Goodell to hear union's Pacman suspension appeal Friday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The NFL will hear the appeal by the players union on behalf of suspended Tennessee Titans cornerback Pacman Jones by telephone on Friday afternoon.

A person familiar with details of Jones' appeal told the Associated Press of the hearing, but requested anonymity because the scheduling has not been officially announced.

Commissioner Roger Goodell declined to ease Jones' season-long suspension Nov. 6, and the NFL Players Association appealed that decision a couple days later. But the union's appeal has been limited because Jones dropped his own appeal in June.

The NFL declined to comment when asked if the appeal would be heard Friday. Union officials did not return several messages from the Associated Press. They realize their appeal has little chance of success, especially with the hearing coming with only two weeks left in the 2007 season.

The appeal was first reported by the Tennessean in its Thursday editions.

Jones' status in the NFL will be reviewed by league officials once the Titans' season ends. The Titans (7-6) remain in contention for their first playoff berth since 2003.

Goodell suspended the sixth pick overall in the 2005 draft for the 2007 season in April, a move that followed Jones being tabbed by Las Vegas police for inciting a strip club fight that led to a triple shooting Feb. 19, leaving one man paralyzed.

Jones has been arrested six times since being drafted, including two arrests in Georgia in 2006 that the Titans did not learn about until 2007. He reached a plea deal last month in Las Vegas, settling two felony counts of coercion into a gross misdemeanor.

Also Thursday night, Jones told a high school football banquet in Nashville that he's "made a whole lot of bad decisions."

Addressing the Whites Creek players, he said trouble "is easy to get into, hard to get out of."

"I loved to enjoy myself," Jones said. "I came from $10 in the bank to $15 million in the bank. The hardest thing for me to do was turn my back on my friends. At the end of the day, I learned things the hard way."