Why is it that athletes, coaches and administrators cannot seem to behave themselves?

In the past seven days Damon Evans — the athletic director at the University of Georgia — was arrested for DUI, Tennessee Titans backup quarterback Chris Simms was arrested for smoking marijuana while driving, former Seton Hall basketball coach Bobby Gonzalez was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting and former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell was arrested for possession of a controlled substance.

It has been a busy week. It follows a week in which Tennessee Titans starting quarterback Vince Young was in an altercation at a Dallas-area strip club a few days after police questioned Michael Vick — who is the co-poster child of NFL misbehavior along with Adam “Pacman” Jones — after somebody was shot in the leg at his birthday party.

What is going on with athletes these days? Surely they know that if they get in trouble it will be in the news and on the Internet in a matter of moments.

As fans struggle through the recession they are getting fed up with multimillionaires who think the rules do not apply to them. Most fans don’t make millions of dollars, but somehow they manage to stay out of trouble.

Ben Roethlisberger has won a pair of Super Bowls as the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but instead of being satisfied with his success he allowed himself to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was twice accused of sexual assault.

Of all the people mentioned above, Russell had the biggest reason to misbehave. The former No. 1 draft pick will probably go down as one of the biggest busts in NFL history, so it is fair to say he didn’t really have anything to lose.

The rest of the players, coaches and administrators on mentioned above were good athletes capable of having good careers had they not gotten in trouble.

With so much on the line, why would anybody risk so much to get only trouble and infamy in return?