[net-gold] Sport and Society 3-6-12 Bounties
- From: "David P. Dillard" <jwne@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 18:26:39 -0500 (EST)
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Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 13:52:28 -0500
From: richard crepeau <crepeau1@xxxxxxx>
To: Richard Crepeau <crepeau1@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Sport and Society 3-6-12 Bounties
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SPORT AND SOCIETY FOR ARETE
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MARCH 6, 2012
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The shocking news out of the NFL this past week was that football is a
violent game and that violence is encouraged by coaches. I suspect most
American boys learned this basic truth about football when they were six
or seven years old.
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Football is a collision sport. The object is to hit the other guy harder
than he can hit you, and if that is achieved consistently your team will
win and you will be regarded as a very good player. The violence in the
game is at the heart of its appeal to both those who play and those who
watch. The big hit, the solid tackle, and physically subduing your
opponent is a most satisfying feeling.
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Is anyone who played the game at any level surprised that coaches are
paying bounties for this kind of aggression? I can recall from very early
on in my short football career that coaches encouraged players to “take
out” the star of the opposition. Inflicting injury is how you “take out”
someone. Cash rewards were not the payout for a “take out,” but the total
admiration of your friends and the coaches were. For adolescent boys what
could be a more powerful incentive?
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Well, yes that too, and it came along with the attainment of hero status.
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If the practice of bounties is as extensive as it seems, why did the
hordes of NFL reporters not notice it? And why, only now, do these
reporters condemn the practice? Does anyone actually think that their
feigned shock is sincere? The hypocrisy of the sports press is once again
mind bending, just as it was when the baseball writers expressed shock and
outrage over steroid use once it became a public issue.
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So what’s the big fuss over the cash incentive program run by New Orleans
Saints coaches for their defensive players? Reportedly $1000 was the
reward for a “cart off” and $1500 for a game ending injury. In the
playoffs rewards doubled. As many as 27 players were involved and the NFL
collected over 18,000 documents totally over 50,000 pages of material on
the New Orleans Saints.
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First, bounties are a violation of NFL rules. According to Roger Goodell
no performance incentive payments, or bounties of any kind, can by given
by a team to its players. The rule is designed to promote “competitive
integrity and player safety.” Bounties are also a violation of the
Collective Bargaining Agreement.
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Second, at a time when the NFL is trying to promote player safety in the
face of the concussion studies of the past few years, this is a
particularly damaging revelation. The NFL is facing a myriad of law suits
over concussions and their long term effects and these suits include brain
damage and death. One report has identified more than 35 filings involving
about 700 former players and family members against the NFL.
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Greg Williams, the Saints defensive coordinator, has been identified as
the source of the Saints bounty program, and many who played for Williams
in Washington and Buffalo have said they operated under similar programs.
Indeed players across the league have been quoted as saying that bounties
are a common practice and have been organized by players as well as
coaches. Many players characterized bounties as a routine part of the NFL
game.
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There have been numerous calls over the past several days for Goodell to
severely punish Williams and the Saints. The scandal has been compared
unfavorably to the Patriots Spygate Scandal in which Bill Belichick was
fined $500,000 and the Patriots were fined $250,000. If the penalties for
the Saints exceed those put on the Pats, it would no doubt have to include
suspensions of coaches. Those players who were found guilty of illegal
hits over the past couple of seasons faced suspensions and fines, and if
it turns out these punishable hits were encouraged by coaches, then the
coaches should be given even longer suspensions than the players.
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If these practices were common across the league, then will Goodell have
to punish everyone involved in them? If so, the wreckage left across the
NFL could be formidable. So the Commissioner is now faced with some
difficult decisions, the first of which will be what to do with the
Saints, and the second will be whether to investigate the bounty practices
across the league. If the practice is not fully investigated and punished,
Goodell will risk strengthening the cases of those suing the NFL by
calling into question the NFL’s sincerity in reducing concussions and
related injuries.
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Goodell is caught in a dilemma. He can both punish the guilty and risk
angering owners, coaches, and players, or he can punish only the Saints
and hope that is enough, while leaving an opening for those with law suits
against the league.
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In the end Goodell and the NFL are caught in a position which stems from
the inherent nature of football, a violent and dangerous sport that can
and does inflict permanent damage on those who play. As Michael Oriard has
pointed out in Brand NFL “a sport in which players did not risk such
consequences would not have football’s primal appeal,” as “football and
pain have an intimate relationship that every player comes to know too
well.” The football “culture of toughness is indeed dangerous, as it
drives players to risk crippling injuries to earn the respect of coaches,
teammates, and themselves.”
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There is a delicate balance that must be achieved between the brutality of
football and its rules, which are designed to produce what has been termed
“controlled mayhem” and “sanctioned savagery.” An unbalancing in either
direction risks destroying either the appeal of the game or its ability to
produce some measure of safety for its players.
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On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you don’t
have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.
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Copyright 2012 by Richard C. Crepeau
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