An Unsettling Trend

March 22, 2010

South Florida professional athletes getting arrested. It's a new trend that has sprung up in the past year or so. While it happened sporadically in the past, it seems that its frequency has elevated in recent times.

In May of 2009, Miami Dolphins DT Randy Starks was arrested on a felony charge for aggravated assault on an officer. In February of 2010, CB Will Allen was arrested on DIU charges. In the same month, DT Tony McDaniel was arrested on domestic violence charges. And this weekend we find that RB Ronnie Brown has joined this shameful company by being arrested outside of Atlanta, GA, on DIU charges.

But this isn't only a Miami Dolphins issue. The Miami Heat have had their share of brushes with the authorities after G Carlos Arroyo (resisted arrest during a traffic stop) and F Dorell Wright (charged with DIU) were arrested in February and March of 2010, respectively.

What we are left with is an unsettling trend. 

For the Dolphins, this symbolizes a philosophical schism between what they preach to their players and their players actions. It only harms the integrity of the Dolphins organization and brings into question the control over their players. Now that it has affected their star running back, we will see if the team decides to address this issue at an organizational level or continue to deal with it individually. For the sake of the franchise, the former should be the proper choice.

As for the Heat, two incidents are not as alarming as four, but their arrests did occur in consecutive months. With Erik Spoelstra's credibility already under much scrutiny, actions such as those by Arroyo and Wright do not help his cause and raise more questions about his ability to control his players. Perhaps adopting an organizational approach to this issue would also benefit the Heat, in an effort to prevent future arrests from occurring. If tomorrow Dwyane Wade was cuffed up and taken away it would rattle the team's foundation and potentially harm their offseason endeavors.

Like fashion, this is a trend that will likely fade away. But this is not a matter to be fashionably late on. It's time for this to go out of style. Now.