Twigz
06-23-2008, 06:23 AM
You can call him Mr. Jones or Adam — he’s fine with either — but he asks that you no longer call him Pacman.
There is really only person who Adam Jones is OK with calling him by the name that he made famous, then infamous. That person is the one who gave him the nickname as an infant.
“My mom is going to call me Pacman,” Jones said. “That is what it is. I can’t change that.”
Jones spent time on Saturday afternoon at at youth summer basketball camp held by Dallas Mavericks forward Brandon Bass at the Martin Safe Haven Boys & Girls Club in Fort Worth.
Although Jones has not been fully reinstated by the NFL for the 2008 season, the Dallas Cowboys cornerback is continuing to integrate himself with the team and in the community.
Part of the rehabilitation of a battered image is dropping the name that was once cute but now serves as a reminder of all the questionable decisions Jones has made.
“It’s really just a lot of negativity behind it. It’s time for a change,” Jones said. “I’m doing everything to make sure I’m all right as a person, mentally and emotionally.”
The transition isn’t going to happen immediately, or easily. Before he was introduced to speak to the almost 60 children at the camp, he was called Pacman. He can control how he signs his name for an adoring fan, but the name people call him may largely depend on his behavior.
For the record, Jones said he has not been in contact with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Jones said he plans to remain in Dallas before training camp begins July 24 in Oxnard, Calif.
He said the transition to the Cowboys, and playing football after a year's layoff, is going well. But any talk about starting ahead of Anthony Henry is premature.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Jones, who took some snaps with the first-team defense in the Cowboys' recent minicamp. “When we get there we’ll see, but right now I got a lot of work to do to get back to where I want to be. I’m still a little rusty.”
Jones is not rusty in giving his “don’t do what I did” speech, which he now delivers to any willing listener.
“[Don’t] be a knucklehead, man,” Jones said. “Listen to what people tell you and surround yourself with good people. And my situation, I didn’t really have anyone to tell me. I didn’t have a father figure. The biggest thing, I don’t want to see [the kids] go through what I went through. I don’t think everybody could go through what I went through and still just be all right and not be in a mental institution or not just give up.”
There is really only person who Adam Jones is OK with calling him by the name that he made famous, then infamous. That person is the one who gave him the nickname as an infant.
“My mom is going to call me Pacman,” Jones said. “That is what it is. I can’t change that.”
Jones spent time on Saturday afternoon at at youth summer basketball camp held by Dallas Mavericks forward Brandon Bass at the Martin Safe Haven Boys & Girls Club in Fort Worth.
Although Jones has not been fully reinstated by the NFL for the 2008 season, the Dallas Cowboys cornerback is continuing to integrate himself with the team and in the community.
Part of the rehabilitation of a battered image is dropping the name that was once cute but now serves as a reminder of all the questionable decisions Jones has made.
“It’s really just a lot of negativity behind it. It’s time for a change,” Jones said. “I’m doing everything to make sure I’m all right as a person, mentally and emotionally.”
The transition isn’t going to happen immediately, or easily. Before he was introduced to speak to the almost 60 children at the camp, he was called Pacman. He can control how he signs his name for an adoring fan, but the name people call him may largely depend on his behavior.
For the record, Jones said he has not been in contact with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Jones said he plans to remain in Dallas before training camp begins July 24 in Oxnard, Calif.
He said the transition to the Cowboys, and playing football after a year's layoff, is going well. But any talk about starting ahead of Anthony Henry is premature.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Jones, who took some snaps with the first-team defense in the Cowboys' recent minicamp. “When we get there we’ll see, but right now I got a lot of work to do to get back to where I want to be. I’m still a little rusty.”
Jones is not rusty in giving his “don’t do what I did” speech, which he now delivers to any willing listener.
“[Don’t] be a knucklehead, man,” Jones said. “Listen to what people tell you and surround yourself with good people. And my situation, I didn’t really have anyone to tell me. I didn’t have a father figure. The biggest thing, I don’t want to see [the kids] go through what I went through. I don’t think everybody could go through what I went through and still just be all right and not be in a mental institution or not just give up.”