Media is changing its tune about the bounty system
 

Funny how at first every media outlet was out to crucify the Saints and everyone was talking about how awful and shameful the Saints are. They hung us out to dry and beet it into the ground. Then Manning signs with Denver and we get a slight break. Then when they have beeten the dead horse until people stopped listening A couple of players (Carter) come out and say how routine it is and the media slacks off on us. Its like they got bored like a little baby when nobody listens anymore and the excitement is over and act out. Just goes to show you how media driven this league is. They need something to talk about to get ratings so they flip flop whenever people stop listening. Espn and other networks are destroying this game as much as Goodell.

+even some players blame the retired players that sue the NFL for ruining the game.And its true in a way that the NFL asked Goodell to dumbing up the game so that the league wont be sued by retired players with injuries .

Yeah, the NFL has been very hypocritical about safety, considering it's past handling of players. There has always been a disregard for the players in order to sell the game... Until now.

But I don't agree with the retired players' motives either. I just think it's pathetic for them to act like they had no idea that concussions could lead to brain damage... What the hell do they think a concussion is? It's a bruise to your brain. and the brain is the most sensitive organ in the human body. After several shots to the head, of course it's going to cause long term effects! So really, both sides are fooling themselves, and unfortunately, our team got caught in the crossfire of their war.

Talk about scapegoat, we were the sacrificial lamb. But not for long, hopefully.

Goodell is trying to take the contact out of the contact sport, the game is known for its aggressiveness and huge hits, yet players get fined for any type of big hit

I'm still mad that Quddus got fined for that amazing hit vs Hakeem nicks

I hope years from now Goodell admits he could have handled things better. It needed to be dealt with but the way he went about it has created even more hemorrage to the NFL. It never was about bounties. The media is now focusing on what he was trying to avoid which is brain trauma and that is what the player lawsuits wanted. His plan backfired. Burning one team has brought more players foreward stating the NFL tolerated bounties for decades not just a few years.

How I have come to dislike the fickle media even more during all this ... you know, you used to be able to rely on these m'fers for straight, unbiased, objective reporting of the news. When did 'journalism' become 'jerry springer-ism', <sigh> ... probably right around the time Jerry Springer got his own show, eh?

IMO, labeling the hits as 'bounties' was a blatant attempt by the media (& the NFL) to criminalize the Saints actions, which was the wrong thing to do. Fine 'em, suspend 'em a few games, OK ... but this whole thing was mishandled by the press, the league and blown wwwaaayyy out of proportion. 'Big hits' are the culture of the league, whether they're 'paid for' or not, and if Goodell/the owners are out to change the culture of the league, they'll destroy it.

The media and all these fricken' bloggers like Prisco, Clayton and countless others who threw New Orleans under the bus, owe you guys an apology ... just reporting 'nice' about the Saints ain't enough.

Why wasn't James Harrison's punishment more severe? He actually DID the thing.

Why doesn't the NFL have the players sign something saying they realize football is a contact sport and they could end up with brain damage...or worse...just like when I go to the Dr. and they have to do surgery or something...they make you sign something saying they aren't liable.

As I have said before, it is systemic. I know there are the people who tow the line of 'they were told to stop and didnt...end of story"..

If you have 32 employees that all take 1:15 minutes for lunch and you tell only one to stop because lunch hour is only 1:00... You look like a hypocritical *******.



Anyway... The concussion lawsuits will go no where (and you can quote me on that). The players all KNOW the hazards of the game and CHOOSE to keep playing.

You are not going to tell me there is ONE NFL player that made it to professional football with out having heard or spoken the phrase "got your bell rung"

Abdul-Quddus got put on my map with that hit.
I didn't even know he was on the roster until that explosion.
And that's what is so crazy, that's the way a player gets mapped, and rostered too!
This whole thing is like trying to make war pretty.

Good question.

I'm not so sure. The NFL is on record - meaning the doctor they employed - having said NFL players are of no greater risk of head trauma than people who don't play football. They went in front of Congress as recently as 2007 with this statement while the rest of the humans were (and had been for some time) preaching otherwise.

After that 2007 hearing, the NFL began to 'care', all of a sudden, about concussions. Players are saying the league and team doctors were telling them that getting a concussion was no big deal. "Get back out there!"

If that is accurate - if the players can establish that culture - then it seems to me the NFL has some serious 'splainin to do. Of course as I want to make abundantly clear, I'm no lawyer, but I don't think the NFL is going to come out of this clean. In fact I think the NFL is in BIG trouble, and I think Roger Goodell knows it, and I think that's why he's willing to come down in such a public and over-the-top way on the Saints.

Being so heavy-handed is Roger's way of showing the world - and more precisely the judge and jury he will soon be required to stand before - that the NFL 'cares'. It's crap on a stick and we all know it.

What I find interesting is that a lot of the comments underneath the articles seem to be turning somewhat in the Saints favor, as well. What began as just a total outpouring of vitriol and hatred by John Q. Public toward the Saints, underneath these articles, is now running about 50/50 split, in the comments section of most of these different sports/news sites. A lot of people out there are also saying "where is the evidence and why won't they show it?" That's a HUGELY important shift in my book.

It IS an important shift I agree. I've been saying for a while now that, at least in my opinion, this has become bigger than football or sports in general. This is about a man with a clearly perceived agenda thumping his chest and directly affecting the lives and careers of other men without a single shred of evidence against them. That just isn't right.

And I know it's a corporation and a Union and a CBA and all that jazz. Still, this needs to be addressed, and that's why I think the Union should take this all the way to a strike if necessary because Roger should be required to show his evidence to the men he is making responsible for his "The NFL cares about safety" agenda.

I am not a litigious person - I live more by a belief in Karma, but in this case I'd sue somebody's ass off. I really would.

What I have trouble understanding is how the NFL Network crucifies the Saints for their bounty while showing perfectly clean hits. Also defending players who show up on their network who admit to having placed bounties by saying things like Yea but they weren't trying to end anybody's career.
Oh yea and Iv'e had about enough of Jamie Dukes. He says Harper played dirty when he hit Steve Smith but Defends Suh for throwing QBs to the ground by the face mask after the play is over.

I'm surprised that they aren't still pushing the illegal listening device into the forefront. Maybe it's time for some apologies????? No???? Hmmmmm.......
Well they should be forth coming real soon.:wink:

... maybe they're learning from Bountygate that's it's probably better to wait to have some real evidence/facts before pushing the issue ... you know, so they don't look stupid like Goodell and everyone else who threw the Saints under the bus ...

Because the league is still pissed that 2 small market teams went to the superbowl and the Saints won.

and they can't understand this:

The last two Super Bowls, along with the 2010 game between New Orleans and Indianapolis and the finale of ''M-A-S-H'' in 1983, are the only programs to exceed 100 million viewers in U.S. television history.

and they're doing everything they can to keep it from happening again. Screw the media no one listens to that propaganda anymore. it's all about the money.