So, Plaxico Burress is going to prison for two years. As a New England Patriots fan, I’m probably entitled to a bit of schadenfreude, but I feel no sense of joy. Or surprise for that matter. Professional athletes behaving badly has become a commonplace activity of late. On some days the sports page reads like a police blotter.

Is anyone really surprised at this? Professional athletes often come from poor backgrounds and have poor educations. The second part you can easily recognize if you listen to any of them give an interview. Even for those for whom English is a primary language, sentence structure is at best a challenge. Poor syntax and grammar are not the primary problems here, although they might be part of the puzzle.

These mostly young men come from poor backgrounds. Because of their athletic ability, they are given passes from about high school on for irresponsible behavior. My son played football in high school, and while not the best player on the team he was afforded certain perks. One of his coaches was also a police officer in our town. Can you guess how many football players got traffic tickets? The wife of one of the coaches worked in the school office and football players somehow never seemed to be tardy.

It gets worse in college, where star players will get perks, and despite the rules, money. That of course presumes that 18 year old kids go to college and not right into professional sports. Where they are paid a lot of money and told that the rules of normal people don’t apply to them.

Either way, they receive preferential and in most cases, star treatment. Responsibility for their actions isn’t part of the package though.

As a result, we have situations where young men with lots of money and no sense of responsibility engage in stupid and sometimes downright dangerous activities. Sometimes they hurt themselves, as in Burress’ case. Other times they hurt other people as in the case of Donte Stallworth. Much has been made of the disparity in sentences, but that is a secondary issue at best.

I could list other athletes, but I think you get the point. The problem is that as long as an athlete can play, they will find a team somewhere that will sign them no matter what they do outside of sports.

Which only serves to reinforce the sense of entitlement.

Unlike Arlen Specter, I don’t think that the government should meddle in the business of professional sports. What I do think should happen is that professional sports should start emphasizing the professional part. Apologists for these athletes behaving badly will say that they shouldn’t be considered role models. Which is horse crap. These people make a lot of money on the basis of being considered role models, but when it comes to demonstrating responsibility for their actions, they suddenly become as hypocritical as most politicians.

It’s time for all professional sports organizations to adopt a code of conduct for their athletes, both on and off the field. Then they need to enforce it, not matter who big a star someone might be.