Somewhere along the way “voluntary” Organized Team Activities in the National Football League became a must-attend event for coaches, fans and media.

Sorry, players have lives.

Six years ago, former Cowboys linebacker Darren Hambrick uttered his best line, “What does voluntary mean?”

D-Ham was criticized at the time for not attending the club’s OTAs because he was unhappy with his contract. Players who have contract issues and complaints skip the “voluntary” OTAs. That doesn’t make them bad guys.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson has destroyed his good-guy image with his trade demands and his unnecessary public spat with head coach Marvin Lewis and the organization.

Johnson is not wrong to boycott the OTAs because the players association has a deal with the owners that protects the players from being forced to participate.

Mandatory mini-camps are different. All players must show up.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe players should attend OTAs because it will make their teams better, but guys don’t have to have perfect attendance. I certainly can’t recall who decided not to come to all of last year’s voluntary work at Valley Ranch.

Bullies like Miami Dolphins president Bill Parcells want players to live and train year-round at the team’s complex.

Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Taylor skipped Dolphins workouts to participate on the hit show, Dancing with the Stars, and has angered the Tuna. Taylor’s situation has gotten so bad that he has asked the Dolphins to trade him.

It’s a shame, because Taylor was recently named the NFL’s Man of the Year for his work in South Florida. He’s the kind of player Parcells needs, but because he wants a life in the off-season, he is looked at as not being a team player.

Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye supported Taylor’s dancing on a Sirius NFL radio program this week. Ogunleye said too many NFL players never develop skills outside of football during their off-seasons and end up lost. Cowboys safety Roy Williams is on vacation with his family with the OK of coach Wade Phillips. In the eyes of some people who cover the team, you’d have thought he committed a crime.

There is a lot of speculation about Williams’ comfort and role in the defense, but missing one week of four scheduled weeks of OTAs will not get him cut.

The players don’t get paid for voluntary football practices. Voluntary means of one’s free will.

We should remember that.

Newy Scruggs is the sports director at NBC 5.

Bob Ryan writes what he feels.  I had a great talk with him at the Final Four about why it was a mistake for Boston College to leave the Big East for the ACC.

Well the longtime Boston Globe legend brings the heat and truth to why Bill Belichick is hated and why the organization will remain so as long has he is the head coach:

“The sports community now associates the Patriots with cheating. The three Super Bowl championships are, and forever will be, under suspicion. The thought will never go away.”

Ryan does a great job in crafting a piece of why Belichick does what he does:

The rest of the world only knows that Bill Belichick thought he was above the law.

What we have here is a football version of Watergate.

“Bill Belichick is Richard Nixon. Brilliant. Tormented. Paranoid. Controlling. Highly suspicious of the media.

Watergate was overkill. There was no need for it. Like, was Richard Nixon ever really in danger of losing the 1972 election to George McGovern? Spygate was likewise unnecessary. Belichick was, and is, a great football coach. Why did he not trust his own genius to win games honestly, especially after winning his first Super Bowl? Was he that obsessed with victory? Weren’t all those hours staring at tapes enough? Did he think he had a divine right to victory? Clearly, something was churning inside that head.”

Look you have to read this if you love football and good writing.

John Tomase of the Boston Herald wanted to break the story. 

He wanted to break the story that the New England Patriots videotaped the St. Louis Rams walk through practice before Super Bowl XXXVI.

Tomase broke the story…but it was a lie.   He was wrong and has ruined his name in sports crazy Boston.   His name is trash in the Patriots organization.

He tries to explain his actions, but in my mind, it just goes to show you want athletes and coaches hate the sports media.

It is a must read. 

The Cowboys are about to screw up…BIG TIME.

Tomorrow the club will have a press conference to announce that HBO and NFL Films get another shot at reality TV with America’s Team.

Hard Knocks is the NFL’s attempt at trying to “go behind” the scenes at training camp.

That’s it Jerry Jones, make it a big circus again. This is the type of move that will sink the 2008 season. Name a team that has won a championship doing this?

The Cowboys looked like slappies in 2002 when they did Hard Knocks in San Antonio.

Jerry Jones was on TV cutting players. Dave Campo looked silly playing with Shamu at Sea World and rookie wide receiver Randal Williams never lived down a comment from his mother in which she described reasons why she didn’t want him running on the streets of New York City as a boy, one was “he could be gay”.

Then quarterback Chad Hutchinson was playing his guitar with teammate Richmond Flowers in their room. Both guys looked corny and proved they couldn’t play a lick.

After going 5-11 some players felt teammates were “acting” for the camera. That alone is a reason to tell NFL Films and HBO “no thanks”.

profootballtalk.com says, “Storylines the show is likely to focus on for this year’s version of the show include the hands-on approach of owner Jerry Jones, how rookie running back Felix Jones adjusts to his first camp, restricted free agent running back Marion Barber’s contract negotiations and the relationship between wide receiverTerrell Owens and quarterback Tony Romo.”

I don’t see how head coach Wade Phillips will look good in this. Campo looked for Boo Boo the fool in the 2002 series.

Does quarterback Tony Romo need anymore cameras in his face? Does Pacman Jones need to have camera following him to the Spearmint Rhino strip club in Oxnard after practice?

I had high hopes for this group, not anymore.

newy@newdawg.com

The Super Bowl upset win in February and a new bride in April.   2008 has been a good year for the Giants quarterback.

Bang it here for a look at his Mexican wedding photos.