The Bountyfull Game

While NFL fever has never been higher, the media unfortunately continues to focus on a topic that should gain no traction. An investigation has been released publicizing that the New Orleans Saints participated in a bounty system in which players were awarded for harsh hits. At one point a pool of nearly 50,000 dollars was in play to knock out or injure opposing players. Currently, the media ignorantly calls the bounty system “inhumane” and “immoral”. Who could come to such illogical conclusions?

Obviously, the purpose of football is to tackle the opponent with as much force as possible. Just look at the top ten highlights on SportsCenter. Ray Lewis and James Harrison constantly land among the top spots for destroying their opponents. While NFL players do receive fines for hard hits, the fines simply mark an achievement. Johnny Travis, a six-year-old Cardinals fan stated, “Big hits are soooo cool. When my favorite player gets a fine, SportsCenter shows it over and over. If ESPN does not show it enough I can just look it up on YouTube and watch it in slow motion!” It is clear that fans love jaw breaking hits so why shouldn’t the Commissioner? Instead of focusing his efforts on fans’ interest, he nonsensically believes that the danger of devastating hits will ruin the sport. 

Even the players who receive many of the hits do not care about the potentially life threatening tackles. In an interview, Saints quarterback Drew Brees stated, “The first thing I do when I throw an interception is to try to knockout the player who intercepted me. I do not do it for the petty cash, but because I like seeing other people unconscious for a change.” Most players will not have the memory in many years to remember playing in the NFL. If this is true, then the moment is all that matters. Players, the NFL Players Association, and fans should not worry about brain damage or career ending surgery. Such temporary and permanent injuries are practically inevitable and should be merely pushed aside. If they are not, then, the purpose of the game would be lost and everyone’s current happiness would decrease as a result.

The Saints’ bounty pool might have consisted of 50,000 dollars, but for an individual hit a maximum amount of 1,000 dollars was awarded. 1,000 dollars is basically nothing for NFL players. As Brees alluded, the money had no influence on the players’ actions. They obviously were hitting other players purely to acquire a higher level of personal satisfaction. Dan Marino might not have been able to form any sentences when we tried to interview him, but we assumed he would have commended the Saints’ hard hitting. His statement would have gone something like, “If you truly love the game, then the more incentives to concuss other players the better.” This indicates that the bounty system only sheds light to the beauty of the game. Hard hitting must remain and a small incentive should be provided only to remind the players of that.

If the critics wanted to actually fix their so-called “harmful” problem, then they would stop sensationalizing the hits they complain about. This obviously would destroy the game further, but their ignorance reaffirms that no such action will ever take place. The reality is that the Saints are nowhere close to saints and most people love this. Reports of other teams’ involvement in similar bounty systems have been hinted at. It is most likely that all teams participate in a bounty system and I could not be happier. Witnessing people concussed and motionless on the ground makes everyone feel good, right? The New Orleans Saints let the fans and other teams down. Rather than doing the right thing, they did not follow through with covering up their tracks. This has unfortunately led to a media explosion and sadly another reason for players to be soft. For the sake of the game and the sustainment of brain damaged NFL players, I wish the Saints had not been caught.