This is Jimmy from South Philly and I want to talk about this Saints thing, with the players getting bounties. I don't see what the problem is. Look, you and I both know that this happens all over the NFL. The best way to beat another football team is to beat their best guys up, and if that means getting a little rough, taking a shot where maybe you don't have to, guys are gonna do what they have to to win the game. We all know Buddy Ryan had bounties on guys, you can do all the scheming you want, but knocking their best quarterback or running back out of the game is a pretty foolproof gameplan. Am I gonna pretend that I'm upset when I see the other team's best guy limping off the field? Hell no, sorry for the language, but heck no. That's what football's about, that's how you win football games. Just had to call in and say that, I'll hang up and listen.

No there isnt.

Yes they do.

There must be some clause or something, but why wouldnt these players be at risk for actual criminal charges? Injuring someone within the scope of the game is sort of part of the deal, but you now have firmly established intent to cause physical injury and harm outside the scope of the game. Surely there isnt just a blanket "you arent liable for anything that happens on the field, even if its Last Boyscout style executions" right?

Im talking in the context of a pre-game pep talk when the coach is pumping people up telling them to go hurt the opposing team, compared to an actual prizepool with bounties awarded when you hurt the opposing team.

Saints are gonna wish for another Katrina after Rodger gets done with them.
Sean Peyton needs to be suspended for a year/probably gets 2-4 games.
Gregg Williams will resign from Rams job and then be suspended form league, effectivly blacklisted.
Mickey Loomis will be fired.
The Saints will get fined anywhere from $500k-$1mill and high round draft pick forfeiture for at least one season.

i love sportstalkradiofan

This probably goes on at the pee wee level as well. Eventually the local leagues will go way after the insurance premiums become too costly after Mom and Dad sue when lil Jimmy get a concussion that has long term effects. then it happens to the High School level and the NFL feeder system becomes affected. Then there is a less talented league and people stop watching. RIP NFL.

please please please let all of this come true.

Agree with this.incenting people to damage other peoples (very lucrative) livelihoods has to be a charge that some lawyers are salivating at.

It very well could:

http://news.yahoo.com/bounty-scandal...9970--nfl.html

Criminal charges of assault and battery against the teams, including Williams, are possible, said Ryan Rodenberg, an attorney and a sports management professor at Florida State University.
Rodenberg said that in 2000, Canadian prosecutors brought assault charges against Boston Bruins hockey player Marty McSorley for smashing Vancouver Canucks player Donald Brashear in the head with a hockey stick. As a result of the blow, Brashear struck his head on the ice, lost consciousness and suffered memory lapses. McSorley was sentenced to 18 months probation and banned from playing for that period.

Federal prosecutors could also bring charges, said Paul Callan, a former New York City prosecutor who is an attorney at New York's Callan, Koster, Brady & Brennan. If bounties were paid for games played outside a team's home state, then interstate telephone calls, computer use and travel could trigger federal charges, he said.
Possible charges could include wire fraud, conspiracy and racketeering, Callan said. Tax evasion charges were another possibility for the money that players earned for making big hits.

OMG let's take this more overboard than it already is.

When is Obama going to get involved now?

This is really being compared to what McSorley did to Brashear? Really?

GTFO.

bigd apparently you haven't been reading the thread - the vultures want the league to fire any relevant saints personnel, plus force the saints to once again trade their whole draft for ricky williams

i mean yeah the saints can be prosecuted but serious lols at that

It is serious because several league AND criminal laws were broken. If you don't think criminal charges won't be at least considered then the NFL will have a monster on its hands. You really think the NFL as a business will ignore the wire fraud, conspiracy, racketeering and tax evasion? This is a MULTI-BILLON BUSINESS who must cater to everyone involved(i.e. sponsors). To not pursue criminal chargers sends a terrible message that it is OK for employees of the NFL to break mulitple laws on state and federal level. Ain't happening....

Late round picks are not as valuable as you think they are.

huh? You acknowledge that they may have actually violated criminal statutes, but think that severe sanctions from the NFL are not indicated? Wow!

Relevant:

http://openjurist.org/601/f2d/516/ha...ti-bengals-inc

Conspiracy to sack the quarterback. Let's have a decade of legal debate about it.

You really believe the NFL will turn the other way if laws were broken?

Good luck proving that in court. NFL would settle anyway if there was any chance they would lose a case like this, which I really don't believe they would.

I think you got leveled.


This thread has been making a turn for the worst. Arguments at this point are based primarily on one's opinions, and there are a few extreme opinions in here. Let's get back to factual-based debating

I absolutely think that large fines, suspensions, and loss of draft picks are warranted. I don't think the league has the jurisdiction to fire team employees, nor do I think this deserves legal prosecution.

The NFL is ****ed if they are going to start threatening federal laws for a bit of money on the board.

When it comes to tax evasion I don't think

Another good story about possible criminal charges which could be pressed.

Washington Post story about possible punishment:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...oDrR_blog.html

The person, speaking on the condition of anonymity because NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has not made final decisions on penalties, said some of the sanctions could be “unprecedented.” Payton and Loomis face discipline for failing to halt the practice of paying players for big hits on opponents. The bounty system was administered by Williams and involved 22 to 27 players, according to an NFL investigation revealed Friday.

The person familiar with penalty deliberations in the Saints case referred pointedly to the full season suspensions that former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle imposed in 1963 on Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras for gambling. It was not clear which of the people involved in the Saints case might face a suspension that long.

I wonder if Marshawn Lynch could weigh in on this.