Not all of you are sports fans, I realize. So I'm expanding the appeal of this post by making use of an extended Monopoly metaphor. Conveniently, the metaphor doubles as an actual business idea, so if any of you is an entrepeneur...
Imagine an NFL Monopoly board game. This probably actually exists, so if you've played it, feel free to imagine the real NFL Monopoly board game. Instead of street properties from Atlantic City, you would buy football team franchises as you make your way around the board.
For a very low fee you could buy the brown properties right after Go, like... the Browns. Eventually you would make it all the way to the blue properties, where teams like the Colts and Steelers would await you.
There would still be Chance cards, but Community Chests would be swapped out for fun cards called "Take James Harrison's Money." Each card would have something like this:
- James leads with the crown of his helmet -- collect 25K
- James throws QB to ground unnecessarily -- collect 20K
- Repeat offender! -- collect 10j thousand dollars from James Harrison's bank, where j is the number of Take James Harrison's Money cards that have been revealed so far
The real issue -- comparing fines
I'm not mad that the NFL is cracking down on hits that unnecessarily endanger other players. What I'm mad about is the total lack of sense in meting out these (seemingly arbitrary) punishments. For instance, here are Harrison's 2010 fines to date, along with the other major fines this year:
Harrison awesomely does what is essentially a WWE move on Vince Young: 5K
Harrison blindsides Massaquoi: 75K
Harrison late-hits Brees: 20K
Harrison blows up Fitzpatrick: 25K
Richard Seymour punches Big Ben in facemask: 25K
Cortland "terrible human being" Finnegan starts fight after play: 25KAndre Johnson destroys Finnegan in retaliation: 25K
I need hardly make an argument that this is unfair, because it pretty much speaks for itself. Harrison has been penalized for playing football. A few of his plays have been deemed overly aggressive/reckless (and I agree the hit on Massaquoi was scary). In my opinion, which admittedly counts for nothing (not even 2 NFLopoly cents), the hit on Fitzpatrick was perfectly legal and worthy of football praise.
But the other players were penalized for being outright violent -- while not playing the actual game. I mean, seriously -- one player is playing football too hard/dangerously, and the others are punching people's faces between plays.
A tangent for one is lonely
What do you think? Part A: Are the fines and penalties (which I didn't even mention!) on Harrison fair?
What do you think? Part B: Thoughts on Monopoly? Fun, too long, too many cheaters? Also, what's the best version of Monopoly you've ever played or dreamt of?
Jon
well, for one, i don't know what version of monopoly you play, but the baltic and mediterrenean properties are purple, not brown. the version i've only dreamt about playing is the one that costs like $150. it has drawers for the money. here it is: http://bit.ly/fGKA7m
ReplyDeletewhile that one is at least attainable, this one is not: http://bit.ly/aD3w2p
to go back to part A, the fine for the massaquoi hit was obviously a result of harrison's comments following the game. my opinion is that all the fines need to be higher if the NFL wants to discourage this kind of thing. if anything, punches being thrown are an easy thing to punish, because there is no gray area. you either punched a guy or you didnt. with the helmet to helmet hits and illegal hits on quarterbacks, it can be a little harder to tell. punches are always going to be an isolated incident. it's not like the NFL needs to "crack down" on punches being thrown, because it might happen twice a season. they obviously have to make sure brawls arent breaking out every game, but essentially, punches being thrown doesnt hurt or change the game of football. with the safety and long term health of the players becoming an increasingly important issue, the league has to take steps to enforce their rules
nobody rips a guys helmet off and punches him the face and thinks he's going to get away with it. it's not a matter of saying to yourself "ok, well maybe if i uppercutted him instead of throwin a hook, or if i punched him the stomach instead of the face, i wouldnt have been fined." with the helmet to helmet hits, if you dont want to be fined, you've got to say to yourself "ok, well maybe if i start wrapping guys up instead of driving my head into their head, i wont get fined. while i risk not getting a highlight on espn, i also lower the risk of missing the tackle as a result of dropping my arms to my sides and launching my body at a guy, only to glance off of him when he steps to the side. i also may help raise the average lifespan of former NFL players from 55 to closer to the national average of 77."
Don't forget the Denver Bronco's got fined 50k for cheating (taping a 49ers practice). So that's 50k for cheating, and 75k for a hit that wasn't ruled a penalty.
ReplyDeleteWhy the NFL has begun targeting one of their best franchises is beyond me. If they want to crack down on the hits, make it consistent.
Ward just got a concussion on a helmet to helmet hit against the Patriots that ended his streak of consecutive games with a catch. Yet no one talked about it. Do you think Harrison would have gotten fined if he delivered that hit?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORcyLGfw3zc
The fines are good for player safety and great for ESPN pundits, but aren't good for the game overall because the fans don't want to see them. That being said, the fines on Harrison are "fair" according to NFL policy, but aren't fairly distributed amongst the rest of the NFL population--as has been documented in the post and comments. If the NFL wants to send a message makes the fines higher and suspend the guilty players for the rest of the game OR the next game. There are only 16 games--currently--time off the field will speak more loudly than money.
ReplyDeleteAs for Monopoly, I haven't played in years. Probably because it does take a fairly long time to play and because of all the house rules that people have made for the game (free parking $$$, double Go $$$ for landing on Go, etc.)--to keep or regain their money and thus extend the game.
I have watched that hit on Brees by Harrison repeatedly and I don't understand why a $20k fine was necessary. It was a late hit on the QB with no helmet-to-helmet. That is a textbook 15-yard roughing the passer call. The penalty for which is 15 yards, end of story. Will the league start issuing fines for false starts and pass interference in addition to the yardage penalty as well? Was every other player that committed a roughing the passer penalty that week fined, or just Harrison?
ReplyDelete