"The Fantoo Girls - these are the girls you wish were sitting next to you at the sports bar on game day."

How ironic that the seemingly rarest personal attribute in today's world should have the word "common" present in its inappropriately descriptive moniker. Take a quick gander around the news these days and it seems that there is nothing common anymore about good old fashioned common sense.

In the last few weeks alone we have been subjected to zero common sense coming from Don Imus (able to disparage an entire race and gender in three words), the government (sending home soldiers who have given their lives to defend our country in the underbelly of aircraft alongside cargo, to be removed with forklifts on a runway), and my personal favorite that I witnessed directly, a woman driving on the highway who thought text messaging while doing 65 MPH during a wind storm was a good idea. Love that, no?

I may not be a scholar, but sometimes the actions (or inactions) of others make me feel downright brilliant on any given day. But something still baffles me - who stole common sense from those in positions of leadership or with public platforms? What alternate life force crawled inside their heads and made them universally dumb? How is it that the simplest of solutions to problems in our world evade them when they are often surrounded by many advisors and handlers paid to guide them?

Which brings me to the NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). When one looks objectively at the NFL as a whole, it's hard to find fault with the league, especially when comparing them to other sports leagues. You have to hand it to them -- they found a way to make football a 12-month obsession. Awards should be bestowed for making just the release of the league's upcoming schedule a momentous occasion. Even the Scouting Combine is becoming must-see TV for the die-hards. They also have a whole TV network and a 24/7 satellite radio station. That's a pretty wild grip they have on the American sports fan psyche. And now thanks to Commissioner "Take No Prisoners" Goodell, we have the makings of a personal conduct policy that ought to scare any player straight. Common sense says if your best players are in jail your sport suffers. Goodell acted and the sport, its fans, and the athletes themselves will benefit.

Here's where it all goes terribly wrong for me though. The NFL and the NFLPA disregard the contributions made by the retired players that paved the way for the league to be where it is today. The NFLPA has failed itself, its mission statement, the retired players and the fans. For a league that honors the sport better than any other, they seem to have forgotten that the sport is carried out by people who deserve to be honored as well.

I am specifically upset about the treatment of the 325 former players ? many of whom are enshrined in the Hall of Fame ? that receive a pension of less than $150.00 per month. And even if they aren't of that caliber, they deserve to receive more in a monthly pension than a barista receives in tips on a busy weekend.

The NFLPA proudly posts its mission statement on the home page of its Web site, right next to the announcement of Gene Upshaw's reelection as Executive Director by a unanimous vote, which was carried out during the Player Representative Meeting last month on the island of Maui, a place those 325 former players subsisting on below poverty wages will likely never visit. Here it is in its entirety:

"We, The National Football League Players Association ... Pay homage to our predecessors for their courage, sacrifice, and vision; ... Pledge to preserve and enhance the democratic involvement of our members; ... Confirm our willingness to do whatever is necessary for the betterment of our membership - To preserve our gains and achieve those goals not yet attained."

Well, curiously the NFLPA lists first and foremost in its mission statement that it wants to pay homage to those that paved the way. How about paying the cold, hard cash needed by the retired players for the litany of pills they must ingest to get about their day, not to mention just the basic health insurance necessary to take care of a body that spent years playing a collision sport that was pretty rough back then? The very same sport that has made millionaires and billionaires out of athletes, owners and other businesses associated with the NFL.

Common sense says that at the very least the NFL and the NFLPA should pay the health care costs of the players for the balance of their lives. The game is so physically punishing, and the league survives on the willingness of the players to put their health last and the health of the team first, that covering health care costs for life should be a no-brainer. Just something that one does because there is NO good reason not to. You know, common sense.

I challenge anyone to show me how a goodwill gesture such as paying for the healthcare of a finite number of people, in this case a mere 325, has bankrupted an entity that makes billions of dollars. In contrast, I would argue that organizations who give to those who have paved the way to extraordinary success have found the ultimate return on their goodwill investment to be well worth the initial price. Why not get Blue Cross to sponsor it and give them some free stadium signage in return? With those minds at the NFL who have achieved so much in terms of commercial success there must be a way to creatively make this work. All it would take is a little common sense and a dash of elbow grease.

Random Thoughts From A Redhead

• I know it would be a challenge to alter the baseball schedule to take into consideration the fact that winter is still in full swing in many parts of the country come April, but when the play on the field suffers because of extreme cold -- and one can't argue that it hasn't -- something needs to be done.
• Am I alone in thinking Ricky Williams deserves some serious consideration? How fitting would that signing be? The one that got picked and the one that got away come together at last to catch the elusive Lombardi trophy ... I smell Hollywood release.
• Forget about rooting for the Sixers to win or lose to alter their lotteryhopes (time has run out on that one anyway). Instead, root that the NBA changes a flawed system that does nothing to enhance the league at large.
• I'd like to meet just one of the people that gets 14 servings out of a half-gallon of ice cream.

