My Final Word

Ok. This will be my final word on the NFL suspension drama. I'll be honest. I'm sick of all the press it's getting. And I'm sick of every football player misinterpreting what the NFL is trying to do here. If you are completely against the fines and suspensions that the NFL has been talking about, I suggest you stop reading.

After watching a short ESPN clip of Mark Schlereth this morning raving about how unfair these new fines have been, I realized that he made a couple good points. Yes. The NFL definitely does "glorify" and profit off of big hits, and I like a big hit as much as the next guy. When I was a kid, I got a DVD for Christmas of big NHL hits (don't make any comments trying to compare the NFL to hockey and soccer, they aren't comparable). He's right about the nature of the game. Americans love the hitting. I agree with that. And a game of two-hand touch would leave the NFL pretty broke. But for a man whose had 29 surgeries, he seems pretty oblivious to what the NFL is doing.


If you look at the title on the video (which can be found here), it says "dangerous and flagrant" hits. Therefore, Schlereth's argument that the NFL is trying to eliminate hard hits is void in my opinion. No one's trying to eliminate contact in the NFL, so stop arguing against a point that no one's making. The point that I'm making is that thousands of solid hits are made every week, so why do a few players have to put themselves and others in jeopardy? There will always be accidents (DeSean Jackson vs. Dunta Robinson), but if players could get back to fundamental shoulder-to-shoulder, shoulder-to-chest hitting, and stop leveling defenseless players, I think the league would shutup. It's just those few head-to-head hits (i.e. Brandon Meriweather) that need to stop.

Concussions may never stop. It's a risk associated with playing the game. And football players will always die over 20 years earlier than the rest of us. (Maybe Schlereth could use his Doctorate of Medicine he got while playing college ball to explain why this happens.) But by that same token, the NFL is dumb too. Schlereth makes a good point, you can't fine guys for big hits, but then try and add another game to the season. Honestly, everyone is wrong. The NFL is wrong. The players and analysts are wrong. So what's next?

Oh and p.s. Stop referring to things as criminal. Murder is criminal. Not NFL fines. And calling them "line of duty" disabilities is ridiculous. Line of duty is being on the front lines of war and sacrificing your life for your country.