The Spitting Ejection

[70Chip]

I agree that it couldn't have been a great big loogy because that would have been visible even on normal-def t.v. and having watched the entire incident several times I see no evidence whatsoever.

I suggest there must have been a second spitter. One of Pittman's own teamates or perhaps another official. We're through the looking glass here people...

[railcon56]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

I agree that it couldn't have been a great big loogy because that would have been visible even on normal-def t.v. and having watched the entire incident several times I see no evidence whatsoever.

I suggest there must have been a second spitter. One of Pittman's own teamates or perhaps another official. We're through the looking glass here people...

Lmao.... well there was the Grassy Field kinda knoll like thing there so maybe you're on to something

[EternalEnigma21]

Goddamn guys... none of us were there, and he's on my team. I didnt see shit and I was looking for it. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt until I see otherwise. I agree that spitting in the face of a guy is a shitty thing to do, and you should get punished for it.... but if he was just mouthing off and a little spit particle flew from his mouth as he spoke... and he got punched.... and ejected..... and tampa got 15 yards.... and a first down...... thats a little much.

And what about the ref that ejected smith the other week. Smith meant him no more harm than Washington did when he slapped him on the ass... he just wanted to talk to him. These ref's should be full time and paid to referee full time.

[railcon56]

Originally Posted by canthetuna

Goddamn guys... none of us were there, and he's on my team. I didnt see shit and I was looking for it. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt until I see otherwise. I agree that spitting in the face of a guy is a shitty thing to do, and you should get punished for it.... but if he was just mouthing off and a little spit particle flew from his mouth as he spoke... and he got punched.... and ejected..... and tampa got 15 yards.... and a first down...... thats a little much.

And what about the ref that ejected smith the other week. Smith meant him no more harm than Washington did when he slapped him on the ass... he just wanted to talk to him. These ref's should be full time and paid to referee full time.

Yeah I agree they should be full time refs!!!

[MTK]

Just spit?

So if someone spit in your face would you be able to restrain yourself and laugh it off?? I know if someone spit in my face they'd better turn and run really damn fast.

Whatever man... spitting is widely considered as one of the most disrespectful things you can do to a person.

It's downright dispicable and to steal a line from Sean Salisbury it's BUSH LEAGUE.

There's no room in the game for that sort of behavior. In fact there's no room in life for crap like that.

Just spit?

You've really gotta be kidding me.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Just spit?

So if someone spit in your face would you be able to restrain yourself and laugh it off?? I know if someone spit in my face they'd better turn and run really damn fast.

Whatever man... spitting is widely considered as one of the most disrespectful things you can do to a person.

It's downright dispicable and to steal a line from Sean Salisbury it's BUSH LEAGUE.

There's no room in the game for that sort of behavior. In fact there's no room in life for crap like that.

Just spit?

You've really gotta be kidding me.

No room in the game? I think you're the one that's kidding yourself, Matty. It happens all the time. If this is a regular season game, I can see ejecting a guy. But in the playoffs? In the playoffs it makes sense to eject a guy for spitting? Just flag him for 15 yards, it's not like he tried to injure him.

If someone spits, yes it's classless. I won't try to argue otherwise. But all I'm saying is that it's not worth ejecting a player for, possibly swinging the balance of the game. I think the refs overreacted, a 15 yard penalty is suitable punishment in my opinion. Especially considering nobody, NOBODY can find any spit actually hitting Pittman.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

No room in the game? I think you're the one that's kidding yourself, Matty. It happens all the time. If this is a regular season game, I can see ejecting a guy. But in the playoffs? In the playoffs it makes sense to eject a guy for spitting? Just flag him for 15 yards, it's not like he tried to injure him.

If someone spits, yes it's classless. I won't try to argue otherwise. But all I'm saying is that it's not worth ejecting a player for, possibly swinging the balance of the game. I think the refs overreacted, a 15 yard penalty is suitable punishment in my opinion. Especially considering nobody, NOBODY can find any spit actually hitting Pittman.

