I realized this morning that I had been waiting four years to hear or read the phrase “worse than Spygate.” I didn’t really know I'd been waiting for it till I read it; it was an unnamed yearning, a cough in a quiet theater, a strumming acoustic guitar that promised thrashing windmill power chords.
I would remind John Clayton that the Commissioner found the Patriots had broken the rules but had gained no competitive advantage so the comment about Spygate that “no one got hurt except teams that lost close games” is clearly out of line. Let’s not forget, this is about the Saints, Gregg Williams and bounties. This isn’t about a misinterpretation of the predicate clause of a rule. This is about institutionalized thuggery.
Yeah, but all the cool kids are doing it…
Expect apologists to claim that this is something that is done across The League. Perhaps that claim is true. In the wake of Spygate the same claims were made by the FOB (Friends of Bill) like Jimmy Johnson. In “War Room,” Michael Holley drops a dime on the Indianapolis Colts for taping opponents. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. Just before my wife and I – yet to tie the knot – visited her parents for the first time, my future sister-in-law got caught with a personal use amount of marijuana in her bedroom dresser. Her defense? “Well, Vickie is sleeping with her boyfriend!” She still got grounded.
Perhaps every defense in the NFL puts bounties on their opponents. (Perhaps every team in The League was taping their opponents back in 2007.) Even if that were true, it's much better for The League to find and punish a single team and send a league-wide message than it is to acknowledge that Bernard Pollard got paid to take out Tom Brady.
Or that Donte Whitner got paid for knocking Pierre Thomas out of the divisional playoff game between the 49ers and the Saints.
Irony much?
Aren’t these guys paid to hurt each other?
Based on the reaction to The League’s response to helmet-to-helmet hits, I have a feeling the majority of NFL fans won’t have a big problem with this. My expectation is that more than a few Pigskin Pundits and Bobbleheads will accuse The League of being hypocritical. If you’re a defensive end or outside linebacker in the NFL, your basic job description is to get to the quarterback. Every defense goes into every game knowing that their best chance to win is to put the opposing starting quarterback on the bench taking the concussion test. Defensive ends and outside linebackers get paid hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to sack the quarterback with extreme prejudice. You’re telling me $10,000 bounty on Matt Schaub’s head really makes a difference to a guy picking up a six figure game check?
Well, yes. It does. In the original “Rollerball,” after all else fails for the corporate masters in their attempts to take out Jonathan E., they order that the final championship game be played without rules. No act, no matter how reprehensible, no matter how violent, no matter that someone be maimed or killed, will result in a penalty.
The analogy is admittedly less than perfect but those bounty payouts and the peer recognition that comes with them establish a culture where rules do not matter. In the course of a game, in the heat of battle, players occasionally lose their shit and do questionable things. Punches are thrown, players are stomped, quarterbacks are suplexed. Our court systems recognize a difference between crimes of passion and cold-blooded acts of premeditation. Football is a violent game, but it need not be a lawless game.
Ultimately, it is the legitimacy of the game and its outcomes The League must defend and ensure. Players get hurt in the natural course of a football game but if those injuries are seen as anything other than the inevitable result of large, fast men playing a violent game, the numbers on the scoreboard begin to lose their validity as does the unwritten contract The League has with its fans.
Bottom Line Time…
Do I think the Saints won games they wouldn’t have because of these bounties? No. But actual corruption of the game isn't necessary; the mere suggestion of it is enough to warrant the punishment the Commissioner is likely to hand down.
More importantly…
Worse than Spygate.
About time.
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