NFL: Saints Bounty Thread

[RnB]

(12-13-2012 12:17 PM)AsylumGuido Wrote:  I know where you were coming from, but the severity of the punishment laid on the Saints, the staff and the players was always based upon the initial interpretation by Goodell and not his redefinition later on. Tagliabue even pointed this out when he said that the Packers in 2007 and the Patriots in 2008 were each fined $25,000 for the same violations and the players that took part received no sanctions.

My beef in this whole matter has been how the Saints have been portrayed by Goodell from the beginning and how it has been perceived by the public. I know most of you around here have been able to see the light, but there are even a few here with all of the information available in this thread that still believe the fantastic story that Goodell first threw out to the media last March.

It is unfortunate that the Saints were made an example of. There is no taking it back now, especially in the world of public opinion or sports media. No outcome will ever completely absolve the Saints. The main issue I have always had with this thing is that they were told to cease and desist, in an official manner, and failed to do so. If ANY franchise is told that their locker room betting/pools are becoming a problem (for whatever reason), and they say "Fuck you, they aren't a problem", the NFL has every right to take action against them. Period.

At that point, no matter how prevelant locker room pools are across the league, the Saints organization fucked up. In my estimation, they got what they deserved for defying the league office. Its dirty as hell that the FO and coaching staff of the Saints put themselves in that position, dragging all their players along with them, but the fact remains that it DID happen. There DO need to be punishments levied and no amount of legal nonsense in the world will change that.

Whether the players need to be punished is up for debate, as Tag's ruling noted. I do not think Goodell stepped over his bounds or levied harsher punishments than were deserved. I think he was doing his job, which is to protect the NFL on behalf of the Owners.