So because we can't see it at home on TV we're somehow better equiped to formulate an opinion as opposed to the ref that was standing right there??

As for this happening all the time... funny because I didn't realize spitting was such a common occurence in the NFL. I must be missing all these highlights of guys spitting in each other's faces.

Perhaps the penalty didn't fit the crime and was a bit harsh, but that's not my point. My point is there's no defending such a classless action. ST is a punk. He ruined what was turning out to be a monster game for him, his postseason coming out party. It's really a shame.

[22stillrocks]

I can't believe that so many of you guys are sticking up for this guy!
That is totally inexcusable.

I think it is funny that all the announcers were on your side. Joe was screaming, "that is the worst call I have ever seen." Give me a break. The ref saw it and immediately ran over there to break it up, then threw the flag. Then ejected him! As he should have been.

I love how so many of you are saying, "I didn't see the spit." Crap people, pull your heads out of your asses... please. Did you see the reaction of probably the most acurate ref in football??? Joe "I love the Redskins" Theisman sure as hell didn't.

If you want to continue to back up a punk and a hoodlum, be my guest.
It is DC after all I guess.

[hooskins]

Originally Posted by 22stillrocks

I can't believe that so many of you guys are sticking up for this guy!
That is totally inexcusable.

I think it is funny that all the announcers were on your side. Joe was screaming, "that is the worst call I have ever seen." Give me a break. The ref saw it and immediately ran over there to break it up, them threw the flag. Then ejected him! As he should have been.

I love how so many of you are saying, "I didn't see the spit." Crap people, pull your heads out of your asses... please. Did you see the reaction of probably the most acurate ref in football??? Joe "I love the Redskins" Theisman sure as hell didn't.

If you want to continue to back up a punk and a hoodlum, be my guest.
It is DC after all I guess.

First of all you do not even know what ur talking about, so do ur research before you say stuff. Joe T said that because at the time we did NOT know that ST spit on the other player, no one knew. At that time it seemed like Pitman pushed Talyor and Taylor got the penalty. Dude of course that was the right call, and ask Joe T right now and he will agree to. So every announcer did NOT support ST spitting on someone, rather it was unknown at the time.
And by the way, did YOU see spit from the camera angle given????? No one did, I am not saying ST didnt spit, its seems that he did, but you can not see it, that is why its controversial. Go back and watch it on HD, I promise you will not see spit go from Taylor to Pittman, its not visible.

Anyways I would not be doing much shit talking if I were you. Where are the Cowboys right now???...Oh thats right watching the playoffs from home....

[dgack]

Originally Posted by 22stillrocks

I can't believe that so many of you guys are sticking up for this guy!
That is totally inexcusable.

I'll be happy to accept your righteous indignation. Just post a message here condemning Michael Irvin and his drug problem, Terry Glenn and his drunk-driving, wife-beating issues, Nate Newton, Leon Lett, and so on...

Bottom line is, none of these guys are perfect human beings. Stop applying higher standards to them, because it's not true of guys on your team any more than it is to guys on ours.

[dgack]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Just spit?

So if someone spit in your face would you be able to restrain yourself and laugh it off?? I know if someone spit in my face they'd better turn and run really damn fast.

Whatever man... spitting is widely considered as one of the most disrespectful things you can do to a person.

It's downright dispicable and to steal a line from Sean Salisbury it's BUSH LEAGUE.

There's no room in the game for that sort of behavior. In fact there's no room in life for crap like that.

Just spit?

You've really gotta be kidding me.

The problem with this line of reasoning is it compares what's acceptable in the normal real world to what's acceptable on the football field.

I'm pretty sure lunging at a person and driving their face into the ground in the middle of the street would be considered unacceptable in the real world, but it's pretty common in the NFL.

There is a fair amount of evidence (it's been written about in psychological journals and the like) that the inordinate amount of off-field troubles by pro athletes, especially those who play contact sports, has to do with the fact that their livelihoods, their sense of belonging, and ultimately how they are compared against their peers, are largely determined by how aggressive and animalistic they can be (you don't usually see this in QB's, WR's, or kickers, but otherwise, it's pretty true).

