This whole "Bounty" thing is ridiculous.

[Forward_Lateral]

This is football. The whole object of the sport/game is to hurt the person lined up across from you. It's been this way for 100 plus years. Now all of the sudden it comes out that players are trying to hurt other players, and everyone is pretending to be shocked and disgusted? Talk about a bunch of Hippocrates. You can't hit a guy in the head anymore. You can't hit a guy who isn't looking at you. You can't hit a QB above or below the waist. Why not just take all of the equipment away and put flags on the side of everyone?

Now players are coming out and admitting to bounties? Are you completely ******ed, or just semi-downs? What ever happened to the code of the locker room, and the unwritten rules of the ins and outs of the game? What's next, retired players are going to start publishing the playbooks from their old teams?

This is completely ridiculous. I'm sure the Saints will be made an example of and lose their 1st round pick, and Sean Payton will get the pants fined off of him, but will it really change anything? Do we WANT it to change anything? If guys have bounties, who cares? If they hurt someone with a dirty or illegal hit, they are going to be a.) penalized on the field for it and b.) fined by the league, probably a substantial amount more than whatever bounty they got in the locker room. There are rules in place already for dirty hits, illegal hits, whatever you want to call them.

I guess my point is that it's not like you see guys out there taking cheap shots, or going after guys' knees on purpose. At least not very often. Of course it happens, but those guys are usually penalized, fined and even suspended. The media is making way too big of a deal about this, and it's sickening.

[THATHURMANATOR]

I agree. Lets not be pussies people.

[ddaryl]

you don't try to intentionally hurt the other player. What ever happened to sportsmanship, bounties are anythingn but, and that is pretty disturbing

The outrage is about bounties. Financially rewarding someone for injuring another, which gives more incentive for players to try and injure

I'm outraged by it, I expect the players to play a clean game and win on merit not by purposely taking out other players. I sure as hell do not accept financial rewards for doing so.

Maybe its time to let go of the last 100 years and move forward. I'm actually sickened by anyone who defends this practice.. there is no reason for financial rewards for injuries to other player NONE NOTTA ZIPPO, whether it was players or coaches or anyone

[The Spaz]

I must have been playing sports all wrong because I never set out to intentionally hurt anyone. Sure injuries happen but to get paid to intentionally hurt someone and get them out of the game is beyond ****ed up.

[Skooby]

It's seems demented that players would be financially rewarded to wreck other people's lives, it's society that allows behavior like this to occur & has no place in professional sports.

I can see giving your opponent a lick as well, just for the halibut.

[BillsFanInNM]

Hurting someone and injuring aren't exactly the same thing. The way I'm understanding the whole situation is they were out to INJURE the other players, not just hurt them. I'm totally for hurting the opposition, as in hitting hard and imposing your will on them.


Thats just my 2 cents.

[mrbojanglezs]

I think you want to hit a guy as hard as you can without hurting him. That is the difference. If you line up next to a guy and think to yourself I want to snap this guys leg in half then your a psycho. But if your thinking I want to knock the wind out of this guy so he feels it in the morning and remembers me then that is acceptable.

It is a very fine line but it shouldn't be crossed.

Injuries are a part of football but it shouldn't be the goal

[Forward_Lateral]

How often do you see any player in the NFL doing something that looks like he's TRYING to injure an opponent? Not very. Like I said, it does happen, but it's not like the player doesn't get punished.

Having a bounty or not having one isn't going to change the way some dirty players play, and it's not going to make clean players play dirty just for a couple of hundred/thousand bucks.

[DasBills]

I'm really torn on this topic. I understand the side that says "this is football, it's meant to be violent". But at the same time, I don't condone anyone intentionally looking to cause harm; so much so that another player is being carried off on a stretcher (which if you believe some reports, was the intent of the Saints). Few things in sports are more exciting than a perfectly executed hit, but the idea of doing whatever you can to take someone out of a game scares me.

[Forward_Lateral]

Also, from the reports I read about the Saints, the bounties were for things like special teams tackles, Interceptions, etc.

Now, of course they didn't mention any about knocking guys out. Did they exist? probably. But is 1000, 5000 or even 10,000 (that's the most I saw reported as a bounty) worth it if you end up getting fined 25,000 and suspended a game? I don't know if players are that stupid.

[DasBills]

Also, from the reports I read about the Saints, the bounties were for things like special teams tackles, Interceptions, etc.

