War and Peace

Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick. And Moby never wrote back.

Wow - I didn't realize that there were novels out there longer than War and Peace

That said, this is much ado about not much imho. I've seen many public opinion polls out there and they are heavily slanted against Williams, but I think the public is slightly hypocritical in this sense. Football is a gladiator sport and anyone who has been to a game or watches it on TV knows that the "big hit" is celebrated by the fans and rewarded by the team. Maybe a bounty is going too far but anyone who thinks that every team in the NFL does not coach for the "big hit" is naive imho.

Hope this doesn't sound to insensitive but to me it was worth every penny!!!

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Originally posted by ClevelandDad:
Wow - I didn't realize that there were novels out there longer than War and Peace

That said, this is much ado about not much imho. I've seen many public opinion polls out there and they are heavily slanted against Williams, but I think the public is slightly hypocritical in this sense. Football is a gladiator sport and anyone who has been to a game or watches it on TV knows that the "big hit" is celebrated by the fans and rewarded by the team. Maybe a bounty is going too far but anyone who thinks that every team in the NFL does not coach for the "big hit" is naive imho.

And I'm willing to be Williams wasn't the only coach doing this......

No different then Spygate. All teams were doing some type of video work. Pats just got caught doing it, turned in by a disgruntled ex employee just like the Saints. Both teams were arrogant in the way they ignored warnings to stop by the league. Pats lost a 1st round pick, team was fined $250K and Bill was fined $500,000. With the league trying to look like they care about player safety there is no way that they are not hit with a worse punishment. They do not have a 1st round pick this year, so my guess is their 2nd round pick this year and #1 next year along with hefty fines for all involved and likely a suspension of Sean Payton of at least 2 games.

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Originally posted by FoxDad:

quote:

Originally posted by ClevelandDad:

...[T]his is much ado about not much imho. I've seen many public opinion polls out there and they are heavily slanted against Williams, but I think the public is slightly hypocritical in this sense. Football is a gladiator sport and anyone who has been to a game or watches it on TV knows that the "big hit" is celebrated by the fans and rewarded by the team. Maybe a bounty is going too far but anyone who thinks that every team in the NFL does not coach for the "big hit" is naive imho.

And I'm willing to be Williams wasn't the only coach doing this......

If the NFL doesn't want to appear hypocritical, it needs to extend this investigation beyond just the Saints. Like FoxDad, I strongly suspect some form of this kind of reward system for big hits was (and is) in place for virtually every team.

And ClevelandDad is right, too: how much moral outrage can any fan really muster when 99% of us jump out of our chairs screaming in glee at the very kind of play that got the biggest rewards?

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If the NFL doesn't want to appear hypocritical, it needs to extend this investigation beyond just the Saints.

The NFL is starting with everywhere Williams has coached. Then move on to any coach in the Buddy Ryan coaching tree.

I don’t think we can automatically assume it’s a league-wide problem. Why no bounties paid to the Offensive Line? If money is flowing freely, they probably want to get in on the action. It doesn’t seem any harder to throw a low block that snaps an ACL than to hit a QB late and inflict a concussion.

And there’s no hypocrisy. I’m a passionate sports fan because the rules are specific and the outcome is unknown. The moment the winner is not materially determined by execution and strategy within the chalk lines I’m done. Then it’s just entertainment and I’d rather see a movie.

I see this is a failure by the coaches, and I think this blow-up is a great opportunity to reinforce the requirement of sportsmanship in the business of football. But given the relatively modest dollar amounts involved--$1,000 or $2,000 per hit--it is hard to see that the program as providing incentive to get players to do things they weren't already inclined to do. The fact that the funds were pooled by the players themselves, makes it like them playing low-stakes poker more for the bragging rights of who wins than for the money.

The worst, I think, is that the players get the message that playing dirty is approved by the coaches and will put them in better standing on the team.