So the Oakland Raiders player who smacked Ben Roethlisberger so hard in the head on Sunday, that Big Ben went down to the ground (and he’s a big guy), after Ben tried to break up a verbal fight between players, after the play was done got fined $25,000 by the NFL but no other penalty.
In 2003, Saints receiver Joe Horn spiked the ball after scoring a touchdown against the Giants. He then pulled a hidden cell phone out of its the padding of the upright and used it to call his children. He was fined $30,000 by the NFL.
After a score in a Monday Night Football contest against the Seattle Seahawks, Terrell Owens pulled a Sharpie out of his sock and signed the game ball which he then gave to his financial adviser, who was sitting in a seat close to the end zone. Owens was fined $20,000 by the NFL for defacing the ball.
Wes Welker was fined $10,000 for making a snow angel after scoring a touchdown during a week 16 game against the Cardinals in 2008.
Get your head out of your ass NFL. Fine egregious actions such as hitting people, on purpose, for no good reason. But end zone celebrations? Or actions that occur as a result of football moves? You guys are systematically removing any fun or ability to play while making sure to not apply rules and stiffer penalties when you should.
There have been so many fines for end zone celebrations (which hurt who exactly?) and for things that occur as a result of them actually playing football – “Hi – I’m flying through the air as I am going to tackle someone and we both move in a split second causing me to land on him and one or both of us get hurt but it’s clearly not intentional.”
But the NFL was catching a lot of gruff from the media about concussions and players getting hurt so they had to step up those fines to appear as they were reacting. But instead it’s just a large amount of over-reacting in ways that don’t even seem reasonable. But then someone goes off and does something violent on purpose?
This quote bothered me more than anything:
“All the offensive linemen, as well as some of us, were getting chippy because they were chipping after the whistle,” Oakland linebacker Quentin Groves (notes) said. “As Ben goes and tries and break the fight up, Richard reacts. That’s just a reaction that a fighter has, and that’s what he is, a fighter. To react like that is just a basic combination.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-raiders-seymourfined
No – this is a human with a brain and the ability to know the difference between right and wrong. You should be able to recognize that you don’t just go off and hit people and blame it on a “fighter’s reaction.” I saw the play. And then all of the replays of it. The guy just went off and hit someone for no reason. And I’m not even a fan of Ben R but this was so ridiculous.
Although if I’m going to be honest, had this been Michael Vick who was hit, I would have applauded the Oakland player.
