a-half years, so he could play football. All you have to do is take 12-hours a semester (which, surprisingly, some guys are not able to do).

BTW... breaking news: http://www.theonion.com/content/news...ill_be_nowhere

Maybe the Iron Sheik will get a hold of him and make him humble.

We are looking at how he speaks and conducts himself, instead of being a homer and treating him like a Harvard grad just because WVU didnt flunk him out when he was going there. Really, I dont think I am in the minority when I say that football players, especially star players, have an easier go at college than regular students.

You need to be an expert to be able to tell when someone sounds like an idiot whan they talk?

Isn't that all a regular undergrad has to take?

College is pretty easy these days. For football players and everyone else. It's VERY difficult to "fail out" (I'm talking about normal, undergraduate, liberal-arts type schools).

A College education is honestly overrated sometimes. It's not for everyone. I don't know why we morally judge athletes for their decisions to participate or not participate.

NP, I think timmy was trying to make the point that it is not unheard of for highly regarded players to be kicked off the team due to grades. Most folks don't know who Jason Gwaltney is/was, but he was easily the highest rated recruit WVU has ever gotten and he got the boot midway through his first semester for not attending classes.

Brandon Barrett was one of the few Parade All-Americans ever from the state of West Virginia and he was kicked off the team after his freshman year due to grades and then, managed to get himself eligible again and had a huge impact on the Blue-Gold Game (Spring Game) two Springs ago (he was highlighted on ESPN for it) and then he failed to keep his grades up and was kicked out.

We all know that every school has cake classes that athletes (and others) take, but folks should watch judging academic ability based on how people present themselves. I have autistic students that have difficulty carrying conversations, but are great readers and/or very good at mathematics. Just because someone doesn't carry on a coversation very well or cannot speak well, doesn't mean they cannot read well or take notes or tests well.

I will not defend how Pacman conducts himself. He has clearly been a loser over the past few years and squander a lot of God-given athletic ability and an incredible opportunity.

Exactly. It is pretty tough to fail out when you are athlete and are only attending college to play a sport.

During the season, you take 12-hours, probably some of them are PE courses AND you have a lot of extra support in the form of mandatory, monitored study halls and personal tudors. You are basically given five-years, including Summers, to graduate. Many kids make the most of it and earn graduate degrees, but the bare minimum is pretty pitiful, really.

I'm completely with you...there have been SO many documented/proven cases of star players getting preferential treatment, teachers passing them, getting cash from alumni, receiving cars, etc...I think it's a little naive for someone to make a statement implying that because someone went to college then they must have been a good student applied themselves.

That's exactly what I was getting at, and I agree on all points. Very well said, Swaggs.

People are literally saying they can tell there's no way he could ever pass a college class because they've heard him talk on ESPN.

Swaggs, I understand waht you saying. I understood Timmy as saying that Pacman passed his classes just like everyone else at WVU. My point is that if the Man acts like an idiot and sounds like one to boot everytime he opens his mouth I am not likely to assume that he is is anything but an idiot. I agree that some people could not be good public speakers and still be really smart and good in school, but based on how he acts/sounds, the fact we have no idea what classes he supposedly passed, and the long history of colleges giving players, especially ones who bring in big money to the program, breaks in academics I find it nearly impossible to give him credit for what he supposedly did in school. You even say above how pitiful the bare minimum is, just because some other guys did even less than Pacman and were kicked out shouldnt be used to give Pacman any credit as a student.

Go ahead and look up a strawman logical fallacy. At what point did I even come close to "treating him like a Harvard grad?"

I merely think the guy actually passed his classes in college, and I've cited examples of other star players that have flunked out at WVU. Do I think he took especially difficult courses? No. In fact, I'll venture a guess that his major was something like Athletic Coaching or etc.

He went to school and passed his classes. That's all.

You are right, it's not unheard of. However, I think the point that NP, myself, and others in this thread are trying to make is that jumping to the defense of someone like Jones and basically saying "well, he grew up without good male role models and was poor, etc...so that is why he presents himself the way he does" isn't necessarily right either. And I'd go so far as to say that although you can give 2 examples of star athletes being treated the "right" way, there are many many more examples of star athletes being given preferential treatment, and based on that, it's not completely crazy to look at someone like Jones and when he makes comments like that and can't string an intelligent sentence together, to draw the conclusion that he didn't take full advantage of his time in College and use it to really better himself. I don't know if that is true in his case or not, none of us do because we don't personally know him...it just seems more likely the case than anything else.

It's not just 2 random examples. It's 2 examples of guys at the same school, at the same time, and under the same coaching staff as Pacman. Cheating has certainly happened at various times and places in college football, but I think when we can cite examples of bigger stars not getting preferential treatment in the same exact scenario, it's a lot more reasonable to conclude the guy actually passed his classes than not.

I don't really know where you are coming from, as far as taking what you know right now and trying to determine what type of student he was in college and/or whether or not he used his time well. I can tell you that he had scholarship offers from Duke and Georgia Tech, which obviously have more difficult entry requirements than WVU, so I don't think he was a terrible student coming out of high school (I'm guessing a reasonable number of us, football or not, wouldn't be able to get into Duke) and there is no reason to believe he was not capable of doing well, academically, in college.

I never ever said that he was not capable of doing well in college...I said that knowing what we know, it's not unreasonable to think that he didn't give it his all and take full advantage of the college education/opportunity he was given.

Well, I would counter that he took full advantage of his college experience and proved himself to be worthy, through workouts, interviews, background checks, and game performances, into being selected sixth overall in the 2005 draft and earned himself a pretty sizable guaranteed contract.

He has been a total creep since entering the NFL and making money, but your speculation of how he used his college opportunity is pretty far off.

I wish I would have had a multimillion dollar contact as a result of my time in college. :)

Yeah, Jones had an SAT score above 1100, which would have made him recruitable at Duke...

I still don't get how you know he did poorly in school, or didn't "take advantage". Whether it's true or not, you're just making an assumption based on sterotypes, nothing more.

Regardless, I'd say college prepared him pretty well for his current career.

As what, a potential convict or a wrestler?

He's already made more money as a football player as the typical English major will make in their lifetime.

I never said I knew one way or the other, I even went so far as to say My point is that it's just as easy to assume the worst as it is to assume the best, based on previous knowledge.

Couldn't this same argument be made for any of the current starlets who are screwing up their lives? Take Paris Hilton...she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and had the world handed to her, but look at the horrible choices she has made. Would you say she has taken what she was given and truly appreciated it? I doubt it. How is that any different than me saying that based on the decisions Jones has made, I don't think (THINK being the operative word there) that he's truly appreciated and made the best of the opportunities he's been given. I said it before and I'll say it again, money doesn't always equal success.