James Harrison has been fined $20,000 for a late hit to Drew Brees.
While I respect that fact that the NFL is trying to make the game safer by avoiding helmet to helmet hits I do not agree with this fine in the least.
It is not the NFL's place to attach monetary fines for penalties during the game unless there is helmet to helmet hitting or an extreme case of unnecessary roughness, or fighting...basically has to be pretty blatant in order to be fined.
I watched the game and while it was a late hit on Brees it did not look like a helmet to helmet hit or an unnecessarily hard hit, just late. And, believe me I have seen enough re-plays as all anyone can talk about is how Harrison has struck again and no matter how many times I see the late hit I don't see anything that warrants a fine.
Players are not fined for holding, roughing the kicker, blocks in the back, intentional grounding etc. and unless the NFL is going to start fining every player who gets flagged during a game no matter the nature of the penalty then they should not be fining Harrison in this instance.
I know this sounds like a Steelers fan defending a Steelers player, but really my #1 concern is the direction the NFL is going and the potential changes that will bring to the game. Pretty soon they will be wearing flags and there will not be any tackling at all.
I realized the other day one of the reasons I have enjoyed college football so much this year, there is very little talk about how dangerous the game is or fines to players or helmet to helmet hits. I'm sick of it and just want to watch some good football games.
3 comments:
I cannot keep quiet anymore about the current conditions of the NFL. First of all nobody who has never played the game through at least college has a right to an opinion on how hard the game should be played. If a parent has a concern then their child needs to play tennis. Then when their kid gets hit with a serve the concerned parent can lobby for a mph limit on serves to make the game safer. Throughout the history of the NFL most all highlight film has been about hard hitters/hits. Great teams of the past always had the identity of being hitters. Would you go back and fine Dick Butkus for hitting too hard? How about fining Jack Lambert for hitting too hard? This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever experienced in any sport. Fined for hitting too hard. Even hitting with the helmet is a ridiculous fine. Motorcycle helmets have to meet a certain criteria. They can hit the pavement head first at 80 miles per hour not suffer head injuries. This happens repeatedly throughout each year.
Over the weekend I watched several college games and half their hits now would be illegal in the NFL. It sickens me to watch this watered down version of what should be, and always have bee a violent vicious sport. That it is, and should always be. Play football--UMMHH--you might get hit. Don’t like it, than don’t play it and don’t watch it. Watch Baseball, OH, wait a minute--sometime the pitcher hit’s the batter. Really--the same idiots who think football is too violent can go after pitchers who hit batters. Pitcher hit’s a batter--fine them seventy five thousand dollars and put a mph limit on the pitches. For each pitch that exceeds the mph limit fine the pitcher twenty thousand dollars. That, or just choose to watch the Seahawks and you do not have to worry about any hard hitting. Believe it or not--most all football players want to hit hard enough to inflict pain. Get over it--YESS-Foot ball players want to hit hard enough to inflict pain. Right now, NFL players who answer otherwise are liars and are trying to stay off the radar less they become marked in the league like Harrison. I was a very poor kid whose mom and dad were migrant farm labors. The only chance I had at getting through college was with a scholarship. I chose football. The Jr. High School I attended wouldn’t even let me turn out until the ninth grade because I was so small. I played my ninth grade year at 114 pounds. During a game I never left the field. I never missed a down of football. In High School same thing. From my first year I started varsity. My senior year I never missed a single down. I started both defensive and offensive line, and was on all specialty teams. My senior year I weighed 178 pounds. I started all four years in college with a full scholarship. I was a very small offensive tackle at 225 pounds. I blocked defensive linemen weighing over 300 pounds. My senior year I made all conference, all northwest, all district, and nominated to the 74 college athletes hall of fame. How did I do this being so undersized? I was a tenacious hitter.. I hit to hurt. I hit to impose my will on others. I hit to take their will out of even being lined up across from me. Yes--I hurt people. Yet, ask anyone who has ever known me and they will tell you I have always been one of the nicest, kindest and gentle individual you will ever know. Football just happens to be a sport where you can get a scholarship for knocking the snot out of someone. The NFL has made a joke out of the sport. Have a problem with that--then don’t watch it, don’t play it, and don’t let your kid play it. For me--thank god the sport allowed for an undersized guy like myself--a guy that had no specific skills--but ask anyone that knew me and they will tell you I hit like a freight train. It got me the life I now live and enjoy each and every day. You say you don’t like that--then watch the Nat-Geo channel. NO WAIT--they show animals killing each other.
You crack me up!
In a good way that is. Love your comment!
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