Thanks to the power and immediacy of social media the National Football League has avoided a public relations nightmare that could have left an enormously broad swath of damage. On the heels of yesterdays dramatic fines for what the League determined illegal hits, it was quickly noted that the League’s official website was selling photos of the very hits it determined so egregious. The juxtaposition of being so horrified about player behavior that it warranted massive fines side-by-side with being more than happy to make a buck from people who purchase photos of the aforementioned “tragedies” was disgusting and hypocritical. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. If what these players did was so horrific then the League should in no way profit from such behavior by selling photos of the actions. This would be exactly the same as if a rehabilitated Michael Vick sold pictures of the dogs he brutalized.
Fortunately, many of us on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media immediately jumped all over the inconsistency and overnight the League rectified the inconsistency. League Spokesman, Greg Aiello stated, “We regret the mistake… The photos will be taken down and we will ensure that no photos of illegal plays will be available again. An outside vendor uses an automated process to post photos for sale to fans. We will fix the process immediately.” This situation is sticky enough without the League making it harder on itself by stepping into the very mess they are trying to clean up by trying to profit from the mess.
First I heard of this. I lol’d to the point of having to explain it to someone in the office.
The hits aren’t a laughing manner. Given it was a the result of an automated process I think we can laugh.
Yeah, the real story here seems to be “NFL notices automated process results in something stupid and fixes it”! Jeff obviously had a supersize portion of hyperbole waiting to spew out….
“Nightmare”, “tragedies”, “egregious”, “horrifying, “disgusting”, “Exactly the same” as if Vick posted pictures of “brutalized dogs”, Jeff? Really?
Steven disagreed with the analogy and the wife thought it was perfect. What-ya-gonna-do?? I stand by the analogy. Seems very similar. Profiting by something deemed horrible was my only point.
It probably sounded better as a rant in your head than it looks written down!
Leaving aside the issue of equating an organised criminal consiparacy over several years with an illegal (by the rules of the game) hit in the heat 0f a sports game, the logic breaks down. Vick was directly responsible for the terrible acts he did, the NFL is the regulator and enforcer of the rules broken. So a more logical analogy (although I still think comparing the two is waaaaay over the top and pretty distasteful) would be the FBI or Justice Department selling the photos of the dog fighting victims.
So I’m supposed to buy that the NFL had no idea that these photos were going up? So did they refund any money they may have received and sent it to charity or god forbid the former players? They don’t give a crap about linemen or defensive players. If you are trying to get on your high-horse about player safety, how about all player safety. Quite frankly I don’t buy that they had no idea about the pictures because they micromanage so many minute details about the league and players, I think they just threw out an easy excuse to try and save some PR. The pictures basically state exactly what the NFL thinks of player safety. We couldn’t care less if it can make us money, 18 game schedule anyone, but it seems like people are getting behind player safety so let’s see if we can get behind this movement and win the fans because we have labour negotiations coming up and don’t want to go in being seen as heartless.
Just a link to an article and a video that I took a look at. It isn’t just photos as Schlereth points out with Moment of Impact. I also thought the idea of looking into the protective gear was something that I hadn’t seen mentioned before. Fact remains they are hypocrites and I am glad they are starting to get called out on it.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=chadiha_jeffri&page=hotread06/NFLViolence
Personally, I don’t think that rant from Schlereth added much considered argument to the debate :-) But here’s a telling quote from Sheldon Brown from that article:
“But as long as people get up, I’m fine with the way things are. When we get to the point where somebody dies because of a big hit, that’s when I’ll say we need to change something about how we play this game.”
Seriously? Wait until someone dies to change things, huh? Unbelievable. That’s why the league is having to act, because some players are not taking responsibility for the safety of their colleagues themselves.
What about the fact that NFL players are not covered by healthcare after 5 years and that the owners are threatening to pull healthcare for current players when they lock them out for not taking on 18 game schedules. Sure looks like they care about the players health. Rog is the biggest hypocrite in the the league. And yes, he has been downgraded to Rog as far as I’m concerned.
Specifically at the ‘healthcare’/player safety comments.
Wooo. I’m all for player safety. But slow down. Think of what they get paid, and before that’s dismissed as irrelevant, they CHOOSE to play. I mean come on, you get someone like Revis who holds out for the bling, and then if he get’s a big KO we’re supposed to be fall to our knees? Please! I don’t want Revis to get a KO as much as the next guy, but hell, if we’re going to pay people that sort of money to run in a bouncy castle with pillows strapped to their body inside a big bubble and say ‘when the bubbles touch, you boys stop, that’s a tackle’ hell where do I sign up?
If you get paid X million dollars and can’t sort your own health care you have math issues. If you see that you’re void from health cover and aren’t on enough dollars to cover yourself and still chose to play, you have other issues. I love the game, I wish I didn’t have to get up at 1am/4am on a Monday morning to watch it and recover at the desk, but these players have a lush lifestyle that places them in the top 0.0001% of humans on this earth, my heart bleeds.
You want to remove enough contact from the game to make it safe? We have that, it’s called Golf, or Chess, or Darts, can’t quite remember.
