Thursday, April 5, 2012
Boland, who played football
And, according to audio captured by louis vuitton handbags documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon and first reported Thursday by Yahoo! Sports, Williams chillingly suggested that 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree "becomes human when we (expletive) take out that outside ACL."
Williams' similar observations about the other San Francisco offensive stars seemingly provided more evidence against the Saints on a day when coach Sean Payton, assistant head coach Joe Vitt and general manager Mickey Loomis met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to appeal penalties for their roles in a bounty scandal that has rocked the league.
The audio also raised anew some questions for the NFL. Has the league lost control of what is supposed to be the controlled violence of America's most popular game? And how might the sport be affected by its professional level's apparent disregard for player safety — and some particpants' apparent regard for player endangerment.
STORY: Gregg Williams tape surfaces
COLUMN: Williams' words hideous, too common
COLUMN: Audio adds sinister piece to puzzle
"It's getting totally out of control," says former quarterback Ron Jaworski.
Robert Boland, who teaches sports law at gucci bags New York University's Tisch Center, says that beyond lawsuits pending against the NFL from former players who are claiming the league didn't sufficiently protect them from concussions and other debilitating injuries, the league is on the defensive in the court of public opinion.
"How do you appear sensitive to the players who have been injured while defending yourself in the face of those claims? That will be a challenge to the league from a public relations standpoint," says Boland.
Boland, who played football at Columbia University, says the NFL has thrived with an image as the "American game of football … part of the American fabric." He says the threat to the NFL is that its image "gets minimized because of the danger."
Boland: "This does become a sustainability question as long as there is a persistent drumbeat about safety."
Goodell, who has yet to rule on discipline on players, indefinitely suspended Williams (who left the Saints and took a similar role with St. Louis Rams), banned Payton for a year, suspended Vitt for six games louis vuitton suits and Loomis for eight games. The franchise was fined $500,000 and forfeited second-round draft picks in 2012 and 2013.
Goodell is expected to rule on the Payton, Vitt and Loomis appeals within days.
David Cornwell, who represents Vitt and is the new executive director of the NFL Coaches Association, on Thursday blamed the bounties solely on Williams.
Asked about the audio released by Pamphilon, who is working on a production that examines the culture of pro football, Cornwell said as he left NFL headquarters: "What you saw was a rogue coach who knew he was about to be fired. Two days later, he was fired."
(Reports of Williams' departure from the Saints to the Rams said his contract had expired.)
Although the NFL has contended that the Saints were instructed to stop the bounty program, and that Payton and Loomis made only "cursory inquiries" about its existence, Cornwell said that the coach and general manager flatly ordered Williams to stop the program as the NFL reopened its investigation before the playoffs began.
Cornwell said Loomis and Payton told Williams: "There's no place for this in this organization or this league."
After leaving NFL headquarters, Cornwell told USA TODAY Sports: "It Luxury lv sunglasses outelt 2012 new sale cheapest online is clear there is a disconnect between what happened and what has been portrayed in the media."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment