The Associated Press reports the New Orleans Saints will have the appeal process over the suspensions regarding the team's bounty system in the first week of April. Fans in the city of New Orleans are taken aback that their city is being punished for the sins of the Saints' staff. Clearly the NFL season won't be the same without head coach Sean Payton.
What would happen to Kansas City if a bounty system on the Chiefs' defense were discovered and handled in the same manner?
New head coach Romeo Crennel's year-long suspension would be brutal. Players love the jovial Crennel who languished as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. A year without Crennel in the day-to-day operations of the team would devastate the rebuilding Chiefs. Any chance at a playoff berth would be dashed.
Sporting News reported Joe Horn, who was drafted by the Chiefs, claimed the defensive unit had bounties for throwing the best chop block. Horn also said the Atlanta Falcons also had a bounty program to reward injuring players on the other team.
Fans in Kansas City would be livid. With few exceptions, players on the Chiefs usually stay out of trouble. There aren't many headlines revolving around Chiefs' players who get arrested or have legal difficulties. To tarnish an organization bent on winning, to believe extra money beyond contracts is needed to play football is ludicrous.
Yet there have been players that say many, if not all, NFL clubs have a bounty program in some form. For some reason, having extra money on hand to injure players somehow motivates defensive units to simply do their jobs.
There is no need to intentionally injure players. Not only is the practice dishonest, but it ruins the careers of other players. Bounties are a horrible fact of life in the NFL. The Saints merely got caught. If everyone were outed for having bounties, there may not be much of an NFL season left.
Fans, not just in Kansas City, would be flipping mad that the season would be affected. The NFL is almost too big to fail. All 31 NFL cities would lose a key economic engine of the sports world if teams would be suspended due to bounty systems.
Kansas City would be no different. All NFL fans do is pay for tickets and therefore salaries. We just want to see some fantastic football.
William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.
Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.
No comments:
Post a Comment