Boba Fett Plays for the New Orleans Saints?

Bounty Hunting. Those two words conjure up images of tough men on a mission the likes of which of Boba Fett and a man who calls himself Dog, but the NFL? Now, unless you have had your head shoved so far up your ass that sound is muffled you have had to hear about the BOUNTY scandal that has plagued football for the last few weeks.



The NFL (National Football League) has actually dealt with this problem pretty swiftly and hasn’t taken a backseat when it has come to handing down fines and suspensions. Hell, they suspended two time Super Bowl winning coach of the New Orleans Saint, Sean Peyton, for all of next season and former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the alleged apparent mastermind of the program, an indefinite one. And those in charge of the League say that they are not done. If and when they find more players and, or, coaches, they will meet the same fate. Bully for them. It is not very often that you hear about a sports league saying that they don’t care who the person is, what they do, or how popular they are that they are not safe from prosecution. That’s why it boggles my mind that now DA’s (District Attorneys) want to pursue criminal charges against any found to have taken part in the Bounty Program. I mean, really? One, it is going to be hard to prove, unless there is an actual transaction noting that the player in question actually received money for intentionally hurting another. Hell, even with their name is on the check and the check states that’s what it is for I still think they’re going to have a hard time getting thing other than more fines.



Not only that but now it appears that Senator (DEM-Il) Dick Durbin wants to convene a hearing in Congress on the recent National Football League scandal involving bounties for brutal contacts and is arranging a Judiciary Committee to examine whether or not a federal law had been broken in offering bribes and awards to harm players. Durbin declared in a speech from the floor of the Senate, "This disclosure involving the New Orleans Saints goes to an outrageous level that none of us ever anticipated. And I think it's time, whether we're talking about hockey, football, baseball, basketball or any collegiate team contest, that we have clear rules that what happened with the New Orleans saints never, ever happens again.” Durbin, who claims to be a sports fan like many so in Congress, in the past has successfully pressed to keep chewing tobacco out of sight in Major League Baseball.




What the fuck? I think someone should remind good-old-Dick that the NFL is a PRIVATE organization and not a public one. And that maybe he should concern himself more on the welfare of the country and how we are still in a recession that is being hurt daily by high gas prices because he and the other cronies that work in DC have zero ideas when it comes to anything looking like an Energy Bill or have any ideas when it comes to really fixing the Economy and creating REAL jobs.

But never mind that.

No. He has to stick his nose into matters that DO NOT and SHOULD NOT concern the American Government. I know he just loves to get on his soap box and say how these people (sports stars) are ROLE MODELS for the young, but there in lies the problem. Sports Stars should not be elevated to that standard. And maybe good-old-Dick should concern hiself -if he must- in matters where they are not looked upon as role models. I mean, it is JUST A GAME no matter how you put it. And the unfortunate part of the game and the players involved now is that most of the people in it are not there for the love of it. Rather for the large cash rewards that are given to the talented that play them.

So why should we (especially good-old-Dick) be surprised that teams pay players to put an extra hit and hurt on the best player of their opponents? If the nature of the game is winning and being paid large amounts of cash to win then we as an audience shouldn’t be surprised at all. It is now part of the game. Same as steroids are part of the game for Baseball. Another no-brainier when it comes to what happens off screen, off field, and in the locker rooms. If adults want to destroy their bodies with that shit fine. It is their life. But on the other hand don’t come back and blame the game you are part of for making you do anything. You knew the risks when you got into it and no one held you down and forced you to do anything. That is what free will is all about.

And on another note, to say that placing bounty’s on players is new and strictly a Saints problem couldn’t be further from the truth. Truth is that bounties have been around a long time in the NFL. Back in the 1980’s, former Green Bay Safety (1986-90), Tiger Greene, was a rookie for the Atlanta Falcons and the Falcons players had what they referred to as a “RATING SYSTEM” where each player chipped in about $300 before a given game and the pot would be distributed via ratings on the hits they gave out. If someone had to be carted off the field or had been knocked unconscious that player would take the entire pot of cash. And when you are a rookie and not making as much as the others, well, that could be a pretty big extra add on to your paycheck. And in 2007 the Packers we sighted for violations to the bounty rule stating that defensive linemen were getting $500 from teammates for holding running back Adrian Peterson to fewer than 100 yards. When brought to the attention of Mike McCarthy, coach of the Pack, he addressed the situation swiftly and it didn't linger .

And I’m thinking that they aren’t the only ones that had and, or, have programs up and running. Only they just haven’t been caught. It is not unlike the Spying scandal from a few years ago involving the Patriots. As with that problem, the NFL won’t be to tarnished by this and in a few months will quietly disappear as well.