The Payton lied to the NFL about this and that was why he was suspended a year. Sorry but I have no sympathy for any of the coaches or players on the Saints who get suspended as well. Bounties are BS and have no place in football period.
Lots of things exist in all little parts of society that shouldn't - morally, ethically.....whatever. Why should pro football be any different. Since the moment that players have been paid to play the game, the concept of bounties has been part of the game.
When it comes to those parts of society that shouldn't exist - morally, ethically....whatever........there's a lot to be said about the ability for whatever part of that society and whatever the topic is.....to police themselves.
When a player/coach/system goes out there and establishes that they are willing to go out there and go down the bounty road, they'll earn the label of being a paid assassin, and take it for whatever you think it's worth.......earning that label on the field, is going to put a target on your own back.
THe suspensions extending into the coaches and front offices are unprecedented and ridiculous. THis is going to have the reverse effect in the pro-football community than what Goodell intended. Jimmy Johnson is already talking about how ridiculous it is to suspend a coach and GM without pay for this.
You fine the hell out of the people involved and you have a league meeting with the owners and players union, and quietly tell everybody in the room what was going on in New Orleans, and then let the system take care of itself.
Goodell is dangerous to the league. Imagine what college basketball would be like if this guy was in charge.
Mark Bavaro has a funny story in this clip around the 9:00 minute mark about how the NY Giants handled bounties in the 1980s. Every player on the Giants, Cowboys, Redskins, and Cardinals took the field against Buddy Ryan's eagles, knowing exactly what was going on, and the Eagles made the playoffs in the Buddy Ryan years, but didn't really win anything with the targets they put on their own backs.
Pro football is an entirely different animal than college football. Totally different. Players are compensated financially directly by their performance on the field.
THe worst thing that can ever happen to college football is opening up the concept of actually being reimbursed with cash to play the game, no matter how benign it may seem.
