Joey, Joey, Joey...

The Rooney family can only feel vindicated after releasing OLB Joey Porter, who quickly signed with the Miami Dolphins. Porter, who was cut because he was due a large bonus and was a possible holdout threat for training camp, had a scuffle with Bengals player Levi Jones merely days after signing with his new team. Porter appparently did the right thing in telling the organization about the incident right after it happened, but new details, reported by Benmaller.com, put the linebacker in a different light;

"The fight between Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter and Bengals offensive tackle Levi Jones at a Las Vegas casino earlier this month was about football -- but it no longer appears to have been the one-on-one scrap initially described by police. Instead, video surveillance revealed Porter punching Jones with a closed fist before other ''unidentified males'' also joined the attack on Porter's behalf, a report released by the Las Vegas Police Department said. Jones, who suffered a small cut above his eye in the fight, spoke publicly for the first time about the incident. On the Bengals' official website, the lineman called the incident ``a cowardly assault by a coward.'' ''One versus seven, six from behind,'' Jones told the website. 'The police report came out and told the truth. Joey Porter did not kick Levi Jones' [butt]. Basically what he did was walk up to me, get my attention talking trash while his boys jumped me from behind. ``They plotted the thing. He was shooting craps. I was playing blackjack. He saw me, there was no exchange before he just came up on me.''


Posted March 29, by Ben Maller"


Joey, Joey, Joey...it is truly discouraging to see one of the players I have loved watching in Black and Gold get involved in such activity. Player brawls are never good, but three things make this situation worse;

1) If you're going to fight a guy, whatever your problem with him may be, don't jump him with your friends. Not only does it reflect badly upon your strength and toughness, it completely dismisses any potential merit in the fight.

2) Honestly, who picks a VEGAS CASINO as a location to assault someone? Did Porters train of thought seriously go like "There's not any cameras in or around casinos, right?"

3) This is amid a flurry of press about NFL players misbehavior and how the league should crack down. The commissioner is less than a month away from completing his overhaul on the disciplinary policies, and Joey Porter's lack of control over his anger throws him in the category of more notorious wrongdoers like Chris Henry, Tank Johnson, and Pacman Jones. What timing.

Personally, I thought Joey Porter was professional enough to maintain a good reputation, especially in the first stages of employment with a new team. No matter what his motivations were, his actions are dissapointing and reprehensible.