Now, of course they didn't mention any about knocking guys out. Did they exist? probably. But is 1000, 5000 or even 10,000 (that's the most I saw reported as a bounty) worth it if you end up getting fined 25,000 and suspended a game? I don't know if players are that stupid.But would you be surprised?

[Historian]

"Play tough...play hard...play clean." -Marv Levy

[NOT THE DUDE...]

here is the clear distinction- did greg williams say take cheap shots, ie at the knees...

if greg was simply saying knock the **** out of people and if you take them out, good job, here is a thousand for a great hit. i dont see a problem with that.

but if you are actually going at someones knees when they dont see you, yes that is wrong...

i have a feeling this is not about dirty play but rather reducing violence in football, which is bs...

[Jeff1220]

Do you think Wilfork got paid for his hit on JP?

[stuckincincy]

halibut.


It's Lent, so for me, it's Cod Almighty every Friday. :biggrin:

[NOT THE DUDE...]

Do you think Wilfork got paid for his hit on JP?

probably not, and i dont think that was a dirty hit at all. i also find it hard to believe the pats were so scared of jp that they wanted to hurt him... really?

[Philagape]

There's a huge difference between playing hard, hitting hard and injuries resulting from that, and intentionally trying to injure someone. Bounties reward the latter; they give players an incentive to go beyond just playing hard. Criminal behavior has no place in sports.

[Philagape]

Do you think Wilfork got paid for his hit on JP?

If he did, the Bills should have paid it.

[better days]

probably not, and i dont think that was a dirty hit at all. i also find it hard to believe the pats were so scared of jp that they wanted to hurt him... really?

A couple years after the fact, Wilfork admitted it was a dirty hit. He said he aimed for Losmans knee.

[ddaryl]

Personally I see no need for million $$$$ athletes to have added incentives to play hard hit hard etc... if this is what a coach has to do to motivate his team then he is not a good coach IMO

[CleveSteve]

No.


Hippocrates

lol. Do no harm.

[Forward_Lateral]

Doh. Damn spell checker.

[zone]

Players are taught to "kill the quarterback" from the time they first start playing, but the sport is a brotherhood and you should never try to kill another player with a dirty cheap shot, and hope for permanent injury. The whole point of the game is to knock the snot out of the opponent.

I just really don't understand how the bounty thing even makes sense, so a player gets a few hundred or thousand dollars to injure a QB by any means but then risks the chance of a league fine of $5-10K or more depending on the hit and if they have been fined before. That really makes a ton of sense!

[Philagape]

It's fine insurance.

[NOT THE DUDE...]

There's a huge difference between playing hard, hitting hard and injuries resulting from that, and intentionally trying to injure someone. Bounties reward the latter; they give players an incentive to go beyond just playing hard. Criminal behavior has no place in sports.

i tend to agree, but there is something really amazing and awesome about being dirty in football. the late 80s early 90s miami hurricanes were a bunch of thugs and gang members. i actually enjoyed it and wish football was played that way. but i see ur point.

[Mski]

Growing up playing sports, i always tried intentionally to hurt the players on the other team, leave a mark on them... but i never wanted to injure someone. as been said before, there's a Big difference between the two..

thats the big deal with the bounties, the speculation is that they were paid to injure the other players, not just put a big hit on them and hurt them

[better days]

i tend to agree, but there is something really amazing and awesome about being dirty in football. the late 80s early 90s miami hurricanes were a bunch of thugs and gang members. i actually enjoyed it and wish football was played that way. but i see ur point.

I always hated the Canes because they were a bunch of thugs (except for Warren Sapp that is, love me some Sapp)

The Florida Gators always have played TOUGH HARD NOSED CLEAN football. That is the way football was meant to be played.

[snow1989]

Playing hard, hitting hard are completely different than trying to put someone out of a game and getting a 'bonus' if they happen to be carted off on a stretcher. It's garbage....
......and technically, any player that was hurt during one of those games my be eligible to sue...since the bounty is in effect...a contract to perform bodily harm...since the saints were warned once by the commissioner to stop it and didn't...I'd say any player hurt may be eligible to sue the involved player, the coaches and the actual team itself....especially if an injury resulted in any permanent damage. And frankly, I hope they can and do.

I think some people forget that kids watch this stuff, and often mimic what they see and hear. Do these parents want bounties on their own kids during these games? It's 'thuggery', and it has no place in sports - period.