Some Guy wrote on Mar 21^st, 2012 at 2:46pm:

Not so fast Some Boogie. Trade has hit a snag. http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/7718133/tim-tebow-trade-hits-snag-con...

Breaking News: The Jets are now called The Jokes.

'Free Sean Payton' shirts hit local stores

Susan Langenhennig, The Times-Picayune

You could probably hear the Crescent City's collective howl of protest two states away when the NFL slapped Saints Coach Sean Payton with a one-year suspension today.


Hours after the NFL announced its punishment of Saints Coach Sean Payton, Dirty Coast t-shirt company was printing up the shirt shown above.When news broke, Twitter blew up, water coolers were circled and in a few local shops, T-shirts were quickly being designed.

It's become something of a New Orleans tradition to mark a significant moment in time with a shirt that sums up the city's feelings. So it was no surprise when Dirty Coast came out with its "Free Sean Payton" shirt within hours of the NFL's punishment announcement.


Fleurty Girl also came out with its own, one-word-less version. It reads simply: "Free Payton."

The reaction has been pure Who Dat mania. "I've never seen a shirt move like this," said Fleurty Girl owner Lauren Thom. "We've sold 500 of them in less than three hours. It's insane.

"I created the design because I wanted something to wear myself," said Thom, a huge Saints fan who was involved a few years back in the litigation over the term Who Dat. "Once they announced his punishment, I was like there is no way. I felt our feelings were best expressed in two words: Free Payton. It's something we can wear to every Saints game."

Fleurty GirlFleurty Girl has sold 500 of its "Free Payton" shirts in just three hours.The Fleurty Girl shirts aren't in stores yet, but can be pre-ordered online and will be in the shops by this weekend, she said.

"I'm just blown away and humbled by the passion of New Orleans Saints fans," she said.

http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2012/03/post_214.html

Shock value suspensions..will be reduced by 50% on appeal like Big Bens......unless Peyton lied to Goodell which may have happened....Of course now with Manning in Denver they may not even play the season as Broncos will go undefeated..NOT!......What a mess there in NO with Brees pissed too.....Brees may play for the tender knowing they can'r tag him twice so he would be unrestricted next year...Imagine that bidding war!

The dog-ass Jets show it once again.  

Here is the Leviathan, haunting Tebow's dreams.  See Isaiah 27:1. See Job 3:8.

Nellcote wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 6:15am:


Manning may have chosed 49ers but his agent is teh same as Alex Smith's so I think he took the second choice...plus Elway did a lot to woo him...Tebow is being brought to NY to light a fire under the supposed lazy Sanchez.....Can't wait to see Santonio Holmes try and figure Tebow out...lol

Nellcote wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 8:52am:

Nellie,why do you say it was Archie who didn't want Payton to come to SF? Haven't heard that theory.....It's allright though. Because the 49ers have a new strategy. With the recent meltdown in NOLA. Brees is unlikely to stay for another year after this. He'll be a free agent and the Niners will swoop him up!

If Brees hits the market..and based on this weeks events I'd bet on that for 2013 season....the bidding will be past what 49er's will pay as they have many great young players to re-up. How about Saints making a move now while in tank anyway to get value for someone who is going to walk..???......Brees to Ravens for Flacco and a 1st rounder???...Ravens awful quiet and letting cap space accumulate and are dragging heels on a new deal for The Unibrow....hmmmmm

Some Guy wrote on Mar 21^st, 2012 at 4:00pm:


Rough Justice comes to mind!

I'm calling Roger Goodell...my posts are stuck at 3101 and not adding up....hmmm conspiracy by Some Guy to keep way out front???

This is a lesson about unfiltered arrogance and what happens when men and organizations lose themselves after first finding themselves.
The New Orleans Saints have gone from the toast of a nation to just toast. It has been a long, strange trip from post-Katrina national heroes to one of the more historic disgraces in recent NFL history. And the Saints' fall from grace can be traced back to one man: Sean Payton.
Payton being suspended for the season is the strongest message NFL commissioner Roger Goodell could have sent, and it's well-deserved.
"The NFL's extensive investigation established the existence of an active bounty program on the Saints during the 2009, 2010, and 2011 seasons in violation of league rules, a deliberate effort to conceal the program's existence from league investigators," said the NFL in a statement, "and a clear determination to maintain the program despite express direction from Saints ownership that it stop as well as ongoing inquiries from the league office."
"We are all accountable and responsible for player health and safety and the integrity of the game," Goodell said. "We will not tolerate conduct or a culture that undermines those priorities. No one is above the game or the rules that govern it. Respect for the game and the people who participate in it will not be compromised."
"A combination of elements made this matter particularly unusual and egregious. When there is targeting of players for injury and cash rewards over a three-year period, the involvement of the coaching staff, and three years of denials and willful disrespect of the rules, a strong and lasting message must be sent that such conduct is totally unacceptable and has no place in the game."
A variety of league sources say the phasering of the Saints franchise by Goodell is as much about Payton and the Saints as it is about Goodell attempting to change the NFL's brutal culture, and they're correct. Payton has long been on the league's radar, and not in a good way.
Goodell wants to wisely change the NFL's ways from the old days of headhunting and bounties to a modern sport that is more civilized and less dangerous. To do this, Goodell knows he can't just attack players. He has to also control the coaches and teams that encourage this behavior.
As a result of Goodell's actions -- the right actions -- this type of extremeness will die a glorious death, at least for the near future. Not only will bounties never happen again, but Payton and the Saints will serve as a great cautionary tale for every other coach and team that believes they are above the rules.
The player discipline will come soon. One person with knowledge of the situation said Goodell has asked union head DeMaurice Smith for his advice on how to proceed in that direction.
To the NFL, and to almost everyone else in football not within the state of Louisiana, Payton has been the most arrogant man in the sport for the past several years. The league warned him about his association with felonious skunk Michael Ornstein, who has twice been convicted of fraud. Payton mostly ignored them. Later, the NFL determined Ornstein actually placed a bounty bet.
When a lawsuit by the team's former head of security, an ex-FBI agent, alleged there was a cover-up of Vicodin abuse, Payton's name eventually surfaced as part of the legal action. Payton denied any wrongdoing, and the league rolled its eyes.
There were many other issues. To the NFL, the Saints were getting out of control, and to the NFL, Payton has been the reason.
In this new Goodell world, everyone is accountable. Not just players. Not just arrogant coaches like Payton. Owners are, too. Everyone, including entire franchises.
Illegally videotape franchises? Lose picks and cash. Fail to protect players, and even, encourage them in Bountygate? Get hammered as well.
Payton has been able to act with impunity and great arrogance because of the market he's in. The city of New Orleans -- one of the greatest on the planet -- has suffered greatly with a long line of losers going back decades that caused fans to both cover their heads with paper bags and stick their faces in them to hyperventilate.
Fans don't care if Payton berates reporters with loads of foul language or bans them from covering practice (which is against NFL rules) or has Vicodin issues or is sued by the former head of security. They don't care if Payton was a bully. He won. He brought them a Super Bowl. That's all that matters to fans.
The problem is, all along, in a somewhat isolated media market, Payton was becoming out of control. I knew Payton when he worked in New York. He was a nerd. The power in New Orleans changed him into something different, and that difference, in my opinion, is what allowed the culture of Bountygate to grow.
Every team in the league should use the Payton and the Saints as an instructional video on how not to handle success. Any team that doesn't learn from this disaster, well, it's on you. Goodell will be watching.
And good for him.

