Bottom line

Apparently the National Football League has solved all its problems -- the doping, the cheating, the illegal and immoral off-field antics of its players.

How else can you explain the NFL's latest crackdown? The league is setting its sights on players who may be flashing suspected gang signs during games.

This clearly is playing off the 2007 gang-related slaying of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. And the NFL should bring pressure to bear on players to act more like Boy Scouts and less like Boyz n the Hood .

But punishing players for signing?

Any number of players throw signs representing their black college fraternities. Other players show signs that merely identify what neighborhood they're from. And experts will tell you that the two-finger peace sign and the symbol for "OK" are indistinguishable from signs with gang meanings. A sign crackdown would be virtually unenforceable.

If gang culture really is encroaching in the NFL, surely there's a more substantial way to attack the problem, instead of going after a perceived symptom.