The one thing I've always liked about sports is that the concept of team most always seemed to bring a group of folks together for a common goal ... to be successful as a single unit in order to win or be the best. 

That's something the Minnesota Vikings should’ve really thought through more closely before signing Bret Favre.
That’s a story for another day, though.  

But at the same time that team concept more times than not always ends when players take off the uniform.
That's when individuality sets in.

That's when Michael Vick runs a dog-fighting enterprise.
That's when Matt Jones gets yanked out the back seat of an SUV while he's cutting up a couple of crack rocks.
That’s when PacMan Jones makes it “rain” at a Las Vegas strip club and a bouncer ends up paralyzed from gunshot wounds. 
That's when Plaxico Burress shoots himself inside a New York nightclub.
That's when Ray Lewis hangs out with his boys in Atlanta’s Buckhead community and two people his group encounters end up dead.
That's when Donte Stallworth goes out drinking, then runs over and kills a guy on the drive home.

Those things, just to name a few, are the result of one person's individual decision ... not a team's. 

So when I read an idiotic story like the one written by the Miami Herald Columnist Dan Le Batard Sunday ("NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's Methods Not Working"), I cringe. 

When Le Batard says Goodell's crackdown on bad behavior isn't working, it means people like him don't get the bigger picture of what the commissioner's efforts are really aimed at doing ... sending a message to future generations of players that getting into the league isn't a right just because they can run, block and tackle, but that their behavior off the field can get them sidelined permanently. 

Just like it's impossible to save the current generation of 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds who're roaming the streets at night robbing, shooting and killing people, trying to get the attention of 22-, 23- and 24-year-old football players who’ve been pampered since Pee-Wee League just because they can play the game well is a lost cause. 

They’ve been told by friends, coaches and even family that they are “the man” for years, so why should they believe anything different when they get to the NFL?

But the kids who should be watching what Goodell is doing are those junior high, high school and college players who aspire to be the next Jerry Rice or Adrian Peterson.

If they're paying attention to the commish's edict they just might start cleaning up their acts now, so by the time they do get to the NFL they realize that hanging out with their posse's, for instance, can get them kicked out of the league.

Or that beating up their women can get them kicked out of the league ... or that getting drunk and driving their $200,000 cars way over the speed limit can get them kicked out of the league.
Or for that matter, being stuck on themselves ... instead of keeping the team first and foremost ... can get them, well, you get the idea. 

It’s way past time to get some order back into the private lives of many professional athletes.
Playing professional sports is a J-O-B in multi-million dollar corporations ... NOT a game anymore.

And the expectations of those sports company’s employees are no different than those of any other company ... be at work on time, do your job, put in a good day’s effort and … most of all … don't put the company in a bad light or bring any undue hardship on your fellow employees.

I used to work with a guy that the folks in my company nicknamed "Pockets," because he ALWAYS walked around with his hands in his pockets. Nobody wanted to work with the guy because he always made it hard on whomever he was working with.

I contend that Michael Vick put the Atlanta Falcons in a bad light and brought undue hardship on his co-workers because the team couldn’t replace him with a comparable talent … all because of his off-field actions. 

I contend that Plaxico Burress put the New York Giants in a bad light and brought undue hardship on his co-workers because he couldn’t be replaced with a comparable talent … all because of his off-field actions. 

What Goodell is doing is a good thing, especially for the long term good of the league.  

After all … cliché or not … there is no "I" in TEAM.   

(Darron Patterson is an award-winning freelance journalist and owner of WriteStuf Communications, LLC ... www.writestuf.com.)