Robin McConaughy, Fantoo General Manager Carol and Robin are hosts of the podcast Fantoo Girls - Where the Girls Talk Sports, a national sports-talk podcast, which won the distinction of 'Best Sports Podcast' in the 2006 People's Choice Podcast Awards. They also host a show on Philadelphia's Sports Talk 950 AM from 8-10 AM on Saturdays.   Carol Doroba, Fantoo Head Coach The company they co-founded, Fantoo, Inc., was created as a lifestyle brand for the sports fan. In addition to web and radio broadcasting efforts Carol and Robin are creating TV and Broadband content for sports fans everywhere which focuses on education, entertainment and, of course, opinion.

Roger Goodell cracked down hard on the issue of player conduct off the field last week -- handing down a beefy, commitment-laden one-year suspension to Adam "Pacman" Jones and an eight-game suspension to Chris Henry. Plus, Tank Johnson can expect Goodell to spread a little more of the no-tolerance cheer his way when he is released from jail (coincidentally, just before the start of training camp).

Though Jones claims he'll be taking his suspension "like a man," he will also appeal the ruling, claiming he should be back on the field after 10 games. Ten games? Is that one game for every time the police were summoned to Jones' Nashville home? I don't think that's exactly "taking it like a man." It sounds more like "taking it like someone who has some debtors to pay and who has no remorse for his tangles with the law."

But what of Pacman's return? Will his value be as tarnished as his reputation?

Before last week and reflecting back on some of the best athletes who have been forced to serve suspensions, I would have said no, his stock will not go down as a result of the penalty, especially if he said and did all the right things to convince management that he is anxious to return and redeem himself. And what team wouldn't want to believe? His numbers on the field are irresistible and he is easily the biggest difference-maker on the Titans defense and special teams. And what fan wouldn't want to believe? We are the ultimate suckers because we want to win.

But Goodell is not done yet. The X-factor still to be determined is the teams' punishment for providing safe harbor to the leagues' miscreants. The discussed penalty could be a draft pick - and that changes everything.

All of the sudden, it matters to everyone in the organization when someone gets arrested or is struggling with staying clean. Taking a chance on someone like a Marcus Vick or Albert Haynesworth (not to mention Jones himself) could become just a little too risky.

Until this point, teams have been known to give major slack to top talent who have had some pre-NFL trouble or trouble while in the league. Even Maurice Clarett managed to get signed to a four-year deal -- and this after an academic scandal at Ohio State University, filing a false police report, landing at the Combine 20 pounds overweight, drinking in the Broncos weight room and nursing a chronic injury. The Broncos finally came to their senses and released him before the start of the season, but you get the picture - it took a lot for his behavior to overshadow the promise of his talent.

If a draft pick is at stake, character becomes a centerpiece and not a side note in the selection process and in the locker room. Still, there will always be allowances made for talent -- and the proposed changes will never save teams from having someone like Terrell Owens come in and drop an A-bomb on the club's chemistry. Though "Little T's" inability to mesh eventually undid him here, too, his ability to perform is and always will be his get-out-of-jail-free card. He had suitors lining up even before his No. 81 jersey was being burned in effigy at Broad and Pattison.

Teams will make the same mistakes on high-performing divas until hell freezes over. And if a draft pick is on the table, there will be additional agonizing over selecting someone who has a previous rap sheet. This is especially true in the draft, where players often mature and give up some bad habits when they make the transition from college to the NFL.

Interestingly enough, Ricky Williams is just finishing his one-year suspension triggered by four violations of the NFL substance-abuse policy. Williams is now asking for reinstatement and it is widely rumored that he will get the nod. Will teams in this new era of restrictions and "snitch rules" be anxious to take a closer look at Williams if he returns to the NFL this year? I am certain of it.

Unlike most players returning from suspensions for substance-abuse, Williams has actually taken a personal journey to gain ownership of his problem. After a stint in the CFL, Williams joined an ashram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashram) to get himself together. And I do believe that if you can kick a drug habit teaching yoga in a town called Grass Valley, you can kick it anywhere.

He attributed his drug use to playing through pain and playing with a team whose offensive strategy was a one-trick "give the ball to Ricky" pony. Playing through the pain will not change, but if the offensive strategy doesn't include Williams touching the ball on nearly every down, the stress will be a little different.

Williams said in a recent interview that, were he to choose his role, he would be the No. 2 role player at running back -- picking up the slack, but not the go-to guy on every play. Hmmmmmm ? I wonder what team could use a rehabilitated, well-rested Pro Bowl MVP as a support back?

All speculation (and dreaming, and draft irony) aside, when you compare the risk of signing (or re-signing) a player like Williams to a player like Jones, who would you be more likely to choose? The one who makes even his drug-dealing friend look like a responsible person or the one that has been searching for inner peace and looks to prove, as an individual, that he can play in the NFL without turning to drugs?

Though I am not sure that rescinding a draft pick is the right punishment for teams, it sure will make them think. New locker room leaders will emerge and there will be a genuine interest (from the players, the management and the fans) in individuals staying on the straight and narrow.

As long as the big business of the NFL doesn't turn into Big Brother, I think I can get behind a little more pressure for athletes to stay out of the back of a police car and instead be role models.