Bountygate Punishment for the Saints

I heard an interesting point on Yahoo Sports Radio this morning. Think it was Chris Russell.

The league said they've been investigating this for 3 years. Gregg Williams was hired by the Rams in January, just two months before his punishment that the league knew about. All coaching hires much be approved by the NFL/Commissioner. They approved his hire by the Rams. Then, they suspended him, leaving the team without a coach.

Sounds EXACTLY like the crap they pulled with our salary cap punishment. They approved the signings, then handed out punishments for the moves they just approved!

It's almost like Goodell is intentionally setting teams up for punishments and it's affecting the teams' offeason plans and ultimately the product they're able to put on the field.

He's out of control. This needs to be stopped. Goodell is acting like a dictator. I don't throw that word around lightly either, but he seems to care more about his power than the product for the fans or even financially.

The Saints DID do wrong and need to be dealt with. I'm not defending him or denying a punishment was appropriate (even though it seems too harsh), but that point about them approving Gregg Williams' hire by the Rams about 9 weeks ago really got me thinking about the league's actual interests/intentions for the teams. Sabotage is starting to look like a possibility. Is this a punishment/power trip for the lockout and negotiations with ownership?

Also, the Saints will be in the HOF Game...so instead of talking about the HOF inductees, we'll have to listen to talk about bounties and watch their replacement coaches in action. The league should move the Saints out of that game in August (plenty of time) for the sanctity of the weekend which will probably be ruined now.

That is completely disturbing and a major reason as to why I think we will recoup our money from cap-gate

This investigation went on for 2 years. Goodell knew about it. Why didn't he stop it when it was going on? He's so worried about safety then he should've came out and said..."anyone caught doing this will be suspended and docked draft picks"...right there he could've ended this right away. Whether it's right or wrong this has been the culture of football. Defensive players, next year, will try and knock out offensive players. The only difference is funds won't be exchanged.

Yeah, but far too many times, people don't change their actions with just simple verbal warnings. It's not until they actually face that consequence that they realize their actions were stupid.

Kind of like that Teens Scared Beyond Straight show on A & E. No matter how much screaming and yelling those felons dish out to that youth, there is almost always one or two who wind up in jail with them months or a year later. I think in this case, Williams and the players probably always knew in the back of their minds that eventually there could be severe consequences for doing the bounties.

But, until actually facing those consequences, they probably didn't feel the threat of taking those warnings seriously. Williams and the Saints are probably the sacrificial lambs, but they needed the punishment to open their eyes and realize what they were doing was wrong.

My only beef with all of it....not the punishment, but the time frame of the punishment. This affects the Rams as well - an innocent bystander in all of this. Yes, kind of hard to feel very sorry for them after they bent the Redskins over in the trade, but still. Unless the Rams organization knew, ahead of time, that it was likely Williams could be suspended, I dare say they wouldn't have acquired his services. Seems like Goodell could have mentioned to the Rams that Williams was under investigation and they might wish to hold off hiring him. But, I suppose it doesn't work that way.

http://http://cfbsection.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/the-dictator-profile.png

Can someone add a "I don't give a crap" option to the poll?

No one felt sorry for us that the league stole 18mill from ouir coffers so I don't see why we should care about the Saints/Rams Bountygate punishments. Besides the question is an either or, you either agree its sufficiant or you don't or you think the punishment should be worse. I agree with some of it and don't agree with other parts of it.

... Seems like Goodell could have mentioned to the Rams that Williams was under investigation and they might wish to hold off hiring him. But, I suppose it doesn't work that way.

Well, let's say they did that and, subsequently, it turns out that involvement wasn't as bad as it first appearred or that it's revealed that Payton was directing him to do it, or any number of other speculative outcomes that could occur before the investigation closed and the sanction decided. If that had happened, would GW have a case that the league caused him to loose his job.

What if they simply said, hey ... "Just a heads up, the guy is under investigation by the NFL to determine if he broke some rules." The Rams start asking reasonable questions like: "What rules?" "Will he be sanctioned?", etc. Word gets out that and the NFL's investigation is compromised.

Sometimes, hindsight is 20/20. Everything seems clear as a bell now about what was going on, who was behind it and what the sanction was going to be, not sure that could be said when Williams was hired.

Can someone add a "I don't give a crap" option to the poll?

No one felt sorry for us that the league stole 18mill from ouir coffers so I don't see why we should care about the Saints/Rams Bountygate punishments. Besides the question is an either or, (1)you either agree its sufficiant or (2) you don't or (3) you think the punishment should be worse. I agree with some of it and don't agree with other parts of it.

So your either/or is (1)the penalty is just right; or (2) too harsh; or (3) too light? SmootSmack - can you fix the poll so it accurately reflects SBXVII summary, I think he has hit the nail on the head! ;)

Actually, I do like the addition of a "Don't Care" category.

Don't care = don't vote

From Shockey:

https://p.twimg.com/AomzTTACEAM60T3.jpg

I kind of like this tweet better.

Fantasy Expert ‏ @MrFantasyExpert

@JeremyShockey That assclown Warren Sapp has been arrested for beating women in domestic issues. His credibility is nothing

twitter blocked at my work (along with youtube & facebook) - what is shockey's statement?