New Orleans Saints - "Bountygate"

[jimnyc]

Has anyone read the latest on this? Apparently on of the coaches, Gregg Williams, and a bunch of their players, had huge bounties on knocking out other players, literally, or knocking them out of the ballgame. Major thousands of dollars they invested in a "pot" until someone won the betting. And apparently the head coach, Sean Payton, was aware of what was going on.

Here's what one writer thinks the penalty should be, and I agree, if not more. After the HUGE fine the Patriots got, and the huge fines they give players for in game fouls, they need to send a strong message.


On stupidity alone, the Saints deserve to lose their first-round draft pick this year – except that they’ve already traded it to the New England Patriots. That shouldn’t stop commissioner Roger Goodell from taking a couple of picks this year or taking the 2013 first-rounder as the starting point for punishment.

Yes, that’s the starting point. From there, the Saints deserve a $500,000 fine as a team (hopefully that doesn’t cut into the Drew Brees contract fund), head coach Sean Payton deserves a $250,000 fine, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, now with the St. Louis Rams, deserves a $200,000 fine and each of the assistant coaches who participated deserve to at least be docked $50,000. On top of that, Loomis deserves to be fined and/or fired since he disobeyed an order from the owner.

That’s all in line with roughly what the punishment New England received in 2007 for the Spygate scandal.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-cole_saints_bounty_gregg_williams_punishment_03021 2

[SassyLady]

Has anyone read the latest on this? Apparently on of the coaches, Gregg Williams, and a bunch of their players, had huge bounties on knocking out other players, literally, or knocking them out of the ballgame. Major thousands of dollars they invested in a "pot" until someone won the betting. And apparently the head coach, Sean Payton, was aware of what was going on.

Here's what one writer thinks the penalty should be, and I agree, if not more. After the HUGE fine the Patriots got, and the huge fines they give players for in game fouls, they need to send a strong message.



http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-cole_saints_bounty_gregg_williams_punishment_03021 2

Fines and suspensions and if a certain number/percentage of players on one team is participating then the team should be suspended for # of games. Losing a chance to make it to the playoffs because of this type of behavior should send a message.

[DragonStryk72]

Has anyone read the latest on this? Apparently on of the coaches, Gregg Williams, and a bunch of their players, had huge bounties on knocking out other players, literally, or knocking them out of the ballgame. Major thousands of dollars they invested in a "pot" until someone won the betting. And apparently the head coach, Sean Payton, was aware of what was going on.

Here's what one writer thinks the penalty should be, and I agree, if not more. After the HUGE fine the Patriots got, and the huge fines they give players for in game fouls, they need to send a strong message.



http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-cole_saints_bounty_gregg_williams_punishment_03021 2

Anybody remember when this sort of thing would get players out of the game entirely?

I mean, seriously, fines? oh yes, the players will be so hurt by the 1/4 mil being taken out of their multi-million dollar contracts. Another fucking slap on the wrist for really horrible behavior. Maybe if we started having some actual standards for athletes, we might see this crap stop.

[jimnyc]

Anybody remember when this sort of thing would get players out of the game entirely?

I mean, seriously, fines? oh yes, the players will be so hurt by the 1/4 mil being taken out of their multi-million dollar contracts. Another fucking slap on the wrist for really horrible behavior. Maybe if we started having some actual standards for athletes, we might see this crap stop.

Bets thing possible is to do like they do in the NCAA, block them from postseason play. That alone KILLS their team income and hurts the city too. Heads will definitely roll. It's bad enough when players take cheap shots all season long, but it's really out of line when it's somehow "managed" by the team.

[ConHog]

The latest is that the Redskins are doing the same thing. Same coach was at Washington few years ago. :laugh:

[OCA]

Bets thing possible is to do like they do in the NCAA, block them from postseason play. That alone KILLS their team income and hurts the city too. Heads will definitely roll. It's bad enough when players take cheap shots all season long, but it's really out of line when it's somehow "managed" by the team.

Not going to happen , the Saints were only like 5th in the league in personal fouls last season so it looks like it did not have that big an effect.

Maybe they should give that money to Pierre Thomas who got knocked the fuck out cold by the hardest hitting D in the league.........Niners.

[DragonStryk72]

Not going to happen , the Saints were only like 5th in the league in personal fouls last season so it looks like it did not have that big an effect.

Maybe they should give that money to Pierre Thomas who got knocked the fuck out cold by the hardest hitting D in the league.........Niners.

Well, if it became the staple punishment, trust me it would change the game. No coach would chance losing his entire post season if he knew it was the baseline sentence for this crap.

[jimnyc]

Wow, I knew there would be fines, but these are huge!

Coach Sean Payton - suspended the entire season without pay - he loses $7.5 million for this year!
Former defensive coach, Gregg Williams - suspended indefinitely
General Manager of Saints, Mickey Loomis - suspended first 8 games
$500,000 fine
Loss of this years 2nd round pick and next years

[gabosaurus]

When this thing was first announced, a members of the 1960s Minnesota Vikings stated "we never knocked out offensive players for money. we did it because that was our job. football is pain."

Though I find the notion of bounties to be abhorrent, I've always thought that defensive players went after their counterparts in the course of the game.