Well said Jeff, although I do side with those who think the Mike Vick analogy is not appropriate.
Player compensation is not relevant in this discussion. I think what is relevant is whether or not the NFL can consistently put out a quality product while enforcing behaviour to try and reduce certain types of injuries.
They are coming to the point now where there is a key trade-off between player safety, and what the fans want.
I’m ashamed to admit, I LOVE the BIG HITS in the NFL. To me, the element of danger is one of the things that makes the game great.
And personally, I would LOVE to have the photos back up on NFL.com.
But at the same time, I feel sick to my stomach when I hear about players being seriously injured.
So as in any trade-off, the league will have to find the middle ground. You can’t sell TV commercials with John Kitna, but you also can’t sell a game with “golf or darts or chess-like football”.
To add to my long post, I’d just like to call BULLS***T on the NFL’s excuse for the photos being posted.
Automated system slipped it past us?! BULL EFFING SHHHHHHHHT!
This league scrutinizes EVERYTHING. There is ZERO CHANCE they are telling the truth here.
I think the biggest piece of controversy here is the league asking players to slow down their winning edge mentality. The league has confused itself with vicious LATE hits with the licks players put on each other to jar balls loose during play. There is no way anyone can fairly punish players correctly 50% of the time stating that it was an intentional injuring action during play. Speculating what the players’ intentions were as to how/where they hit each other is ridiculous. If a RB is running straight at a LB who’s set in his stance decides to lower his shoulder and accidentally makes helmet to helmet contact; will the league fine him? No.
Enforcing this rule is almost as hard as enforcing the laws in Arizona. (how’d ya like that Jeff?) The league is seriously one step away from fining players depending on how bad the injury was afterward. No one intends to seriously hurt someone for more than 60 minutes….but the game is setup this way to encourage every DL and LB to practically kill the offensive skill players.
The only way I see violence being taken out of football is by changing the rules by eliminating all fumbles by contact. In other words, if a player hits you and you lose the ball, the play is dead and you are granted the ball back. This would cause players to concentrate on the ball more than the player to cause turnovers. ahem….like futbol. If the player is attempting to obtain initial possession of the ball, and you take the player out, then that could be considered a flagrant foul. ahem…like basketball. …but where’s the fun in that?
You have to wonder what went wrong with other sports which are alike. Why does hockey allow such violence? Hockey can loosely be considered as a cross between basketball and soccer. You don’t see those players getting in fights or checking opponents against goal posts. Where did hockey go wrong?
My point is that if the rules do not encourage foul play, then it’s much easier to punish it. Take nascar. Many other international circuits don’t have to worry about dirty moves, b/c the vehicle requirements would never support bumper bumping. If F1 cars bumped each other, then both cars would have more or less forfeited the entire race.
…if anyone wanted to keep my conversation going about fixing problems in soccer – I propose that if a player dives or stays on the ground longer than 5 seconds, then the player is forced to leave the field for a medical evaluation by a FIFA doctor, which should be customarily held deep within the locker rooms. None of this magical spray given by medical professionals to inches from the sideline that fixes what looks like a broken ankle. With this enforced, refs should then be encouraged to limit the amount of fouls called and just give advantages to foster fair play.
Why don’t they use the soccer spray in football lol? NFL could use that stuff!
I don’t think hockey went wrong. I attend some NHL games and the one thing that gets the fans out of their seats and going crazy is the hockey fights.
This might be a bad idea, but I think the check for this should come from the coaching staff. Want to keep your players on the field? Well let them go down easy and live to fight another day. Or call more plays where the players can protect themselves better. This works somewhat with QBs and even RBs who shy away from the risky hits. Why not with other skill players?
As D gets bigger and faster the risk of injury will just get too high at some point and those extra 1-3 yards won’t be worth losing your #1 WR.
Agreed. I love me some big hits in hockey as much as the next guy.
NFL network (can’t remember who) came at it somewhat from you angle where it’s a matter of intelligent coaching as well as competent play from the skill positions. QB’s should throw it where their receivers won’t get pummled and the receivers/defensive backs know how to run better routes through certain types of defenses. As a futbol player and not a football player, I’m not sure if I completely understand the last part since I always thought the routes were set by play calls primarily aside from play breakdowns, scrambling, etc.
Regarding the main topic of this article, I also read somewhere that there were several players in week 7 who received anywhere from a $7-15k fine. (aside from Meriweather’s $50k fine, b/c I believe that he was a repeat offender from the prior week).
How is it that the league can give fines out to protect the players safety, but then hand out a $25k fine to Randy Moss for not showing up for a press conference?! This really makes you question what the leagues priorities truly are.
Here’s the way I see it:
Press release vs an Unfair Assault of a Person? Rog says Press Release.
Dan I gotta agree with you on the fine issue. Not only do the fines not seem to fit the crime, they don’t really apply the same to all players because of their salary. It’s bizarre because to a guy making 8M per year, the fines are insignificant, but to a guy making the league minimum, the fines are a big chunk of their salary.
I think Steven and Jeff may have discussed this topic earlier this season.