top of page

Do the crime, do the time. Kinda.

  • KAS
  • Sep 23, 2016
  • 5 min read

As usual, lately we've seen plenty of NFL athletes battle with league-issued sanctions - from Josh Gordon's reinstatement to Tom Brady's deflategate suspension and most recently, Antonio Brown's fine for twerking in the end zone.

antonio brown twerking

Sadly it's nothing out of the ordinary.

The NFL is a business and has to enforce some type of conduct code to keep these "employees" in line and it just so happens rich and famous rockstar lifestyles don't typically comply with the rules.

But do the punishments always fit the crime? I'd argue no. Roger Goodell is notorious for his sporadic crack of the whip, with some athletes punished and others left untouched.

Okay class, let's do a hypothetical situation. If an athlete physically beats another human outside of game play, they should ideally be punished, yes? Yes. Great. And if someone obnoxiously celebrates an accomplishment, they should maybe only be reprimanded, yes? Yes. What about sitting quietly and not talking to reporters? No big deal. Okay. Cool.

The NFL does this weird thing where those scenarios aren't always played out in that fashion.

Example 1: Ray Rice was caught on security footage entering an elevator with his then-fiancé but when the doors re-opened, his now-wife was unconscious. He drug her from the elevator and left her on the ground. News outlets claim to have sent the heinous footage to NFL administration but unfortunately, Roger Goodell "missed the memo..." Or so he says. Ray rice went basically unpunished (a fee and two-game time out) until the video was made public and America went OFF. Finally Rice was released by the Ravens and suspended indefinitely from league play... Until he wasn't. He can now play football in the NFL.

ray rice's wikipedia page

Example 2: A few years ago Marshawn Lynch ran into the end-zone for a touchdown when he suddenly flung himself into the air and grabbed his crotch. Lol. Probably not the most appropriate means of celebration but he's a funky guy and I doubt he meant to "offend" anyone. The NFL administrative staff had a panic attack and decided it was off with Marshawn's head, fining him $20,000. He's also a pretty quiet guy and for not talking to media after the 2015 NFC Championship game, Lynch was slapped with a $75,000 fine.

marshawn lynch's antisocial get up

Now I studied public relations in college so I'm certainly no mathematician but something just ain't quite adding up here.

In the 2015-16 season, the NFL made $40,509 off uniform violations. They made $83,911 off football/celebration fines. After only preseason and Week 1 of the 2016 season, the NFL has already racked up $75,961 in football/celebration fines.

Y'all. More than $75k in a couple weeks for a few HAPPY DANCES.

Some perspective: Ray Rice was suspended two games without pay and fined $58,823. Tom Brady was suspended double that time for possibly knowing about the funky air pressure of a football. Marshawn Lynch paid more than that for simply not talking to strangers. The league collectively paid more than that for celebrating a few athletic accomplishments.

*sigh.* Anyways. Moving on.

Pittsburgh Steelers RB DeAngelo Williams has been dealt a heart-breaking hand from breast cancer, losing his mom and four aunts to the illness. For that reason, he's painted the sky pink with hair dye, nail polish, eyeblack messages and uniform accents.

Roger Goodell said, "hell to the no no" on this and chose to fine Murray $5,757 for pink eyeblack during the NFL's 2015 annual October breast cancer awareness month.

Hold up, wait a minute. Let me get this straight. After deciding breast cancer is such an important issue (because it is), the NFL annually dedicates the entire month of October to breast cancer awareness (or the color pink) - but they denied William's request to wear pink year round. Now it's unacceptable for Williams to honor his family members lost to the very cancer this league has been so concerned about each season? Or is it that Goodell just wants the funds raised from fining even more players? Hmmm.

Come. On.

Luckily Williams plays along with this "game" and instead chose to purchase mammograms and follow up care for 53 women (the age of his mother when she died) at a hospital near Memphis, Pittsburgh and Charlotte. You're a good man, Mr. Williams.

deangelo williams pinkness

Comparatively, I calculated the NFL to have made $14,278,813 in the 2015-16 season alone on just PED, drug and substance related sanctions. Not even alcohol, just drugs; and yes, the total is more than $14 MILLION.

Browns WR Josh Gordon was suspended by the NCAA for marijuana related violations and followed similar suit in the NFL, facing suspensions after testing positive for marijuana again. He was suspended for two games in 2013. In 2014 he was charged for driving while impaired and after yet another positive drug test, was consequently suspended 10 games. The Browns then suspended Gordon one more game for violating team rules before he was suspended from NFL play indefinitely after testing positive for alcohol and violating substance abuse rules once again. He applied for reinstatement in 2016... until one drug sample came back positive and the other was too diluted to test. He was denied... until he wasn't. The WR is currently serving a four-game suspension but can return to play afterward.

What seems crazy to me is that given how blatant this man's drug dependency clearly is, the NFL hasn't steered Gordon more strongly toward rehab, instead fining him repeatedly. I understand football is a business and playing wide receiver is a job so the league isn't "obligated" to heal their employees but it seems to me that perhaps there is a better way to address the young man's situation - you know, something besides taking all his money. $2,982,033 to be exact.

josh gordon cleveland browns

It especially seems crazy to me because Ray Rice beat his now-wife in a public setting and was allowed to continue playing for a small fee. Until the public outrage, Rice had seemingly evaded any punishment - which is a much different scenario than Josh Gordon's predicament. He violated the NFL's substance abuse policy with positive marijuana and alcohol tests. He never hurt anyone but paid a far heftier price than Ray Rice.

With outcomes like these, Roger Goodell sends the message that if you're good enough and can talk slick enough, it doesn't really matter what you do - as long as the public doesn't find out; but if you're not as a great and commit one of those many "serious" little violations (namely smoking weed, not talking to the media and knowing the pressure of footballs,) the NFL will demand your wallet, your time and sometimes even your career.

Well. Isn't that something.

*Side Note: Most of the figures mentioned in this post have been added and calculated by myself. These may be slightly inaccurate, however all information was retrieved from sites documenting NFL finances - so more than likely, the numbers are right on the money. FYI.

#2016 #antoniobrown #arrest #arrested #athletes #athletesinlegaltrouble #athletesintrouble #athletics #boys #blunt #browns #charlotte #champions #cleveland #clevelandbrowns #coaching #competition #controvery #domesticviolence #fines #football #game #legal #mondaynightfootball #nfl #partying #politics #professional #quarterback #runningback #seahawks #socialmedia #sports #summer2016 #texasfootball #theleague #tombrady #twerking #widereceivr #winner #win #winning #twerk #joshgordon #widereceiver #nflfines #punishment #crime #sanction #disparity #stretch #rogergoodell #deangelowilliams #steelers #panthers #patriots #nationalfootballleague #ravens #rayrice #janaypalmer #marshawnlynch #nfcchampionship #2015 #uniformviolations #excessivecelebration #preseason #regularseason #money #suspensions #sanctions #substanceabusepolicy #drugs #alcohol #nflcommissioner #violations

Comments


KAS

SPREAD THE WORD

RSS Feed

Like what you read?

Go tell somebody!

SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL

RECENT POSTS

tackling the fab, the foul & the funny

bottom of page