For you who kept your head in the sand this weekend, on Friday the NFL announced its investigation uncovered a bounty system in the New Orleans Saints organization, rewarding players with money for knocking opponents out of a game. Like most sports, football has a seedy underbelly. We rarely see the tugging and twisting of limbs inside piles, or the low blocks that blow out knees, but most importantly fans remain oblivious to locker room dynamics. As the Red Sox proved this season, team clubhouses don’t always present the most flattering image of sports teams.
At the same time, I find it hard to believe the Saints are alone. Players like Bills linebacker Shawne Merriman and former Jets lineman Damien Woody tweeted that bounties are nothing new for many teams. Given the competitive nature of many professional athletes, it makes sense they would at least create some kind of system to “celebrate” big hits or interceptions. Maybe not direct money transfers, but buying dinner for the guy responsible for a knockout hit. In that regard, I would not be shocked to find most NFL teams doing some sort of player-organized competition. On the other hand, when these guys earn thousands per game, such a collective pooling of money might not be enough to entice many players to join, a view espoused by Baltimore linebacker Jarrett Johnson, who said Ravens players to his knowledge did not use such a system precisely because it was such a small incentive compared to game payments. Despite that, some kind of internal “competition” would help team-building, so it stands to reason teams will partake in some sort of rewards system.
I am not defending this practice but merely saying I am not surprised this exists. What truly separates the Saints case? The role of coaching in the pool. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams contributed some of his own money to the pool while also coordinating the pool in general, including the targets like Kurt Warner and Brett Favre. He directly incentivized hits that would knock opponents out of the game. While players may be dirty in their play, coaches should not be giving their wards any reason to willfully harm an opponent. Some of you may remember John Chaney, the legendary Temple basketball coach, sending in a benchwarmer with malicious instructions. That episode ended in a broken arm and Chaney being dismissed. No questions asked, the world of sports is no place for malicious intent to injure, especially on the part of coaches who set the standards for players.
On that note, the bounty system in New Orleans came to the attention of head coach Sean Payton and GM Mickey Loomis, both of whom did nothing to stop it while not contributing funds. In effect, they are marginally better than Williams for allowing the practice to continue. A head coach like Payton should accept responsibility for all facets of his organization, good and bad.
What will happen as a result? I expect the NFL to throw the whole book at the Saints. The only similar incident to this, “Spygate”, drew a $750,000 fine and forfeited first draft pick from the Patriots. The Saints can expect similar penalties and possibly a salary cap lowering, since the coach contributions count as a salary cap violation. Commissioner Roger Goodell’s emphasis on player conduct will undoubtedly add to his sanctions in some way, possibly suspending Williams or others.
Some of you may disagree with me on this. The most common defense I’ve heard from NFL players varies in some way on this common theme: football is ultimately a contact sport so injuries will happen. No one can argue with that, but recent concussion research shows the potentially lethal implications of regular football contact, much less contact resulting from players who are incentivized by coaching to injure others. Contact sports do not and should not give athletes license to intentionally hurt others. While we can all understand moments of weakness and inflamed tempers due to intense competition, an institutionalized, coach-sponsored system of “bounties” directly attacks the integrity of football.
Bit #1: Lakers vindicated
Dallas residents might have been happy when Lamar Odom came over from the Lakers over the summer. I remind my readers Odom is married to a Kardashian, and his attitude since starting for the Mavericks continues to reinforce that fact. He’s looked uninterested, averaging seven less points, two less assists, and four less rebounds this season compared to his career numbers. He expressed downright indignation in his first news conference after the trade, seemingly incapable of understanding the reasons for being traded.
This week, Odom left the Mavs for personal reasons, spanning ten days of missed time. During the leave, rumors swirled that Odom asked the Mavs for a buyout. While he apologized to teammates and seemed to make everything right, the Lakers clearly got the better of this deal. They now possess a trade exception to add one more player before season’s end, and we must wonder if his personal attitude, so much on display in Dallas, grew thin in LA.
Bit #2: New playoff structure misses the mark
Like everyone else, I sat glued to the TV on the last day of baseball last season. Simply magical, mainly because the regular season of 162 games never brings that kind of fun. In an effort to recreate excitement, MLB announced an addition of one more wild card team in each league, with both wild cards playing a one game playoff game to advance. On paper, the system looks good. But, in reality, more wild card team leads to more meaningless regular season games. The top wild card team could now clinch the spot much earlier, in many ways like a division leader. While the season would still come down to a final game, baseball always brings magic in the playoffs, but rarely in the regular season. The new structure reinforces that by establishing that last game in the playoffs, not the regular season. So the math works the same (“one more game”), but the regular season now has a bigger chance to end with a whimper as opposed to the excitement of last season.
Bit #3: You think Americans have high expectations?
On Saturday, Chelsea, the London-based soccer club, fired its manager Andre Villas-Boas after just eight months on the job. Admittedly, the team resides in fifth place and at this point would not qualify for the UEFA Champions League next year. While we think of Dan Snyder, George Steinbrenner, and Jerry Jones as the most meddlesome owners on the planet, they pale in comparison to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who since owning the team has fired two coaches after just a season or less (the first being Guus Hiddink in 2009). Very few owners embody the “money buys championships” cliché like Abramovich, who has brought in the majority of the world’s best during his time at Stamford Bridge. We have to wonder how many more big name coaches will take the Chelsea job.
Bit #4: March Madness coming
I need say no more, but with no good sports history nugget today I felt like reminding all of you to watch college hoops this week. Last year's champ, UConn, rode an incredible conference tournament run to the national title. As I've said in the past, this year shows a depth of talent across the entire country, but keep in mind teams will surprise you., especially from the deep Big East. I would not sleep on Marquette and West Virginia, who will make noise starting in a week on Selection Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment