SPORTS COMMENTARY
Grant Lucas
Review staff writer
It’s a little more than halfway through the NFL season, and I’m already exhausted. It’s hard to keep up with everything that is happening, and I don’t mean on the scoreboard.
Adam Jones won’t ever play in the league again. Nope, changed our minds; he’s reinstated, and here is a contract from the Cowboys. O.J. was arrested again and sent to prison. Jones was cuffed once more. Cheddar Plax shot himself in the leg.
Worst of all, the league is dishing out fines and suspensions as if it’s trying to help the Detroit Lions achieve their first win.
Because of the excessive involvement by the league, I thought it would be useful to look at the most ridiculous fines from this season.
After losing to the Houston Texans, Miami Dolphin linebacker Joey Porter made a statement: He said the referees made a wrong call in the fourth quarter.
On a play the officials ruled incomplete, Porter believed he stripped the ball, which the Dolphins recovered.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell apparently heard enough. The league slapped Porter with a $20,000 fine for inappropriate comments on the officiating.
Goodell said, “Criticism that unfairly attacks the integrity of the officials is prohibited.”
A player questioning a call? I’ve never heard of such a thing. For those who don’t know, Porter has been known to run his mouth and call people out. It’s kind of his specialty.
I would understand this penalty if Porter called the referee incompetent, but all he said was that the official made a bad call. If the league is going to start fining people for making such statements, players will soon be broke.
Let’s move on to Steeler linebacker LaMarr Woodley. Woodley jumped over a cut block attempt and sacked Redskin quarterback Jason Campbell. It was a clean hit, and no flag was thrown. Good for Woodley for getting Pittsburgh’s fifth sack of the half.
But wait, the league said, that wasn’t a clean hit at all. A few days later, Woodley was issued a $10,000 fine for “throwing Campbell down in an intimidating manner.”
This is professional football. Hard hits happen. Players wear pads for a reason. Besides, if Woodley was trying to give Campbell a 280-pound hug, it would still be intimidating.
In a game against the Cowboys, New York Giant defensive end Justin Tuck was able to break into the backfield. Just as quarterback Brooks Bollinger released the ball, Tuck wrapped up and drove Bollinger back. On the way down, Tuck released his grasp and fell on top of Bollinger. Tuck was flagged on the play for driving Bollinger into the turf.
The league further penalized him, charging Tuck $7,500 for unnecessarily driving the quarterback to the ground.
Unnecessary? Unnecessary would be if Tuck stood up and gave Bollinger a good old-fashioned elbow drop. Unnecessary would be if Tuck wrapped up the mascot and drove him to the ground. Luckily, the NFL Players Union appealed the fine, and it was lifted.
Ryan Clark, Steelers safety and former teammate of the late Sean Taylor, was docked $5,000 for writing the number “21” in his eye black. Goodell said this broke the NFL’s uniform code. He said every player on the team needed to draw “21” somewhere in order for it to fly.
“We’re a team game, and we represent the NFL,” Goodell said. “So when we do something, as we did with Sean Taylor last year, we do it collectively.”
I could understand Goodell’s reasoning if Clark had sewn a patch onto his uniform somewhere. This is different. The number was over his eye black. Players have tattoos honoring fallen friends, family and teammates. Others write messages on their wrist tape. Are they going to be fined? I doubt it.
The league needs to quit nitpicking, charging for little things and for on-the-fence incidents. It should focus on infractions such as late hits, thrown punches or events that happen off the field.
If Goodell wants to be so involved, have him put on a jersey and try to “unnecessarily” drive someone to the ground.