LITTLE ROCK — THINGS aren’t going swimmingly south of the (state) border. They’re not even going swimmingly-ish. Especially when you talk about the state of that professional football team in N’awlins.
It’s all the talk in SportsWorld. What with a Manning switching teams, March Madness in full swing, and a real, live baseball season just around the corner, thank goodness, everybody in the wide, wide world of fandom is still talking about . . . Bountygate.
It may be a while before folks mercifully forget about Saints players and coaches putting cash on the table for injuring an opposing player—plus a bonus if he’s got to be carried off on a stretcher!
The lawheads are up in arms: Why, such a practice violates the salary cap!
Also, this little mafia-esque arrangement sets the league up for a lawsuit—or a lot of them. Who says the law isn’t still a great teacher? Especially of lessons every adult—or just half-grown kid—should know without ever having cracked open a single law book.
Oh, yes, last and apparently least in gladiatorland, there’s the little matter of right and wrong. There still is, isn’t there? Or are we being hopelessly puritanical, fundamentalist, and just plain out of it? Lord, we hope not.
THE NFL’s commissioner, one Mr. Roger Goodell, wasn’t taking any chances with the league’s legal future. If—or should the operative word be when?—the day comes that Mr. Goodell is in court testifying in the case of a player with head trauma, he doubtless would like to point out that he and his league did all they could to limit such injuries.
So in the wake of this bounty scheme down in New Orleans, the commissioner suspended the current head coach of the Saints for a year—an unprecedented if long overdue punishment. The commish also suspended other coaches and front-office types in the Saints’ operation for varying number of games.
End of story. The Saints should take their punishment. And start again next year. Case closed.
Except . . . .
There’s all this publicity. It’s the talk of talk radio. It’s on ESPN every quarterhour. Like it’s scheduled. It’s even gotten nerdy editorial writers around the country fired up. Rush Limbaugh is talking about Bountygate. It’s on Fox News!
When politicians see something getting this much camera time, it’s like throwing fish food in the catfish pond. The critters start popping up on cue. Though the politicians have larger mouths. And aren’t as easily sated.
Comes now a senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, D-Showmanship, who says he’s going to hold congressional hearings on Bountygate in the NFL next month. Just listen to him go on—and on:
“A spirit of aggressiveness and competitiveness is an integral part of many sporting contests, but bribing players to intentionally hurt their opponents cannot be tolerated. We have to put an end to this . . . . We will have a hearing and put on the record what sports leagues and teams at the professional and collegiate levels are doing to make sure that there’s no place in athletics for these pay-to-maim bounties. I want to hear the policies and practices in each of the major sports and collegiate sports that are being put in place and have one explore whether federal legislation is required.”
At last Congress will tackle something important, and not waste any more time discussing trivia like war and peace and the burgeoning national debt. What a relief.
Conclusion: Calling attention to themselves is an integral part of being United States senators. This week’s publicity grab should come with what ought to be dubbed the Durbin Corollary: Even something as outrageous as a bounty scheme in a (too) professional sport can be reduced to boring pap when a U.S. senator is talking about it.
AS FAR as putting an end to the bounties, don’t you sorta think the commissioner has done that already? What coach, or player for that matter, is going to tolerate such goings-on in the locker room knowing what’s happened to the Saints?
The head coach down there, Sean Payton, is going to lose millions this year when he has to sit out the games at home. The punishment for the players involved hasn’t been handed down yet. (The commish is waiting on the players’ union to complete its investigation. From education to air travel, no controversy is complete till the unions weigh in.) Expect multiple players to get multiple-game suspensions, not to mention having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
Senator Durbin’s reasoning for getting the feds involved? It’s personal:
“Accidents will happen and injuries will happen. That’s part of the game. I knew it when I put on my uniform and went out on that field.”
What uniform?
He played high school football. And says he has a bum knee to show for it.
(Sigh.)
Maybe they’re right when they say the personal is the political. At least it is for the pol who never misses a chance to publicize his heroic exploits, even if only in high school.
We may have lost track of time by now, but by our count it’s been about three (3) years since the U.S. Senate approved a federal budget. But in a dramatic show of energy, concern and all-American leadership, at least one senator thinks the Judiciary Committee should be holding extensive hearings—about a problem that’s already been addressed. We all have our priorities. Thank you, Senator Durbin.
For all of the senator’s expertise when it comes to sports and sports injuries, the NFL may have a tad more data and experience when it comes to tackling such subjects. And a much greater incentive. Also, by now half its front-office staff must be working on how to clean up the game.
The senators in Washington, D.C., bless every publicity-seeking one, might do better to sit this one out on the nearest bench. When they’re needed, they can suit up. But, please, senators, not till then. There are already too many men in motion on this field. And running in circles. Volubly.
Editorial, Pages 17 on 03/31/2012