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Dear Dunta Robinson

During Sunday’s game — a 24-7 loss to the Jets — you wore shoes with the words “Pay me Rick” written on them, a reference to Texans general manager Rick Smith and your contract squabbles.

But as a result, whatever money problems you have just got worse, as the Texans have fined you 25 large. They say it’s because you sent the wrong message. I say it’s because you dropped a comma.

You wanted to write, “Pay me, Rick” instead of “Pay me Rick.” The latter indicates you wanted to be paid not dollars but Rick, which probably just confused team management.

Contract demands — especially those written on shoes — always benefit from clarity.

The faces on the walls

Recommended reading: Alan Schwartz’s New York Times piece on Baltimore Ravens’ cornerback Domonique Foxworth and his personal museum of artifacts of the civil rights movement.

Foxworth has mementos of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Rosa Parks, Tommie Smith and Thurgood Marshall.

Says Foxworth: "Not often, but on occasion I feel guilty. I have all this because I run real fast and I tackle people. I recognize why I’ve been able to do this. It’s not all because of me or my family or my teammates or my coaches. It’s more because of the faces on the walls in my basement."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/sports/football/15foxworth.html

Any surprise here?

When Buffalo signed wide receiver/malcontent Terrell Owens, the team averred that T.O. had been unfairly maligned as a bad teammate and would, in fact, be a wonderful leader for the young Bills.

He’s how he led the team following its opening-season loss to New England: He split without talking to reporters. The man who was given the key to the city upon his arrival, obviously had a key to the back door, and used it.

Meanwhile, Leodis McKelvin, whose fumble set up the Patriots’ winning touchdown, answered every and all question.

That’s leadership.

Friday column: Note to athletes: Get over yourselves

Detroit pitcher Fernando Rodney grabs a baseball at the end of a game and hurls it into the press box. His excuse?

“(I was) emotional. It’s nothing bad. I know I’m not supposed to throw the ball, but I’m feeling in the moment.”

Tennis star Serena Williams verbally abuses and threatens a lineswomen at the U.S. Open. Her excuse?

“I was in the moment.”

Manchester City striker Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor is accused of deliberately stomping on the head of an opposing player and celebrating a goal in a way that resulted in a rain of objects coming from the stands and an injury to a steward. His excuse?

“People who know me, who love me, know that sometimes the emotion is a big part of being a human being,” Adebayor said. “For maybe two or three seconds after scoring the goal, sometimes you just can’t control yourself.”

In other words, I was in the moment.

In other words, I get a pass.

Well, no — you don’t. Any more than Kanye West does for stealing Taylor Swift’s glory during the MTV music video awards show; any more than Joe Wilson does for his outburst during President Barack Obama’s speech before a joint session of Congress.

The “cult of me,” it has been argued, is a legacy from the Enlightenment, enhanced by postmodernism and deconstructionism, and fed by the Sixties and the self-esteem movement.

Wherever it came from, it’s here with a vengeance. The result? Community ideas about right and wrong take a back seat to individual experience. It’s all about my truth, my reality, my experience, my moment.

For the self-validators among us, however, there is the inconvenient truth known as Other People.

For Rodney, it is the reporters he sent scurrying.

For Williams, it’s the line judge she threatened — and Kim Clijsters, whose moment of victory over Serena was marred by her opponent’s blow-up.

For Adebayor, it was Robin van Persie, whose face he lacerated — missing the Arsenal player’s left eye by centimeters — the fans he incited and the steward who took a bottle to the head in the disturbance that followed.

Because there are Other People, even in this “me” climate, there can be consequences for bad behavior.

Rodney was suspended for three games. Williams was penalized on match point and fined, and other action is still possible. Adebayor was charged by England’s Football Association with violent conduct and improper goal celebration and is expected to receive a three-match suspension.

The lesson hopefully learned: All of us are responsible to more than our emotions. We’re responsible to each other.

To the next athlete tempted to worship at the altar of individuality, I say, take a look at the folks around you. Guess what? They’re individuals, too. They’re just not you.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Even when he was killing those dogs?

Here’s the thing.

If you’re going to wear something in a football game as an endorsement or sign of support — such as Terrelle Pryor wearing eyeblack with the name “Vick” on it — you really need to be able to explain that support.

It doesn’t have to be much, but it has to be coherent.

And saying the following, as the Ohio State quarterback did after the Buckeyes’ season-opening victory over Navy, doesn’t quite cut it:

“Not everybody's the perfect person in the world. I mean everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me, whatever. I think that people need a second chance, and I've always looked up to Mike Vick, and I always will.”

“Everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me ...” What?

“I've always looked up to Mike Vick”? Always?

How to inflame a crowd

After Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount made what might turn out to be the mistake of his life — punching Boise State’s Byron Hout after the latter taunted him for the Broncos’ 19-8 victory — the big screen at Broncos Stadium showed the punch over and over and over.

That was helpful exactly how?

Jeter and Gehrig

Derek Jeter passing Lou Gehrig as the all-time Yankee hits leader is as perfectly appropriate as Barry Bonds passing Henry Aaron as baseball’s all-time home run leader was perfectly inappropriate.