Adam “Pacman” Jones, whom I am happy to refer to as a former Titan, has things backward: You have to change your behavior before you can change your nickname.

A friend of mine in college had established a pattern of bad decisions and had endured plenty of ridicule for them. One semester, he declared that he wasn’t the same fellow anymore and that those days were behind him. He made this announcement loudly and frequently, but his actions never matched his words. The ridicule never stopped, either.

Hopefully Jones will reach a point where he realizes that he’ll have to keep his nose clean for a long period of time before his legacy as “Pacman” is behind him. I don’t think he’s there yet, but we’ll see.

If this kind of news is going to go away, Titans cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones is going to have to decide that he wants to stay away from trouble more than he wants to party:

The aftermath of a weekend in Las Vegas is ugly: three people shot at a strip club, with one still in critical condition. A combination of celebrities with money and strippers fighting over it started a melee that led to the bloody scene. It happened Monday at 5 a.m. at Minxx Gentleman’s Club off the Vegas strip.

Pacman Jones was in the middle of it all, though on Tuesday his lawyer [Worrick Robinson] reiterated that the Titans cornerback is not a suspect … “[Las Vegas police Sergeant Jon Sott] told me he was really disgusted at the way there were attempts to implicate Pacman,” Robinson said. “But they said again he is not a suspect, and they don’t see anything changing. He said they have a description but it’s not Pacman. … I think this chapter is close to being closed…”

After a judge dismissed a case against him earlier this month, Jones said he had learned his lesson and would try and do a better job of picking his spots to hang out. [emphasis added] “Maybe I’ll chill out as a jazz bar or something with some older folks,” he said. As for what Jones took out of Monday morning’s incident, Robinson said: “It scared him. Pacman said he was scared and he’ll tell you he heard the gunshots and they stepped it up and got out of there. I think this is pretty much behind him now, but yeah, it scared him.”

I’m not convinced yet that this incident or ongoing trouble is “behind” Jones. The problem, in my opinion, is that trouble continues to be “in front” of him. When you are trying to overcome negative public opinion, being confirmed as a non-suspect is not enough.