Raiders cross bay rival 49ers running afoul of the law at breakneck pace

What is happening with the 49ers these days? This time last year, they were one of the least troubled teams in the NFL. Now they are a complete mess. The latest incident involving Aldon Smith whose run-ins with the law have been many over the past year.

Smith was arrested at Los Angeles International airport after allegedly getting into an argument with a TSA agent and making a false report of a bomb threat. He was detained for a few hours until posting a $20,000 bond. If convicted, he could face up to a year in prison.

This recent arrest makes the fifth arrest of a 49ers player in the past year. It comes right on the heels of cornerback Chris Culliver's arrest just over two weeks ago for felony hit and run, reckless driving, and threatening a man with brass knuckles.

The Raiders signed the 49ers two starting corners from last season - Tarell Brown and Carlos Rogers - and Culliver was supposed to take over one of those starting jobs. Looks like the 49ers didn't choose too wisely with that one.

Choosing wisely is in short supply with the Raiders' cross-bay rivals these days. And that is to say nothing of the incident last week in which quarterback Colin Kaepernick, wide receiver Quinton Patton and former 49ers wide receiver, Ricardo Lockette are being investigated with regard to an incident with a woman in Miami being referred to as a "suspicious incident."

That's not to say Kaepernick, Patton, and Lockette did anything wrong. No arrests have been made and it could turn out to be nothing. But when tossed in with everything else, it just adds to an already pretty ugly stint.

These issues have not been just a string of bad luck over the past couple weeks. This has been going on a lot lately with the 49ers. Consider that no team has had more arrests over the past year.

The next most arrests goes to the Jets with four. Then five teams are tied with three arrests: Broncos, Colts, Buccaneers, Browns, Vikings, and Ravens.

It is important to note that the Raiders have not had an arrest over the past year - One of 11 teams to do so.

In a study done last year of team arrests since 2000, the Raiders were ranked tied for 15th in the NFL with 19 arrests. Over the past year the Ravens passed them up so the Raiders have now dropped to 16th which is right in the middle of the pack.

In that same study, the 49ers were ranked tied for 26th with 13 arrests since 2000. They now have jumped way up the chart to tied for 18th with 18 arrests. How they could go from one of the least arrested teams in the league over the first 13 years of the new millennium to jumping 8 spots in one year is pretty outstanding.

The ironic part is this started just about that time Jim Harbaugh said of his division rival Seahawks that their players should be "beyond reproach." Now they have won a Super Bowl and he can't seem to keep his players out of the tank.

Don't worry, though, Raiders fans. Even though the Vikings are far and away the most arrested team since 2000 (43), the Bengals are not far behind (41), the Super Bowl losing AFC West rival Broncos have nearly twice as many arrests (37), the nearby 49ers are re-enacting The Longest Yard, and the Patriots have a player facing life in prison on multiple murder charges, you can rest easy knowing sports fans will continue to say every criminal player out there would "make the perfect Raider".

That being said, Aldon Smith could be facing a lengthy suspension as this is his third arrest as an NFL player -- One for DUI and the other for weapons possession. It's hard to say if he will be able to turn his football career around, but hopefully he can at least turn his life around.

Can't really say the same for the 49ers.

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