The homophobic slurs accusation will be hard to prove; what is not hard to prove are Panthers players walking on the field with baseball bats because not only are there photos of them doing so, but the Panthers ADMIT they do it, with some phony baloney back story about their players “hitting a home run”.
Begs the question: you can get a penalty for dancing on the field after making a big play . . . . BUT NOTHING FOR BRINGING A FUCKING BASEBALL BAT ON THE FIELD???
I don’t have a problem with OBJ getting a suspension, but how about the NFL doing something about the bats? That has go to end.
What next, players bring steel chairs and brass knux to the sidelines? And if the homophobic slurs are proven, well, fines are in order, at the very least. And Im not going to even get into Justin Norman and HIS dirty play, which may merit at least fines.
Im a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and no fan of the Giants to be sure, but Im on Odell Beckham’s side here.
Uh, isn’t that pretty much the same reason the coach gave for not benching him? “Well, I’d like to discipline him, but we might win.”
He committed the infraction during this season; he, and his team, should suffer the consequences during this season. If this is supposed to be a punishment, have him sit out a game that matters.
I’m not familiar with the Panthers, but from the article I read it sounds like it’s just a pre-game ritual thing - run out of the tunnel, a few players hold bats. It’s all before the game and not during. That they “motioned” the bat towards Beckham has only been claimed by unnamed sources. Other teams (Ravens and Saints) do it as well, apparently. And I’m not sure how other players (none of whom were Norman) would make Beckham flip out and assault Norman throughout the game?
The real question I have is how much Norman illegally holds during the game. Richard Sherman does it all the freaking time and almost never gets called. Were I receiver I’d be getting pretty upset. Not saying upset enough to justify what Beckham did, his suspension is totally warranted, but enough that some blame would go to the refs as well.
Or it’s possible Beckham is just a giant whiny hothead.
I heard on Mike and Mike this morning that the anti-gay slurs were confirmed by on-field microphones. And some former players tried to play the whole, “this is not your work place” game like it’s something that just happens in the NFL we should live with it. Obviously, I don’t agree and I don’t think Roger Goodell will, either.
You’re telling me these gigantic, roided up, cro-magnons routinely use homphobic slurs while on the field? Next thing you’ll tell me that the Pope is Catholic or something.
Pretty much. Which is why Coughlin should say nothing about this in interviews, because the whole world knows he’s lying when he says he won’t tolerate this type of play. Listening to excerpts of an interview this morning, I was looking to see if Coughlin’s pants were on fire.
Unnecessary roughness is a personal foul penalty. You can rack up as many of those as your coach will let you, there is no automatic ejection for a personal foul (other than targeting, which is a special case - and Beckham probably actually got away with what should have been a targeting/ejection call during the game).
Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties are something entirely different. I don’t know if the NFL has an automatic ejection for those - I believe in high school and college your second unsportsmanlike penalty is an automatic ticket to the bench for the rest of the game.
Just wanted to clarify that. Unnecessary roughness is a personal foul, and a different penalty than unsportsmanlike conduct.
If other teams bring bats to the field, its time to end that for the entire league. I don’t care what anyone says, we all KNOW what it means symbolically when a NFL player carries a bat onto the football field, let alone point it at you. Unless your a baseball player, no one from any league has any business carrying a baseball bat into a football game.
If Odell Beckham can’t handle the banter, trying to kill Josh Norman isn’t an appropriate response
I agree the NFL cant let a player who acts like this on a football field off the hook.
But this was more than “banter”. It was grandstanding, baiting, and blatant instigation. If I were Odell, I might have reacted the same way. Its borderline bullying, and Beckham turned on the Bully.
Im also disappointed by Ron Rivera for banning the baseball bats. Not because he did, but for his reasons: its the “No Fun League” and “Im going to have to hear about it from the league anyway.”
Waaaay to take charge, Rondo.
Gee, Ron, how magnanimous of you. How about “Hey, maybe we took it a little too far” and “I don’t want my team to have an image of guys who try to intimidate other guys with baseball bats”.
Are you seriously shocked? Targeting has been THE number one priority the last few years and it was blatant targeting. Even Beckham has admitted that his appeal was about protecting the CBA and not overturning the suspension. He’s lucky it was only one game.