The NFL, a league without scruples

[slappy4428]

Read this column by Rachel Blount in the Strib this morning... has some damn good thoughts and valid points...

My favorite line: The NFL is the athletic equivalent of Wal-Mart. Its ethics might trouble us sometimes, but that isn't enough to make millions of us stop buying what it sells.

http://www.startribune.com/10073/story/983288.html

The NFL's imagemakers must have been beside themselves when Tony Dungy accepted the Lombardi Trophy Sunday night. The first black coach to win a Super Bowl -- and a dignified, clean-living guy to boot -- Dungy said he was proud to show a championship could be won the Lord's way.

While NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell basked in that reflected glory, his legal goons made sure that the Super Bowl could not be watched in the Lord's house. League attorneys sent a letter to Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis, warning it that NFL rules prohibit public places from showing the game on TVs larger than 55 inches or on multiple screens. Churches all over the country canceled their parties; the wrath of the Almighty, it seems, pales in comparison to that of a coven of corporate lawyers.

The church crackdown provided an appropriate close to a season of bad behavior and worse judgment in the NFL. To wit: Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman, suspended four games last season for a positive steroids test, will start in Saturday's Pro Bowl. Nine Bengals could be issued orange uniforms of a different sort after their arrests for various crimes. Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson revealed last week that multiple concussions, combined with pressure to return to the field quickly, have left him brain-damaged at age 34.

Johnson's poignant story drowned in the league-approved hype over beer commercials and halftime celebrities. So did the call by ultimate tough guy Mike Ditka to provide better pensions for former players with ruined bodies. In a country in which baseball's problems are taken up by the federal government, the only public outrage generated among NFL fans seems to happen when the tailgater runs dry.

 

[outofplace]

Some excellent points...except I have absolutely no problem with the NFL refusing to give a church special rights that it would deny any other public venue.They get their tax break. That's enough.

 

[bigpern23]

Some excellent points...except I have absolutely no problem with the NFL refusing to give a church special rights that it would deny any other public venue.They get their tax break. That's enough.

Personally, I don't see how the NFL has a right to tell anyone how big of a TV they can put a game on. If a bar is paying for the NFL package, or for just straight cable, it is paying for the right to view what is on those stations. If said bar went out and bought a 70-inch screen, what gives the NFL the right to say they have to put the game on one of their smaller screens?

Excellent column by Rachel Blount. I couldn't agree with it more.

 

[D-Backs Hack]

ESPN has reported that the league might bar players who fail drug tests from appearing in future Pro Bowls.

In a related item, not a single NFL player lost sleep on the night of ESPN's report.

 

[slappy4428]

Some excellent points...except I have absolutely no problem with the NFL refusing to give a church special rights that it would deny any other public venue.They get their tax break. That's enough.

Since it's on free TV anyway, who the **** is the NFL to dictate to any facility whether or not it can be shown on a screen of its approval?

 

[zeke12]

I'd love to see the NFL try to enforce that rule.

Nice column by Blount.

 

[leo1]

if i'm not mistaken, anyone showing the game to a large group - such as a bar - needs a special license from the NFL. as i understand the issue, the churches were apparently trying to show the game to large numbers of people without obtaining this special license. so the ban has to be enforced uniformly. otherwise you'd get a bunch of nuts claiming to have a "church" trying to show the game without paying for the license.

i could be wrong. i know you need this special license for getting NFL ticket to show to groups, but i'm not sure about showing it off free TV. but you know that old "this broadcast may not be re-transmitted without the express written consent..." thing? i think that's what we're talking about here.

 

[JR]

All you need to know about the NFL: no guaranteed contracts.

 

[heyabbott]

ESPN has reported that the league might bar players who fail drug tests from appearing in future Pro Bowls.

In a related item, not a single NFL player lost sleep on the night of ESPN's report.

Is any starter actually going to show up. Ray-Ray was a fill in for an injured players, then stepped out.

 

[RokSki]

"The NFL is the athletic equivalent of Wal-Mart. Its ethics might trouble us sometimes, but that isn't enough to make millions of us stop buying what it sells."

That's a damn good line. I might have to 'borrow' it.

 

[Beef03]

ESPN has reported that the league might bar players who fail drug tests from appearing in future Pro Bowls.

In a related item, not a single NFL player lost sleep on the night of ESPN's report.

This really is more encouragement than anything fopr them to use steroids. A built-in excuse to skip out on the worst game of the year that no one watches anyways. No more having to, ahem Urlacher, fake a toe in injury.

 

[Birdscribe]

All you need to know about the NFL: no guaranteed contracts.

And a salary/free-agent structure set to wipe out the league's middle class.

Great column by Blount.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

All you need to know about the NFL: no guaranteed contracts.

And no union worthy of the name.

 

[DisembodiedOwlHead]

The NFL did not create the TV-size rule. That's in the area of the federal law on trademarks, rebroadcasting, etc., and should be updated to reflect the actual TV sales market.

I found it odd that some of the churches backed down so easily ... would any jury (or judge looking for re-election votes) side with a corporation over a church, especially in these circumstances ?

 

[crimsonace]

As far as churches backing down quickly ... I can't speak for all, but I can speak for the church I attend (not the one that was notified by the NFL, but one in suburban Indy), which has had a SB party for years.

With the local team involved, we had planned on having one this year.

The church leadership canceled it, not because we wanted to flaunt the NFL in court, but because we believe the Bible requires us to obey all laws that do not directly contradict the Bible, whether or not we agree with them (OK, if this is the case, I tend to do about 10 mph worth of sinning every time I get on the highway, but alas ...).

 

[DisembodiedOwlHead]

crimson, other Indy churches, though, were quoted as saying they kept their parties in place in defiance, basically saying the ministry of providing "family" options was more important than the NFL's broadcasting rights.

 

[JR]

All you need to know about the NFL: no guaranteed contracts.

And no union worthy of the name.

Union? Not in any meaning of the word you can think of.

I think it should correctly called an "association" or a "club'

 

[dooley_womack1]

I worked with Rachel in college. Good gal (even if all she wore were Auburn shirts). Very underrated writer, and I'm glad she's getting props here. And no, I'm not Rachel. :

 

[Ellis Redding]

I worked with Rachel in college. Good gal (even if all she wore were Auburn shirts). Very underrated writer, and I'm glad she's getting props here.

Thanks for stopping by, Rachel!

Had to be said.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Way to edit out my last sentence, Context Man.