To put it bluntly, it's just not that easy for some of these guys to "turn it off". Some guys, like Taylor apparently, play so close to the edge that they are probably slightly out of control on the field. And in that kind of environment, crazy stuff happens. Ask Lawrence Taylor about it. He talks all the time about playing games where he can't really remember what happened, he was just in this zone, and at the end, everyone's asking him how crazy he was to be diving all over the place killing people.

Personally, I'm mad at Sean Taylor for putting the team in jeopardy for something so foolish. I can't see anything blatant or Romo-style from the replay, and I've seen it a dozen times now, so whatever it was must not have been that deliberate or thought out.

At any event, I've no allusions about him being a "classy" player. He will never be a classy player. Most NFL players will never be classy. Guys like Darrell, Monte, and Charles Mann, they were classy. But they were special, too.

Guys like Sean are just angry, heat-seeking missiles looking to destroy something. And you can't ask a heat-seeking missile to stop and think about what it's doing. You just point it in the right direction and get the f*** out of the way. You take all the dozens of game-saving plays with the one or two boneheaded ones

Just my .02

[railcon56]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Just spit?

So if someone spit in your face would you be able to restrain yourself and laugh it off?? I know if someone spit in my face they'd better turn and run really damn fast.

Whatever man... spitting is widely considered as one of the most disrespectful things you can do to a person.

It's downright dispicable and to steal a line from Sean Salisbury it's BUSH LEAGUE.

There's no room in the game for that sort of behavior. In fact there's no room in life for crap like that.

Just spit?

You've really gotta be kidding me.

I Usually dont agree with Matty lol but this time I am 100% with you its sickening

[NYCSkin]

Is there an actual rule that allows for a player to be ejected if they spit on another player? Is it that specific? Or do we think this is Carey's personal interpretation of "unsportsmanlike conduct"?

Maybe Taylor is, as Jamie Foxx says, just "juicy"...(you know, one of those guys with excessive oral fluid)

[Schneed10]

As a follow-up, arguing about how disrespectful it is to spit in someone's face was not my intention. All I meant to say was that if ST did actually spit in Pittman's face, then I'll deal with it. Sean Taylor is worth it, and his if his fiery personality leads to questionable behavior that comes across as classless, then that's fine with me. Because that fiery personality is the exact thing that makes him a special player. I'll definitely take the good with the bad, and all I initially meant to say was that nobody should be coming down on Sean Taylor. Call him classless all you want, but he can still play on my defense any day.

I still don't think the refs should eject someone for spitting, they don't even eject people for taking swings at each other. That just makes no sense to me, eject someone for spitting, but if someone takes a swing, that's fine. What would you rather have, germs in your face or a bloody nose? I'll take the germs, thanks.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

As a follow-up, arguing about how disrespectful it is to spit in someone's face was not my intention. All I meant to say was that if ST did actually spit in Pittman's face, then I'll deal with it. Sean Taylor is worth it, and his if his fiery personality leads to questionable behavior that comes across as classless, then that's fine with me. Because that fiery personality is the exact thing that makes him a special player. I'll definitely take the good with the bad, and all I initially meant to say was that nobody should be coming down on Sean Taylor. Call him classless all you want, but he can still play on my defense any day.

I still don't think the refs should eject someone for spitting, they don't even eject people for taking swings at each other. That just makes no sense to me, eject someone for spitting, but if someone takes a swing, that's fine. What would you rather have, germs in your face or a bloody nose? I'll take the germs, thanks.

I hear you now.

I'll take him on my D anyday too, but I still think he's a punk.

I think it's a borderline call for the refs, it's harsh but think about what happens if you leave him in the game. You just know that's a sitution that won't go away and will only escalate at some point later in the game. Someone would eventually take a shot at ST for revenge and things could get ugly. For the refs they made the call to squash the entire thing and boot him, so I can see that rationale.