The Continued Babyfication of the NFL
tpfan10

Back in the day, when professional football was coming to be, players wore leather helmets and tackled people by their heads. The smiles of the winners were missing some teeth, and that continued ino the dawn of the Super Bowl.

Back in the day of the 60's, the best players were the guys who could 'take you out' on any given play... and I don't mean 'to dinner'.

Back in the day of the 70's, teams like the Oakland Raiders prided themselves on playing dirty. That 'commitment to excelence' is still evident today in Oakland (the banner still hangs up high, and the penelties stack sky high year after year).

Back in the day of the 80's (and into the 90's), QB's were knocked around like crash test dummies. Ask Steve Young, one of the most successful QB's of that era. He suffered multiple concussions during his career, and at least three of them were inflicted by the Dome Patrol.

Thankfully, the league has identified the seriousness of football injuries and their lingering affects. Now, whether or not the new rules implimented to protect the players are justified remains a topic to discuss, but the on-the-field rules are clearly stated and should be followed as such.

And that brings me to my point concerning the punishment slapped on the New Orleans Saints by Roger Godell. The punishment was way too severe.

I understand the point of player safety, and I believe there should be no 'bounty' system in pro sports. But the Saints are being misrepresented on many levels.

The rule clearly broken was the 'pay-for-performance' rule, a rule that every team and man alive has had a brush with. Usually, it's two buddies who bet against each other (in billiards, or bowling, or dating). You know you've worked at a place with a football pool... maybe even a company softball tourny. Hell, I bet mothers wage against each other when their daughters compete for Miss Winchestertonfieldville. The players for the Saints were actually playing the games, so it's admittedly different than some of my examples, but no different from every other team in the league. They all 'pay-for-performance'.

Here's the big difference... the Saints were paying out for 'big hits', 'knockouts', and 'cart-offs'. Sound really bad. The bad part, in my opinion, is actually the 'pay' part and not the 'performance' part.

It is every defensive players job to hit the opposition. Their goal, spoken or not, is to disrupt the play of the offense in every legal way possible. I hate to see injuries on the football field, but I love to see that punt returner get his bell rung on one attempt, and then on the next attempt, muff the punt due to happy feet and wandering eyes.

There is not a defensive coach in this league who is teaching their players to tackle with kindness. "If you manage to get past the offensive line, and you have a clear shot at the QB, dance with him awhile and then take him to a movie." Fire that guy immediately.

The truth is - the Saints have not collected on these 'bounties'. Kurt Warner was knocked out during the Divisional Playoff game in 2009. It was a legal hit, and everyone knows it. Now, if Bobby McCray recieved money for that play from his teammates, it is a payment for performance not provided by the league... really similar to a QB rewarding his offensive linemen with watches or vacations when he makes the Pro Bowl.

Oh, yeah... the injury part.

If the Saints are to be penalized so severely for 'pay-for-perormance' because of the intent to injure, then guys like James Harrison, Albert Haynesworth, and Ndomakong Suh should be fined for life. And let's not forget the great players of 'back in the day'... guys like the Hammer, and Steve Atwater, and Ronnie Lott. Headhunters to say the least.

And what about Lawrence Taylor... he broke Joe Theisman's leg on national tv and ended his career. Criminal behavior? No... the diffence is the Saints players bet their own money, while those other guys simply received their check from the league every week.

'Bounty Gate' is reported as an issue about injuries, but, in my opinion, it is really about the money and not about the intent to injure. No one is on that football field with the intent to go to the drive-in.

http://www.nola.com/saints/app/422295/the-continued-babyfication-of-the-nfl.html

Edith Grove wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2012 at 3:28pm:


it's over...

http://www.cbssports...right-on-target

Wednesday March 21, 2012 - 2:33 PM
Mike Freeman
Goodell, NFL hammer ringleader Payton, and they're right on target
By Mike Freeman | CBSSports.com National NFL Insider