Pacman Jones and “Limited Hangout”

By: D.K. Wilson

Adam “Pacman” Jones says he can’t say he’s never, ever going to strip clubs but he says he is staying away from the poled palaces for the next “three or four years.”

Jones is a fantastic athlete with that rare combination - for a human being - of absolute fearlessness plus the ability to see the field and get his body to do exactly what his mind is telling it do to that most men like to think they have but really do not. This makes for incredible football players but has no bearing on actions and decisions made in the real world.

That Jones has encountered no problems since his suspension helps his cause in seeking reinstatement to the NFL by Commissioner Roger Goodell. That Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has stated that he is interested in trading with the Tennessee Titans for the cornerback and punt-kickoff returner also bolsters the argument for Jones’ reinstatement.

We hear the arguments for and against Jones’ return to the league by NFL pundits. Though most do not believe that Pacman is “cured” of “stripclubitits” and some believe, rightly or wrongly, that adding him to a Dallas Cowboys locker room that already has Terrell Owens and Terry “Tank” Johnson as denizens would result in ruining the Cowboys’ team chemistry, they cannot really argue against his reinstatement simply for the fact that none of the myriad charges against him resulted in guilty verdicts and jail time or even being sentenced to any meaningful probationary periods.

However, according to recently retired(?) Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Kyle Turley (who, for the record, no longer wears his hair long) there is something the public is not being told about the Jones case. Wednesday morning Turley was interviewed by Mike Golic and Eric Kuselias on ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning show. Though the bulk of their conversation dealt with the “hair protruding from the helmet and covering a players’ name” issue, they also asked Turley, known as a player unafraid to provide his opinion on any topic, for his feelings on Adam Jones’ reinstatement.

At that moment, Turley turned a relatively mundane conversation into something potentially combustible.

Robert Susnar is the co-owner of the strip club, Minxx, in Las Vegas in which the infamous, “make it rain” incident that left bouncer, Tom Urbanski, paralyzed. Turley indicated to Kuselias and Golic that he attended San Diego State University with Susnar, knew him well, and Susnar divulged the details of the All-Star Weekend incident to the Chiefs tackle. According to the former Chief, Susnar went so far as to walk Turley through the entire incident, moment by moment.

Turley stated that everything that happened that night was on a security tape and that the tape revealed the extent of Jones’ role in the fight and subsequent shooting. He also related that there was information told to him by Susnar that led him to believe that Jones’ part in the incident was so deep that there is no way that Goodell should reinstate the Titans cornerback. The ex-NFLer then said that there were other celebrities who were equally responsible for the escalation of the melee.

And Turley went so far as to say that if people knew the extent to which they were involved the case would take on a whole new level of interest and scrutiny.

“There’s a lot more to this story than people want to know. I wish the entire thing would come out and who was there and who Pacman was in cahoots with…. Pacman was definitely involved with this whole thing and the instigator of the whole incident.”

Further, Turley went onto imply that there is, on the part of the NFL, an active cover-up of the events of Feb. 20, 2007.

It was reported that rap music moguls Nelly and Jermaine Dupri were also on hand at Minxx and were major contributors to the trash bag that ended up at Jones’ table containing over $80,000 one dollar bills.

The NFL has always remained mum about their knowledge of the case and despite its original impetus, the case as a whole including Urbanski’s plight, has been largely shoved into the media-public memory hole.

Will we ever truly know Adam Jones role in this case? Jones said he did not know the man who fired shots into the strip club from the door but it was widely reported that he was sitting at Jones table that night:


“He denied any knowledge of the shooter, but he was sitting right next to him,” club co-owner Robert Susnar told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for Wednesday’s edition. “Those guys came in together and left together.”Jones’ lawyer, Worrick Robinson, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Jones did not know anyone involved in the shooting and was interviewed by local authorities as a witness, not as a suspect. Police have not said Jones is a person of interest in the case.

Susnar said his recollection of the events was based upon his interviews with employees and club surveillance video….

Jones tossed hundreds of $1 bills on the stripper stage, Susnar said, adding that when a dancer started grabbing the money without Jones’ permission, he got angry, grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the stage.

Security guard Aaron Cudworth, a mixed-martial artist with professional fighting experience, intervened and scuffled with Jones and members of his entourage, he said.

Jones then threatened to kill the guard, Susnar said.

Order was eventually restored and everyone moved outside before the gunman opened fire toward the front door of the club, hitting Cudworth, security guard Tom Urbanski and a female customer, he said.

“He goes out, retrieves a gun, then shoots two security guards, pretty much making good on the threat made by Pacman Jones,” Susnar said.

Susnar’s information comes from interviews and reviewing the surveillance tape that acts as a record of the incident. It is interesting that, in relation to the tape, no leaks have occurred. No one has come forward to say that they have seen the tape and revealed any of its contents - even under the condition of anonymity.

Jones, of course, is closed-mouthed about the events of that night. However, from all the whispers, all the mutterings, and the manner in which information is so closely-guarded that there are no - or very few - substantiated reports from “sources”, there is much more to this picture than we know.

And Adam Jones is at the center of what would be a maelstrom if all the information concerning the case was revealed.

The best thing for the NFL is to allow Jones to play and let the league’s “frontier justice” run its course. If things are as Turley says, there are many players who do not want Pacman back in the league and he will be a wanted, hunted man on the field. If Goodell extends his suspension, Jones lawyers will continue to make public their case for Jones’ return to the NFL. And all publicity surrounding this case is bad publicity for Goodell and his bosses, the team owners.

However, the alternative to all of this is that the information detailing the events of Feb. 20, 2007 at the Las Vegas strip club called Minxx become public. But it would be so explosive and potentially so damaging to so many people, the least of who might be Jones, that honesty in this case is outweighed by prudence. So the alternative to all of this is a CIA term for putting forth a sacrificial lamb to the public to keep real understanding of an incident under wraps - “limited hangout.” It is a way of saying “I’m sorry” without having to reveal the total damage done.

That is what the last 13 months has been, an exercise in limited hangout.

Lives have been ruined as a result of this incident. But to what extent, sadly we will never know. And the NFL we so love will continue unabated having skirted yet another potentially devastating scandal.

But Roger Goodell and his owners need to be careful - very careful.

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    D.K. Wilson is a freelance sports writer. He is better known on the internet as "DWil," and writes for Sports On My Mind.

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