I heard on the radio over the weekend that part of the reason the Celtics are at least considering moving Rondo is because he has rubbed a number of his teammates the wrong way. Was wondering if Meuse (I think Scott is a Boston guy too) could provide some details, assuming there is some truth to that.
And word has it he is a bit whiney about everthingHe is only being paid millions, so he has plenty to piss and moan about. Heck, they might have even had to flown commercial a time or two.
Sup guys! Yeah Dave, you're right. I could be the moody, loner type but I'm just simply way more of a man than Rajon Rondo and better looking. He's only got me beat with his $$$ bank accout.
Anyways, I found this interesting article written by John Lynch over on FOX regarding his take on this bounty program that has thrown the NFL on top of its head:
The circus officially arrived on Park Avenue in Manhattan on Monday as
Bountygate reached the offices of the NFL.
But the white elephant in the room that isn't being talked about is that
people like football for a lot of reasons, and one of the biggest is that it's a
violent game. People don't like talking about it, but it's true.
Former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was summoned
to New York to meet with NFL investigators about league allegations that
Williams was running a bounty program in New Orleans and apparently at a few
other places he previously worked (Washington and Buffalo).
Over the past few days I've heard a few people, including former players, say
that this is a league-wide problem. That's total BS. I played in the NFL for 15
years for two teams and never once was offered money to knock someone out of a
game. If I had been offered money, I'd be a really wealthy man today. I even
called some of my friends that played to see if they ever had been offered any
bounties. None had. Don't get me wrong, we had player-generated incentives
within our locker room, like $500 for interceptions or forced fumbles, but
never, ever for hurting someone.
I'm not saying that there never have been bounties. When I first came into
the league in '93, I heard other players talking about them, but those were more
in terms of big hits and not hurting people. Coincidentally, teams stopped that
process once the salary cap became part of the NFL. Any incentives were seen by
the league as trying to circumvent the cap.
And I certainly heard the rumors about the 2009 NFC Championship Game between
the Saints and Vikings where a bounty was put out on Minnesota quarterback Brett
Favre. In the league investigation that came out Friday, that now appears to be
the case. The report said that Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma offered any
defensive teammate $10,000 to knock Favre out of the game. Favre took some big
shots in that game, and I remember thinking a couple of them were borderline
late and could have been called as penalties.
Favre since has come out and said, "It's football" and that he is not upset
with the Saints. That's the way Brett is. If I heard somebody had a bounty on
me, it wouldn't have bothered me, but I certainly would have had my head on a
swivel.
I think the biggest fallacy is that most players are out to hurt other
players. I never experienced that.
As a safety, I did want players that came into my area to know they were
going to pay for it. If a receiver came my way, I wanted to make it
uncomfortable for him, to make sure he thought twice about coming my way again.
Or if a running back was fighting for extra yards, I punished him to make sure
he would have second thoughts about fighting for those extra yards the next
time. But I never did it with the intent of injuring or taking someone out of
the game.
That's the mentality that defenses are supposed to have, and it's how
football should be played. It's ridiculous to think any other way.
It appears that most of the Saints chain of command knew what was going on.
Sean Payton is a good friend of mine, and I think he's one of the best coaches
in the game. While I think most of this is on Williams, some responsibility
still falls on Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis if they didn't try to
put an immediate stop to this once they found out.
With his decision, commissioner Roger Goodell has a great opportunity to
reinforce one of his top initiatives of player safety, so he's got to prove he's
serious.
Today's game is so fast, and players sometimes are being fined over a matter
of inches. To do something as blatant as the Saints were doing — to try to hurt
players and knock them out of the game — is egregious in my mind.
I think the commissioner has to make a big statement with the punishment.
Whatever the punishment is, it needs to be reflected in the severity of what the
Saints did. If he doesn't act accordingly, he'll lose credibility with the
players.
However, there is one thing that is still bugging me about all of this. The
league wants you to believe that the rules haven't changed. But they have.
I recently watched an NFL Films show on big hits that included old footage,
and I can't tell you how many players would have been fined or suspended by
today's standards — and I only watched for 15 minutes.
I think there's a little bit of hypocrisy going on. The NFL can't have it
both ways. It can't celebrate the hits on one hand, yet come down on the players
on the other. And that's always been the frustration of a lot of players.
I started playing in 1993, and I don't think I was fined for a hit the first
four years of my career. Then, I was fined for the first time in 1997. I can
tell you my game didn't change one bit. I was still playing the exact same
way.
I've talked to Goodell, and I truly do think he cares a lot about the
players. And if player safety is the way the league is going to go, then the
first step needs to be for the NFL to admit that the rules have changed.
Tell players that with the new information the league has received, it thinks
it's best for the players that the rules have changed. It will go a long way to
help players understand the league's position, because I think the league loses
a little credibility when it fines players for some of the unavoidable hits that
are taking place.
I'm still not sure if the studies that have been done so far give us enough
information to determine the true effect these hits are having on players. But I
have talked to players who have been involved with the studies, and they say the
guys who are feeling the most long-term effects are the interior lineman, the
guys who butt heads play in and play out.
I guess you could say the lineman are a little like boxers; they are getting
jabbed on every play. It's not necessarily the guys taking the big hits, but the
guys up front who are suffering the most trauma.
The NFL is a multibillion-dollar industry. If you want to make safety better,
dump money into technology. Develop a helmet that's safer. I'd challenge every
graduate school in the country and give $5 million to the winner for developing
the best, safest helmet.
What can't be forgotten is that football is a rough game and that big hits
are a part of being under football's big top. It's one of the reasons why it has
become America's No. 1 sport.
The missus has been my missus officially two years today. I am of course working.
Vitale mentions at least 15 or 16 teams that were slighted. Quite passionately, of course.
The missus has been my missus officially two years today. I am of course working.
