Hello there. Now that it’s 1997, we’re embarking on yet another fun-filled year, especially in sports. Of course, we have a lot to look forward to.

However, some things never really change. One of the biggies was with the Dallas Cowboys throughout this past season.

Whether through their own actions of stupidity or through outsiders’ (read: the media and the fans) actions, they are working on going from “America’s Team” to “America’s Most Wanted.”

First of all, before the season had even started, star wide receiver Michael Irvin was in trouble with the law on drug possession charges. He was eventually convicted on those charges, but sentenced to only probation and some community service time.

For his indiscretions, the NFL also suspended him for the first five games of this season. During this time, the Cowboys’ record was only 2-3, hardly inspiring for a defending Super Bowl champion.

Then in November, starting defensive tackle Leon Lett (of fumbling fame in Super Bowl XXVII) was suspended for one year after failing another drug test administered by the NFL. Once he comes back next year, if he fails another drug test, he is banned from the league Dexter Manley-style.

Of course, there was the recent incident Pro Bowl-caliber offensive lineman Erik Williams and another man allegedly raping a 23-year-old woman while Irvin held a gun to her head. This was later proven to be false by the Dallas police, who managed to prove Irvin’s alibi that he was elsewhere that night and believed Williams’ story. Charges of filing a false report have recently been filed against the young woman.

Had the woman’s story been true, Irvin would have gone to prison for at least a year for the crime as well as violating his probation from the earlier conviction.

What does this all prove? Is the American sports scene going to hell in a hand basket?

Of course not, but it might tell us something about how these star athletes are treated and perceived by many in the public, especially those who would stand to make some money off of these athletes.

The Cowboys, just for our example here, could be simply losing control of their players. Their coach, Barry Switzer, is no stranger to this.

While he was the coach at Oklahoma, players under his control, including the star quarterback, were charged with various crimes ranging from drug possession to rape. It tends to make one think of whether he learned anything from this experience, including landing the Sooners’ football program on NCAA probation and his subsequent three-year vacation from coaching before he took the Cowboys’ job.

Overall, let’s just hope the athletes out there know a little something about staying out of trouble. Regardless of whether they should be held up as role models for little kids everywhere, it wouldn’t hurt for them to simply obey the laws like the rest of us.

Rob Daniel is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Zio