Keller @ Large: You Have To Earn Respect

BOSTON (CBS) - The Cincinnati Bengals were on the verge of winning their emotional playoff game against Pittsburgh Saturday night when two of their players decided indulging their own emotions took priority over victory.

If you didn't see it, two notoriously immature members of the team drew unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the same play to give Pittsburgh the opening it needed to win. Those players are now a national laughingstock, as are their humiliated coach and teammates.

As my colleague Dan Roche noted in a postgame tweet: "I would hope you would appreciate what you have in Bill Belichick even more after watching that Bengals collapse."

But let's expand this teachable moment beyond that, especially for the benefit of the kids among us.

First, this pitifuil episode reminds us to always know where we are.

The Bengals players in question apparently thought they were acting out some idiotic juvenile street beef instead of participting as adult professionals in a high-stakes business transaction. This is not unheard of in politics, government and the business world where people think they're plotting some narcissistic raid on the cookie jar instead of ethically representing the interests of their employers and constituents.

Secondly, the Cincinnati meltdown highlights the risks of immediate gratification culture, where any perceived slight must be avenged immediately, without regard to consequences.

And a final lesson from this debacle – if you want respect, you have to earn it, and these clowns never did and now, never will.

Listen to Jon's commentary: