If there is one thing that rubs me the wrong way, it's a frivolous lawsuit, especially one that is just done to make a point or garner publicity.

That was the case with the recent suit against Syracuse mens basketball coach Jim Boeheim.  The one where two former ball boys accused him of libel when he commented about their accusations against his former assistant Bernie Fine and his alleged sex abuse of those young men.  It got thrown out of court.

Now we have two new ones.  One that is an extension of that same case where Fine's wife Laurie is suing ESPN for false and misleading reporting.  She is saying they twisted her words and took them out of context in order to further sensationalize the whole Fine story.  I saw and heard that report and can't wait to see how she tries to prove her point.  I don't know how she can.  It was pretty cut and dried to me.  I would bet my house that her case will be thrown out of court as well.

Now today, we get word of another ridiculous lawsuit, this one from New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma.  Vilma is the player in the "bounty-gate" scandal that drew the harshest penalty from Roger Goodell and the NFL--suspension for a year.

Vilma is accused of putting up his own money to intentionally injure an opposing player.  Goodell and his men didn't decide on this penalty in a willy-nilly fashion.  There was a complete investigation that took MONTHS.  They know who did what, how often and for how much.  I am pretty confident that if they are suspending Vilma for a year, they have some pretty gosh darn good evidence to back it up. 

Now Vilma is crying a river that Goodell made inflammatory comments about him that were "injurious and defamatory to  Vilma's reputation both professionally and personally".

Poppycock!

Vilma was caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, and now he is trying to save whats left of his reputation.  Plain and simple. 

What does Vilma want?  Does he want Goodell to suspend him for a year and tell the media he is a swell guy, who is great with children and loves animals?  What's next--David Berkowitz, AKA "the Son of Sam" serial killer, suing the New York city police commissioner? 

Look, you did the crime, now you gotta do the time, and that includes being reviled as the baddest of the bad guys in the whole "bounty-gate" thing.  You're not going to change peoples opinions of you just because you sue a guy who said mean things about you.  It only makes you look like a crybaby and whiner.

If Vilma really wanted to change people's opinions of him, he ought to show some contrition, admit his role, say he was sorry, and then use the money he is going to waste on this trial to donate it to some kind of victim's of abuse organization.  Then take his medicine and enjoy his year off the best he can, hopefully by volunteering with as many community groups in New Orleans that he can. 

Of course he won't do that.  As a spoiled, selfish and self-centered athlete who makes millions of dollars, it is all about him.  He will go through with his stupid lawsuit, watch it get thrown out of court, and then probably cry racism and say that the justice system is skewed against black athletes like himself.

It's a sad situation all around.  I am not a big fan of the punishments in the "bounty-gate" scandal to begin with.  As I have said previously, I think there are a lot more teams that do things like that than just the Saints.  They are the ones who got caught, and what made it worse was the Saints seemingly thumbing their nose at the NFL.  Still, Goodell took a tough stance, and is backing that up with harsh punishments in an effort to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again.  I can't fault him for that. 

Now if only Vilma and the rest of the culprits could just subjugate themselves to the greater good, without crying about it, the rest of us could just move forward.