Last Tuesday, some sleazy paparazzi Web site posted a group of pictures that showed Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart partying at his home with college girls and friends. Since the moment those pictures were posted on Thedirty.com, the majority of the media has led an all-out campaign to crucify Leinart and has demanded an apology from him. He doesn’t owe anyone an apology, not his team or fans, and especially not the media.

Leinart is a rich and famous 24-year-old with movie star looks who plays the “sexiest” position in all of sports. Is partying with smoking-hot women in his age range terrible or shocking? Is this really the type of story we consider news today, and is this really the type of action a man like Leinart has to apologize for?

This is his off-season and months before he even has to report to mandatory training camps, not the night before a must-win game in December. Yes, I’ve heard the argument “well he’s suppose to be rehabbing his injured shoulder” but what does that mean exactly? Is he expected to wake up, rehab his shoulder, read the playbook, play a board game with his son and go to bed by 8:30 p.m.? In fact, as long as he is working with a therapist on his shoulder during the day, I don’t care if he entertains friends at his home at night and neither should anyone else.

Yet, a lot of people care and I will never understand why. Arizona Republic columnist Dan Bickley has been one of his harshest critics saying, “Grow up, Matt. You’re not in college anymore. You’ve had enough breaks.” The only kind of break Leinart needs is from journalists like Bickley who are bashing him for nothing. And no, Leinart is not in college anymore but he is in the NFL, not exactly a company that breeds maturity and discipline despite management’s best effort to exude all things holy and monotonous. He went from playing a game in college to playing a game for a living. What does growing up have to do with anything?

With dozens of athletes being arrested annually for gun charges, robbery, assault, rape and stupid acts of violence, Leinart drinking beers and chilling in the hot tub with women should not make the airwaves or pages. Chris Henry assaulting an 18-year-old, Brandon Marshall driving drunk and the shenanigans of “Pacman” Jones are newsworthy stories, not stories about Matt Leinart having a party.

The saddest part about all of this is that it seems the “what if” aspect of the Leinart story is what is making it just that, a story. “What if one of the girls drove home drunk and killed somebody?” What if somebody got drunk at Joe Blow’s house, drove home drunk and killed somebody? I’m sure Joe Blow would feel just as terrible as Leinart would, but would that make him guilty of anything besides having stupid people over at his home? That’s the risk anyone takes when throwing the party. It’s the risk Applebee’s takes in serving people drinks. How do we know Leinart didn’t take all of their keys and invite them to stay the night in one his of many guest rooms? Or maybe he took spare change from underneath his sofa and called a driver for them. People are assuming these drunk girls — not that we even know if they were drunk — drove home, but no one stops to think that maybe none of them did.

But, “What if one of those girls accused him of rape?” This scenario has more validity than the prior one, but is still pointless and unfair. That’s an inherent risk of being a famous rich male: There probably is some money-hungry woman waiting to accuse you of rape no matter how consenting she is. Does that mean men, especially the rich ones, should never have women over their house for a party? Perhaps they should avoid all women outside of their family like a plague so the males would never be falsely accused of rape. He could live in a bubble. That might work.

This media crusade against Leinart has been unfair and despicable. The only “crime” he has committed is being rich and famous. Because of his status, people want to know every single thing going on in his life and thus he is an easy target for sleazy paparazzi sites and even sleazier journalists.