Picking on the NFL some more

Because it's just too damn fun to call out hypocrites!

Okay, so this week my beef with the NFL is two fold, and both happen off the field. We'll start with the one that makes the most sense: The Rooney Rule.

The idea of the Rooney Rule is to require teams to interview at least one minority for the position of head coach when they have an opening. Essentially, it's affirmative action. They aren't required to take a minority, but must give them a shot.

I'm not sure if I should get into my whole affirmative action thoughts - I think because I'm feeling trapped as the white male is losing all of the power they once had, and now seem at a somewhat disadvantage. Okay, maybe I said too much already. Just watch Fight Club and Tyler Durden's speech on being the middle children of history. That's the best way I could describe it.

What makes this rule dumb: when coaches have an interim head coach, who has been doing a good job, they choose to hire him, but they are required to still interview a minority. It's a walk through jerk-off motion, and really insulting to the candidate that has to go through the bullshit interview. They know they have no shot. The team knows they have no shot, but they do it anyway to appease Big Brother and make their "public image" look "good" because they are "equal-opportunity".

Where does this make any sense? Is this really a rule?

Just a quick thought - when do we really become equal? Does that ever happen? If we always talk about people in terms of "minorities" "blacks" "middle class", then no one is ever really equal. Something like the Rooney Rule is admitting that everyone is not equal, and requiring the "minorities" to be given an opportunity. And in the instance listed above, an opportunity at a position that they have zero chance of getting, it's make them feel even more like a minority and unequal. We won't be all equal until we stop talking about the differences between one another.

Next topic: I'm not sure what to label this as, but let's call it the NFL turning a blind eye to the whole Brett Favre situation. I'll be totally honest, I don't know everything about it myself, because it's stupid, but it's something that shouldn't be ignored.

Brett Favre is arguably the most talked about athlete in the sport. Mike Vick has been a close second this year, but over the past several years, he's constantly coming up, weather it's the retirement talk or the streak or the injury, etc. It's gotten annoying for everyone, since he clearly has no idea in his head what he's doing, and somehow manages to capture the attention of the entire country.

So whatever, he made these advances towards Jenn Sterger, sent "aggressive" and "visual" text messages to her because she wouldn't "come over" or whatever. The NFL launched an "investigation" which took extremely longer than it should have, and determined there was "inconclusive evidence" so that nothing would happen. They fined Favre $50k for "not cooperating" with the "investigation." Favre makes $50k in 4 1/2 minutes of playing time. A game is 60 minutes long. So in 1/12th of one game in a 16 game season, he's already paid that debt. Good penalty NFL. Good. Penalty.

This week came out new rumors that the Jets fired two of their massage therapists after they complained about "harassing" text messages from Favre. Jets and Favre are obviously claiming there is no validity to this claim, but who really knows? Nothing can be proven, but it's just a claim. To me, it seems too ridiculous to make up on their own, so I totally believe it.

I think in sports in general we turn a blind eye to the power we give these players off the field, where they think they are rock stars and can get anything the want, specifically women. (note, the fact that I make the connection to rock stars shows you how America thinks, and we've just come to terms with it) We don't want to accept it, which is why the Tiger Woods thing was such a big deal, because we never thought it was possible. We made Tiger to be more than he was. He wasn't that private, polished, or any of that jazz, he just seemed so confident we decided he did.

So Favre sends these texts and pictures, and the NFL doesn't want to address it, because it's Brett Favre. He gets away with it. He's supposed to be a role model for everyone, and here he is sending out pictures of his penis. It makes you lose faith in all athletes, similar to the way the truth about steroids made you doubt every player. Every athlete that seems polished like Tiger or Favre probably aren't, probably aren't faithful, and probably think they are God's gift to the world.

I'm not sure I blame them, because of the way we hyper-glorify them. The celebrity lifestyle makes these people think they are a deity. They lose all sense of morals. It's our fault. There are people (girls and guys) who would do anything these people ask. There are still many who couldn't care less. So they treat everyone like they are an object. Yet our society says this isn't acceptable for everyone else, these athletes and celebrities get away with it.

So bringing this back to the NFL, they want to act like they are such a professional league, but when they have these national headline stories about inappropriate action towards women, they act like nothing's happening, and when people question it, it's blown off with such vague terms as "ongoing investigation." Why don't they grow some balls and take a serious hard look at this? Like the way MLB took a very serious probe into their steroids usage. It was a brutal and disheartening truth that we discovered, but it was eye-opening. I'm not saying I want to know who's sending/saying what, but let's try to hold these people accountable in some fashion. This just gets absurd.

(I'm sorry, this post is taking multiple days and consequently broken thoughts)

The other problem: Favre gets away with it, while Ben Rothelisbergr (one day I'll spell his name right) gets a 4 game suspension for alleged claims. Sure, Favre's course never went to trial, but how is it any different really? But they won't suspend Favre 4 games because it would of ended the streak and potentially his career. It's really easy to read through their BS. I'm tired of it. Seriously, if the Eagles were not in contention, I would probably have zero reason to watch any of these playoffs. Who cares? The league is corrupt.

Go Flyers.

The NFL's Head Protection Program

I talked about this idea before in my Andre Johnson not-getting-suspended-bullshit post. This is the more angry version of that.

