Saints and Bountygate

[witness]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

Because this has never happened at the college level[/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]

Haha come on its the "U" and 2 Live Crew we are talking about here. I don't think every college team has 2 Live Crew paying them money and the ;egal history that the "U" has. Plus were you actually suprised when that came out because I wasn't.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

Haha come on its the "U" and 2 Live Crew we are talking about here. I don't think every college team has 2 Live Crew paying them money and the ;egal history that the "U" has. Plus were you actually suprised when that came out because I wasn't.

No ... but to hold up college football as a bastion of integrity (not that I think JD was doing that) is ridiculous.

[witness]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

Anybody hear what Warren Sapp had to say about this Bountygate? Called out Jeremy Shockey as the "snitch" on twitter. Kind of ridiculous for Sapp to call out Shockey as the "snitch" and makes me think he used to have bounties back when he played

[jackrabit1]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

Anybody hear what Warren Sapp had to say about this Bountygate? Called out Jeremy Shockey as the "snitch" on twitter. Kind of ridiculous for Sapp to call out Shockey as the "snitch" and makes me think he used to have bounties back when he played

You should read Chris Kluwe's Tweets and get his thoughts on this... Warning: his language is NSFW.

https://twitter.com/#!/ChrisWarcraft

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

You should read Chris Kluwe's Tweets and get his thoughts on this... Warning: his language is NSFW.

https://twitter.com/#!/ChrisWarcraft

I was going to link the same thing. Definitely agree with his opinion too. And for what it's worth, Shockey posted a picture of his text with Payton where Payton absolved him.

[Nidaros]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

Right on the money RO, that's bull s---. Why does the Senate need to get involved? I have my theories.

Why the Senate involvement. They are trying to take away your freedom and put all good conseratives like you in chains so liberals like me can live off your earnings. Seriously would we have known about the baseball players who were taking substances if not the testimony before certain committees in the US House?. I doubt any legislation will come from a Senate Inquiry, but it will make the NFL better by making them aware that they have problems. Putting the hurt on players who demonstrate skills, seems to be a big problem, and winning at any cost, seems to be the focus here and certain coaches and franchises need to clean up their act. What is the price range of tickets to any NFL game? I would not be spending my bucks to see Farve or Kurt Warner getting killed because, their opponent can not stop them when playing by the rules. Its going to make the invisible hand of the market work better by calling this matter to the public's attention. And yes the US Senate has bigger fish to fry.

[filbert]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

How do the sanctions on the Saints compare to the kick to Michael Vick? I recognize Vick was convicted on breaking criminal laws (hmmm...did the Saints' behavior crossed the line to criminal assault?) but Vick was sanctioned by the NFL, too. I'm no fan of Michael Vick (and I like my Golden Retriever a lot) but, I'm pretty offended that the Saints had an express plan to hurt people. I remember them beating the snot out of Bret Farve and wondering where the refs were.

Will the NFL run a bunch of ads telling us about sportsmanship? I guess this incident is just another reason why I prefer watching college football -- any level -- over most pro games.

If you tilt your eyes and squint just right, conspiracy to commit felony assault almost looks like RICO.

If the legal system worked the way it should, instead of busting down 80-year-old couples' doors with SWAT teams on botched drug raids, some enterprising DA would be investigating criminal charges against the Saints right now. (Of course, that's also a good way for the enterprising DA to in all likelyhood suffer miscellaneous harassment up to and including death threats from rabid Saints fans, but it's an imperfect world.)

And yes, the Senate is and has been for years a clown college, populated almost exclusively by know-nothing partisan hacks who don't give a damn about anything but their next election, and who would cheerfully watch this country burn in exchange for a couple of thousand more votes. Not that I feel strongly about that or anything. (Oops, we have a rule about talking politics here, don't we? Damn.)

[joeboo22]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

Do I think it was extreme? Somewhat but I think it needed to be. First they were warned and kept on doing it, then they lied about it, and then they got caught. On top of this its the big move in the NFL right now to limit concussions, there are hundreds of former players suing the NFL right now, if the commish went and didn't punish them hard it would look really bad.

As far as the Senate, this happens all the time, the elected officials from the places that are affected in sports seem to use their power to help their cause.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

I definitely agree that paying players to hurt other players is wrong and ****ed up. I just think the punishment should actually be for that. From what some have insinuated, the NFL made the suspensions so heavy simply because the Saints lied to the NFL about it.

In Bill Barnwell's column, he writes:

Had the two Saints coaches admitted to the bounties in 2010 and stopped the program then, the organization would have gotten away from the crimes with a slap on the wrist. Sure, they would have been fined a few hundred thousand dollars, and Williams might even have been suspended for a game or two, but there's just no precedent for imagining this sort of suspension based solely upon the on-field crimes committed by the Saints. And by handing out these suspensions (without any apparent ability for Payton to appeal to anyone besides Goodell himself), the league is sending a different sort of message to the league's teams. That message isn't "Don't have bounties." It's "Don't lie to us."

I guess I have a problem with that, if that's the reason. I encourage you to read the entire article, it's very good. If you choose not to read it, one of the author's reasons for saying that the punishment is unprecedented is James Harrsion. He is the most fined player in the NFL for illegal hits, but the NFL only punishes him by fines. When he finally did get suspended it was for only one game.

Writers and people everywhere (as evidenced by this thread) are lauding the NFL for "taking a stand" in regaurds to player safety when that isn't necissarily the case. In the article Barnwell goes onto say that if the NFL is truly serious about player safety then the fines and suspensions should be more serious for illegal hits in games, which I think, judging by everyone's sentiments on here, that we can all agree on.

I think you (and the author) may be missing something.

They lied about it, kept doing it, then lied some more. At that point, what reason would the NFL have to believe they would stop if they didn't drop a hammer?

The Saints were incentivising rule breaking - that is a pretty big deal no matter where you work. That blatant disregard of "corporate" mandates would get managers fired at almost any other business, not suspended.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

Do I think it was extreme? Somewhat but I think it needed to be. First they were warned and kept on doing it, then they lied about it, and then they got caught. On top of this its the big move in the NFL right now to limit concussions, there are hundreds of former players suing the NFL right now, if the commish went and didn't punish them hard it would look really bad.

As far as the Senate, this happens all the time, the elected officials from the places that are affected in sports seem to use their power to help their cause.

Colin Cowherd said it best (cringe), there are two things that can take down the NFL - lawsuits and legislation.

The gears are already turning in both of those arenas, a slap on the wrist would be some nice ammunition for attorneys and legislators alike.

[The Sports Block]

Re: Saints and Bountygate

Saints fans shouldn’t look far for blame on bounties

http://www.sdsucollegian.com/2012/03...e-on-bounties/