The new national pasttime seems to be complaining about the illegal and objectionable behavior of professional athletes.
Fortunately, pro athletes continue to make the pasttime accessible all year round. Who would be in the inaugeral HOF for this sport? OJ, obviously, and Owens, and Kobe Bryant.
As an avid Cowboys fan, I find TO an irritation at best and an embarrassment at worst. Yeah, the guy can play. But does he have to pull this grade school BS all the time? OK, Hall was hassling him, so what? Hey, TO, if you want to respond like a preschooler, why don’t you just stick your tongue out at him? Woulda saved you 35K–and a lot of wear and tear on my cringing muscles!
I strongly feel that the franchise should have fined him, as well. Thanks to that petty little stunt, our win is taking a backseat in sports news. We clinched a playoff berth this weekend, but that’s getting less press than a stupid temper tantrum! :mad:
I’m glad they’ll be in the playoffs. That Romo kid is fun to watch.
And of course, he’s made millions of dollars more over the course of his career. But what’s the solution? Fine richer players more money? That seems patently unfair.
Isn’t he, though? He looks like he’s having a great time, too! I imagine he thought it’d be a while before he got his chance to shine, and so is making the most of an unexpected gift!
I just hope the D can pull it together for Monday night against the Eagles. I know we’re in the playoffs regardless of who wins, but a Dallas victory puts us in as division champs!
Actually, I kind of like that idea. A fine is supposed to be a punishment. I can just picture them telling Owens he’s being fined $35K and him whipping out his checkbook without missing a beat.
I think fines should be a percentage of the players salary that year. Of course, since most players are getting smaller annual salaries in lieu of huge signing bonuses, it doesn’t work as well as it would in theory. Maybe it would work better if they fined them a percentage of what they cost their team’s cap that year.
Question: When a player pays a fine, where does it go? I’m told that in horse racing, fines go to a fund for injured jockeys. What happens in NFL?
injured cheerleaders. they gotta get the cash somehow.
And on the TO note. My wife and mother-in-law are both HUGE cowboys fans and they both hate TO and want him to just dissappear. Can’t say I’m too fond of the guy either.
I believe the fines go to NFL charities, which contributes to various charities around the nation. I don’t think they are allowed to claim those “donations” to charity on their taxes either.
$35,000.00 is the worst fine ever for a player spitting on another player, so granted the fine may not mean shit to Owens, but the amount in relation to the amount other spitters have been docked is rather severe.
Not unless your yearly salary is $5,714.
For context, this fine is the equivalent to:
$30k per year getting a $105 fine
$50k per year getting a $175 fine
$75k per year getting a $263 fine
True, these are paltry sums, but back when I was making barely over 50k, a $175 fine would have pissed me right the hell off.
One thing to consider is that the spitting fine is continuing to double. For spitting in a player’s face, the original Romo paid around 7500, then Sean Taylor paid around 17k, now TO is paying 35k. What’s next, 75k? Works for me, and seems a decent acceleration in the fining schedule for spitting in somebody’s face.
Then again, TO seems to be backing off his admission. He’s now saying that he accidentally spit in the guy’s face. As in, he was in the middle of a spittle-flecked tirade, and some of that spittle hit the other guy. Like the scene in the Usual Suspects on the beach under the pier when the one guys is yelling so much a huge loogy hits the guy he’s yelling at square in the face. (So gross; I can never watch that scene without averting my eyes.)
While I despise TO, I think he’s gotten several raw deals this year, and this is one of them. Poor Parcells. How much does he wish he had Keyshawn back?
Why does the NFL (and every other professional sports league) pussyfoot around their professional athletes when they do illegal and immoral things? Why are there two sets of laws - one for regular folks like us, and another set for professional athletes? I would really like a an answer to that question some day that doesn’t have a dollar sign in it.
hit! That' all I got.
You’re no help at all.
Umm, so are you saying they should have had TO charged with assault? Do you think the NFL should be meting out criminal justice?
There aren’t really two sets of laws. There’s the real law and NFL regulations. I think the separation is probably for the best. 
I think the fine is about right and as much as could be expectorated.
So you are suggesting that if TO were just an average, everday person his fine for spitting would have been more than $35k?
I’m reminded of the Chris Rock routine where he was talking about divorces in rich couples vs average couples. He said if you’ve got $20 million and your wife takes half, it’s not a big deal because you’re not starving. But if you make $30K and your wife wants $15K, you just might have to kill her.*
It’s the same thing here. $175 for someone making $50K is a much bigger deal than $35K is to someone who not only got $10 million this year but has made millions over the past decade. It just doesn’t compare.
*I’m sure nobody will make the case that I’m suggesting that poor couples who get divorced should kill each other, but just to be safe, I’M NOT.
Why is the attitude of the NFL what it is? It might be that they make a lot of money when TO is playing, and they don’t want to upset that applecart. Why do they make a lot of money because of TO? Because the average football fan is not all that bothered by TO acting like the world needs to kiss his ass whenever he wants. In fact, they are willing to pay for the privilege of kissing TO’s ass. Watching Bill Parcelles kiss TO’s ass is just a bonus.
In public life, spitting on someone can be assault, and up to a year in jail. In the NFL, that’s fifteen yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Heroes don’t have to follow the rules of society in sports arenas. Assault with a deadly weapon is only a two minute penalty on a hockey rink. I think we should be glad that they don’t give awards for unsportsmanlike conduct, and charge a higher ticket price to attend games where legendary assholes are playing. If we wanted sportsmanship, it would be required.
Tris
That’s news to me.