Schlereth Shreds the NFL for Fining Hard Hits

I'm sure the topic of fines for NFL hits is buried elsewhere, but this is so great it's getting its own thread (as should the topic).

Mark Schlereth goes nuts on the league and all it's glorious hypocrisy:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5706315&categoryid=2378529

 

I'm guessing Roger Goodell, et al, have already instructed ESPN to put Mark Schlereth in cold storage for extraordinary rendition to a place far from the NFL (Los Angeles?) where he can be tortured, perhaps on his bad knee, to fall in the company line.

 

He's absolutely 100% right, especially about how the NFL sells the violence, just the NHL isn't the NHL without fights, and auto racing isn't auto racing without crashes. It was priceless when he showed the "Moment of Impact" video for sale. If the NFL wants to have its head-shot cake and eat it, too, it should be researching new helmet technology to determine how you can make it more protective for the brain. I've read where the helmet is designed to prevent skull fractures, not concussions.

 

Also, interesting that Schlereth brings up that the NFL says he's not eligible for disability payments, despite 20 NFL-related surgeries. It's a crime how the NFL throws its ex-players on the medical scrap heap.

 

James Harrison was excused from Steelers practice today, meeting with Mike Tomlin and pondering retirement after that $75,000 fine. Apparently, he disagrees with the NFL's assessment of his hits on Sunday.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10293/1096626-100.stm

 

Harrison's agent was on FoxNews this morning. Didn't say anything about possible retirement.

 

Hypocrisy in pro sports ... unpossible!

 

As much as I sympathize with Schlereth's points, James Harrison isn't the martyr I want riding this horse.

 

Retire to do what? Beat girlfriends?

 

He was quoted on SportsCenter last night as saying if they were going to restict the way he plays the game he'd have to think about whether he could continue playng in the NFL

 

I hope he does have the courage of his convictions and puts his money where his mouth is. But I doubt he will, I doubt any of us would walk away from that paycheck, willingly.

There was this kid I grew up with; he was younger than me. Sorta looked up to me, you know. We did our first work together, worked our way out of the street. Things were good, we made the most of it. During Prohibition, we ran molasses into Canada... made a fortune, your father, too. As much as anyone, I loved him and trusted him. Later on he had an idea to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's on the way to the West Coast. That kid's name was Moe Greene, and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man, a man of vision and guts. And there isn't even a plaque, or a signpost or a statue of him in that town! Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry; I knew Moe, I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!