Gladiators in the
Coliseum.
Can you imagine being a Roman citizen 2000 years ago, and filing into the Coliseum for the express purpose of watching human combat to the death?
Probably not, but I think we still have a little taste for bloodsport.
Bull fighting, the early days of
MMA and UFC (remember ‘Ultimate Fighting’ when it first showed up with very few rules? Yikes!)
It’s still out there, but arguing that our taste for bloodsport feeds our desire to enjoy NFL action might be a little much.
But then again....
Sunday October 17, 2010 just might go down as a weekend that changed an awful lot in the National Football League. It’s been a long time since the following week’s media coverage was so dominated by a subject that truly speaks to the heart of the game... not an individual, not a salary dispute, or sexting, or thugs up in the club, or coaching incompetence, but a fierce debate on how best to protect 2 elements of the game in direct conflict with each other: hitting hard and preventing injuries.
From what I saw, the only egregious, illegal hit was administered to Raven’s tight end Todd Heap by Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather. He launched himself. That’s the most important point of all the hits on that day which the league had kittens about... he launched himself off the ground, and made contact with his feet off the ground. No matter that he hit Heap in the helmet... with his own helmet. He launched himself. Everybody and god knows that’s an illegal hit. Fine him. Done.
I really don’t even care that Heap was ‘defenseless’. If we start talking about guys needing to back off because a ball carrier or receiver is ‘defenseless’, they might not ever hit anyone in the air ever again. Nobody can make a judgment call like that, but more on that later....
The NFL actually levied a $50,000 fine against a player who got hurt on his own hit! Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson didn’t get up from nailing Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson... didn’t launch himself, and there’s a strong argument to be made that he did not lead with his helmet, either.
Fifty. Thousand. Dollars.
I have to say, I was impressed by the passion and quality of the debate all over the media’s coverage. This whole issue has touched the very heart, the very essence of this game. NBC’s own Rodney Harrison turned out the analysis that is credited with giving the NFL fuel for its threat of suspensions, saying he purposely set aside money in anticipation of being fined, and that the truly effective punishment is suspensions from playing. Mark Schlereth and Tedy Bruschi both did themselves proud by commenting on the essence of the hypocrisy of the NFL’s tactics and motivations.
