Sunday

Was Pacman the source of Adam Jones’ border meltdown?

Baltimore Orioles centerfielder Adam Jones was detained at the border by Canadian officials for an extra two hours early Friday morning in a case of mistaken identity, leading his mom to point the finger at a certain Cincinnati Bengal.

On her Facebook page, Andrea Bailey wrote;

OKAY, LET ME CLARIFY – THERE IS A STORY OF ADAM BEING DETAINED AT THE CANADIAN BORDER! TRUE! MY BABY HAPPENS TO HAVE THE SAME NAME AS ADAM “PACMAN” JONES AND IT WAS A MISTAKE!!!!! END OF STORY!!!!

The Orioles’ Jones, who started his own border skirmish with comments on his Twitter page when he was sent for further screening, wanted to put the incident behind him on Saturday. Baltimore is in Toronto for a 3-game set against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

“I don’t know if it’s him,” Jones said when asked about his mother’s claim. “We got the same name obviously, but I’m not going to say I was mistaken for him when I don’t know.”

“Basically, what happened, was they had the wrong person,” said Jones. “They thought I was somebody else. It all got situated but it took its time to get situated. It’s frustrating for me. I shouldn’t have put it out how I put it out. Now, we can all just get on with it. … Everything’s taken care of on my end.”

Adam (Pacman) Jones has had numerous brushes with the law, leading the league to suspend the cornerback for the entire 2007 season. He was out of football last season and is hoping to make a comeback with the Bengals.

The Orioles’ Jones inflamed his situation by taking a page out of Pacman’s book and posting the following comments on his Twitter page when he was detained.

“Canada is soooo f***ing wack. 4 of us have to go to the terminal for screening . . . such bull with damn country,” he wrote, before adding that he was, “detained by immigration in Canada for false accusations till 5 a.m. and appreciate someone from the team making sure we’re ok NOOOOOOTTTTT.”

Quoting sources, the Baltimore Sun identified two other Orioles as third baseman Miguel Tejada and third base coach Juan Samuel. With team president Andy McPhail not on the trip, Samuel would have filled the role of ‘someone from the team.’

The flight landed around 2:45 a.m.

Baseball players have been warned that extra screenings could take place this season according to Associated Press.

In a memo titled “immigration problems for players entering Canada,” Doyle Pryor, a union assistant general counsel, wrote, “Individuals who are not Canadian citizens may be detained at the border and, in certain cases may not be permitted to enter Canada at all, if they have any sort of past criminal record.”

Good thing the Bengals aren’t playing the Bills in Toronto this season. The Bills host the Bears at Rogers Centre on Nov. 7 for their one game in Canada in 2010.