ON THE MARK.

BOUNTYGATE:  BLAME THE NFL.

The National Football League has a problem.  It has to do with credibility.  This is a league that was foolish enough to lock out it's regular officials, and then suffered the indignity of having to reach a quick deal with said officials after the replacement refs screwed with a whole bunch of teams (Hello, Green Bay) and had the fans seething.   This is a league that can't seem to figure out what to do about concussions.  This is a league that wants to end kickoffs because they believe it's causing too many injuries, yet is pushing for an 18 game regular season schedule AND allowing 2 or 4 more playoff teams.     And this is a league whose Commissioner got his wrist slapped when the former Comish overruled him in "Bountygate".

You'll recall the Saints had several players, coaches and the General Manager suspended and/or fined by Roger Goodell when it was uncovered that there was a bounty program aimed at several opponents, including Minnesota's Brett Favre a few years ago.   The coaches doled out cash prizes to those players who carried out certain tasks, such as injuring key opponents.  Favre, for example, was worth 10 grand to any New Orleans player who could knock him out of the game.  Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, one of the supposed "ringleaders" of the program, has launched a defamation lawsuit against the NFL.  Vilma was supposedly the one to offer the 10 grand if Favre got knocked out.     The lawsuit came after former NFL comish Paul Tagliabue, vacated the suspensions of Vilma and three other players that were originally imposed by Goodell.   So there's another black eye for the league.

Whether there was or wasn't a bounty program in New Orleans isn't the issue now.  The issue has to do with following orders, keeping your job, being a macho man, looking after your family and doing whatever is necessary to win.  And, if you need a little more incentive, there's always a few bucks to be earned.
Let's face it, whether you're an enlisted man in the army or an NFL linebacker, you live in a violent world.  Your job is kill or be killed.  Hit or be hit.  Inflict punishment, or have punishment inflicted upon you.   So, really, who was to blame when Brett Favre went down with an ankle injury in the 2010 NFC Championship game?  Vilma?  Head coach Sean Payton?  General Manager Mickey Loomis?  Owner Tom Benson?  They all suffered after Goodell's original investigation yielded evidence to implicate the whole darn team.

But, Tagliabue wrote that a "culture" existed in New Orleans that promoted tough talk and cash incentives for hits to injure opponents, including Favre.  Tagliabue added there was "little evidence of the tone of any talk about a bounty before the Vikings game."
"Was any bounty pledged serious? Was it inspirational only? Was it typical 'trash talk' that occurs regularly before and during games? The parties presented no clear answers," Tagliabue wrote. "No witness could confirm whether Vilma had any money in his hands as he spoke; no evidence was presented that $10,000 was available to him for purposes of paying a bounty or otherwise."

And with that, the NFL is under fire for the umpteenth time this season.  The Commissioner's ruling has been struck down.  The New Orleans team has been exonerated, but that didn't stop star quarterback Drew Brees from saying that the original investigation was "mishandled from start to finish"   It's not often that players can openly criticize a league commissioner and get away with it.   In this case, Roger Goodell and the NFL are lucky it's only a tongue-lashing and not another lawsuit.