OT: Bountygate: All Four Suspended Saints Players Appeal Suspensions

Submitted by Humen on

ESPN has the story.

Vilma, Hargrove, Smith, and Fujita are all appealing their various suspensions from the colossal mess of bountygate. Of course, the NFLPA is defending the players who are suspended for paying each other to hurt other players. Every time I hear this story I think about all the chippy shots Favre took in that NFC championship game. Favre was beaten and broken during that game, and it's interesting to ponder the effects of the bounty, contrapositive style. 

If you watch the ESPN video, Sheffy has a winged helmet right next to what is presumably his wedding photo. Very interesting. 

 
 

ijohnb

May 7th, 2012 at 2:31 PM ^

amazing to me how I can be as addicted to college football as I am while simultaneously having absolutely zero interest in the NFL.  Pro football is so painfully boring that I don't know how it is the same sport.  It took "bountygate" for me to even follow it on the ESPN bottom line.

redhousewolverine

May 7th, 2012 at 5:40 PM ^

Same here, but I tend to be disillusioned with most pro sports these days. Like baseball because its baseball. Nothing like sitting out in the sun with some friends and a beer or two enjoying your day and cheering on your team. However, could care less about NBA or NFL. If (when) the Red Wings are eliminated from the playoffs, I tend to no longer care. Boring stuff. However, now that I am in Chicago, so many people seem to care about professional sports teams only. Not even just my native Chicago friends but people from Wisco, LA, Boston, etc. Someone will ask me about the NBA and I think of the Ron Artest elbow a couple of weeks ago or eeryone freaking out about a Lebron James wide-open dunk and I chuckle and wonder why.

(edit: now I'm going to read about Kate Upton being on a baseball card.)

BlueDragon

May 7th, 2012 at 6:43 PM ^

is to be a Browns fan and find more interest in the politics and roster changes of the league while hoping for a winning season for the first time in forever. This quest is usually over by midseason.

justingoblue

May 7th, 2012 at 2:39 PM ^

is the NFLPA in if there are union members filing lawsuits, or even pressing criminal charges, while they're defending these players for carrying out/ordering hits on those same players?

Sounds like a tenuous and unenviable position, to say the least (although I have to assume they have some discretion whether to help with these appeals).

BOX House

May 7th, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^

The NFLPA is primarily concerned with protecting the interests of current players not to protect former players. I'm not saying that's morally right, but as of right now they have a pretty big interest in pushing back against a very authoritative commissioner. The NFLPA is probably the weakest of all the unions in sports.

HopeInHoke

May 7th, 2012 at 2:52 PM ^

Why is the players association helping?

Yeah you don't want players getting fines, but these players purposely tried to hurt other players...

I don't think there's a shot in hell any get reduced- and I hope that's true this whole situation is beyond gross

LSAClassOf2000

May 7th, 2012 at 6:17 PM ^

As someone who supervises an almost  entirely represented group inside a company, I can say that this is basically standard procedure. If you discipline an employee, even if they did something clearly incorrect, the discipline will be grieved unless it is one of the rare offenses where you can be terminated on the spot (and in a lot of large companies, not too many things qualify for that).

I am not sure how the NFLPA and the teams work it, but more often than not, what happens is that management will have some number of days to reply, then the reply is sent to a designated union representative (typically a grievance officer or bargaining unit chair in companies), and if it is unsatisfactory to the union, there are potentially further hearings and bargaining which can take place.

To make a long story short, it is very difficult - at least in many corporate environments - to make even obvious discipline stick in the end, but I don't know if they can avoid severe punishment here, as this is on an entirely different plane than anything which could happen at a company basically. Per most every agreement I have seen, nothing is typically official until someone (usually an arbitrator if it goes that far) rules that the discipline (or some version of it) stands. 

Now, that isn't to say that representation in these matters is a bad thing - it certainly is not. It simply means that formal discipline is a long process and the outcome is less than predictable. 

BOX House

May 7th, 2012 at 7:23 PM ^

Right - at the very least these players deserve due process. What will be interesting to see is if the players' arguments that they are entitled to an arbitrator stick. If Goodell is the one reviewing the appeals system, those types of due process rights go out the window, for all intents and purposes.

ShadowStorm33

May 7th, 2012 at 3:33 PM ^

Actually, it makes some sense. I'm assuming there's as least some semblance of innocent until proven guilty here, and they're protecting players who at least theoretically have a defense. The state doesn't deny the right to publically provided counsel for those indicted by grand juries (i.e. cases having enough evidence to go forward), even though the victims are also under the care of the state. I'd much rather the NFLPA defend the players getting fined, instead of automatically siding with the victims, if there are any questions whatsoever with the case...

Roachgoblue

May 7th, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^

You just noticed that helmet, and you thought they wouldn't appeal? The union will always try to appeal any ruling that impacts money.

Tater

May 7th, 2012 at 4:53 PM ^

The NFLPA is supposed to protect players, but they are merely puppets for high-profile agents.  Their real job is to extract as much money out of the owners and, by extension, the fans, as is humanly possible.  A player could perpetrate homicide upon another player, and the NFLPA would still defend him if it meant the loss of as much as a penny.

I'm still trying to figure out why people who make millions of dollars a year need a union.

BOX House

May 7th, 2012 at 5:16 PM ^

I don't necessarily view the NFLPA as such a negative institution. Without the NFLPA, the commissioner and owners would quite literally be imposing whatever rules he/they wanted. I think the NFLPA is the lesser of 2 evils in comparison to Goodell - I'd rather have players have a say in how the game is run rather than the business-minded owners and commissioner.

Sambojangles

May 7th, 2012 at 10:57 PM ^

Calling every scandal, in sports, politics, or otherwise, _____-gate has to be the most annoying journalistic shortcut, right? Watergate was 40 years ago, come up with something new.