I don't understand the reasoning behind how fines in the NFL are handed out. Yesterday, Randy Moss is
hit with a $10,000 fine for his fake-mooning of the crowd in Green Bay. Meanwhile, Eric Barton of the Jets is
hit with a $7,500 fine for his late hit on Drew Brees in Saturday's night win over the Chargers. (Barton is lucky this blunder didn't cost his team the game or else it'd be a long walk back to NY). Earlier this season, Jake Plummer was hit with a $5,000 fine for flipping the bird to some fans who were booing him. A couple of years ago, Somari Rolle of the Titans gets a $12,500 find for doing what was deemed a throat slash gesture during a game. Then, you've got Joe Horn who last year was fined $35,000 for stashing a cell phone in the pads on the goal post in one of the few Saints's wins in recent memory.
So, by looking at these fines, apparently the worst thing you can do in the NFL is stash a cell phone and make a call during a game. Apparently flipping the bird or pretending to moon the crowd isn't nearly as offensive or horrible as that. (I can understand why Rolle got hit with a fine because the NFL had said they were cracking down on the throat slash at the time).
Are the priorities just a bit skewed here?
Also, hitting Randy Moss with a $10,000 fine is like hitting me with a five buck penalty. Yeah, I have to give up five bucks, but in the long run, it doesn't register that much with me.
Then, we get Randy Moss's attitude about the whole thing. Here's how he reacted when asked about it by reporters:
Reporter: "Write the check yet, Randy?" Moss: "When you're rich you don't write checks."
Reporter: "If you don't write checks, how do you pay these guys?"
Moss: "Straight cash, homey."
Reporter: "Randy, are you upset about the fine?"
Moss: "No, cause it ain't [expletive]. Ain't nothing but 10 grand. What's 10 grand to me? Ain't [expletive] … Next time I might shake my [expletive]."
Good to know that fine is discouraging Mr. Moss from comitting such future offenses. I think the NFL needs to reconsider the fine and maybe make it a bit more stout.
The problem is that the Vikings as a team and an organization don't seem to see much wrong with Moss's antics. It's even gone so far that owner Red McCoombs has petitioned FOX to not have Joe Buck (who called Moss's display last weekend "disgusting" on the air) call the game on Saturday. Thankfully,
FOX has kept Buck on the crew and isn't punishing him for calling a spade a spade. (What was McCoombs expecting--Buck to come out of the press box and taunt Randy during the game?)
Unfortunately, unless Randy's fellow players, team and organization come out and take a stand against what he did, we'll continue to see more of the same from him. And until the NFL comes up with some logic--or better yet a defined structure to how fines are levied--to the system for punishing players, this shameful behavoir will only continue.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 1/14/2005 09:34:00 AM |
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