Background: The NFL has started a huge stance against helmet-to-helmet hits. The aim is to protect the players, who are all suffering from concussions, and we're starting to see players who played the game having their bodies decline rapidly. Our bodies aren't made for this abuse, yet these players are glorified, "role models", and paid obnoxious amounts of money.

So the NFL's policy is to penalize the players who try to hit a player using their head. There's a 15-yard penalty and almost always a serious fine. For these players, the fine is insignificant because they make more money in one game than I make in one year.

Here's my problem with this: The game is SO fast and really uncontrollable. The player with the ball can move/lower his head/etc and that puts himself in a position to be hit by the defender's helmet. It happens in a split second. There's not enough time for the defender to change his positioning. Yet he is penalized for something out of his control.

In a similar vein, how exactly are you taught to tackle someone in football? It's my understanding that you tackle by squaring your shoulders with the ground, which leaves your head (obviously) bulging out from your shoulders. Naturally, your head is going to be most likely the first think that hits your target. The defender can't account for the offensive player lowering his head bracing for impact.

So my point is the defender gets the shaft here. He can't do his job. Instead, he has to play "safe", which can result in broken tackles and not being able to do his job to the best of his ability.

I understand trying to protect the players. The brutal reality, and everyone says this, is that football is an extremely violent game. It's made that way. There is intended contact on every single play. Someone is going to be dragged down or hit by another player(s). So while we're trying to protect the players, it's like a fruitless enterprise. How can you protect the players by allowing them to play a violent game? Unfortunately the violence won't go away. That's why this penalty is unfair.

The criticism we hear from talking heads is that the NFL preaches this "protecting the players" crap while working on creating an 18 game schedule. I totally agree. I think the NFL is a sham. They talk and say the right things, but how can you claim that and then suggest to put your players at risk for another 2 games? This game is brutal. By game 16, players are really feeling it. We'll never understand because we don't play it and we don't see it. These players go through extreme lengths, treatment, and other things to be out there on game day. They typically don't think long term. They're thinking about now. We can't pass up this opportunity because my leg hurts; this could be our chance; I need the contract. Then later down the line of life they're incapable of walking without feeling the pain.

When you watch an NFL game, they talk about trying to "rough the quarterback." I was watching a game a few weeks ago where the color commentator (I think it was Troy Aikman) said: "try to hit the quarterback, make his head hit the ground, give him a headache". WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIS HEAD HITTING THE GROUND AND HITTING SOMEONE'S HELMET? The level of damage is the same - in fact, it's arguable that the ground is harder than a helmet. This game is violent. It's socially acceptable to say "RIP HIS HEAD OFF" and get away with it. Ripping his head off is like a concussion, right?

So while the NFL acts like it's trying to protect the players, it is really after the money. That's what America is about; making as much money as you can on off something. But don't act like you really care about the players. Instead, it's cheapened the way the game is played. These players know and accept the consequences, and are paid *decently* enough to compensate for their occupation. I don't mean to crack a smile at this, I mean to be honest; the game is violent, the players know it, they've accepted it, so let's not have Big Brother (Roger Goodell) come in and try to act like it's a safe game. It's far from it.

In the meantime, can we stop ruining games over 15 year penalties? Those type of penalties make or break a game, so let's stop the front and play some real football.

The NFL is a Hypocrite

I'm furious. The NFL has been going on this "safety of the players/player image" sabbatical, fining and suspending players all over the league for their violent hits/extracurricular activities. They suspended Ben Roethelisburgr (I probably spelled that wrong) for 4 games for being accused of something.

Over the weekend, Andre Johnson and Cortland Finnegan brawled on the field. And I don't just mean during the play. They went above and beyond. They were kicked out of the game and following that fined $25,000.

No suspension.

I wasn't really furious until I heard the reasoning behind why they did not suspend Johnson; while watching SportsCenter this evening, Adam Schefter said that the NFL did not want to suspend Andre Johnson because it would put the Texans at a serious disadvantage playing on Thursday against the Eagles on the NFL Network.

What the hell is that? Really. They didn't suspend them because they were worried about the team's next game? Did they think about that when they suspended Big Ben? Or any of the other players? When did the NFL give a damn about a team over the league's image?

Fighting cannot be tolerated on the field. Fining them for 25k really isn't anything when these players make several million a year. By not suspending them they are proving they are hypocrites. They blow all this smoke about protecting players heads from concussions and Andre Johnson punches a player in the head twice without his helmet on. How are they really doing in protecting players if they don't suspend them for this?

To add to the hypocrisy and proving the NFL is a bunch of money hungry bastards, the game this week is on the NFL Network, which is (conveniently) owned, operated, and the profits go to the NFL. The game they are showcasing would look much worse if one opposing team didn't have it's top weapon, right? Which means the NFL would lose money. Why would they ever want to do that? What's more important; making a couple extra million or telling their players (role models) that you can get away with fist fights on the NFL field on national television?

Maybe I'm just wound up because this upcoming game is against my Eagles and it doesn't seem fair.

The NFL is telling the world they care more about the money than doing what's right. They want to talk about doing the right thing, but hope they can get away with turning a blind eye to the right thing.

I'm going back to hockey.