ESPN, in its endless coverage of the NFL, even when nothing really is happening there, has devoted the last few days to the issue of bounties paid by the New Orleans Saints to its players for "cart offs" and "knock outs." According to documents leaked from NFL offices to ESPN, the Saints' defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams offered $1000 to anyone who knocked another player out of the game, and $1500 if the player had to be carted off the field.
The issue here is not the violence of the results. No one can deny that professional football -- or football at any level -- is a violent sport, in which injuries are inevitable. Some of those injuries are immediately catastrophic, and some accrue over a long period of time, like those caused by concussions. Frankly, I think football may be at its apex as a result, because I think thing the league is going to have to change or suffer serious legal consequences for the fact that it encourages such injury.
In the current kerfuffle, however, the problem is about a certain kind of lawlessness. As Greg Easterbrook of ESPN notes, "American law places considerable emphasis on intent. Intending to harm your opponent changes football from something manly and sportsmanlike into something brutish and disgusting." As bloodthirsty as many fans may sound -- or even be -- the moment when a player lies on the turf waiting to be carried away, when we don't know whether he will stand or walk again is always solemn and sad. The players on the field appear anxious, the one who caused the injury appears regretful. If we led to believe that such moments are actually encouraged by coaches, they become something else again.
And on a side note, it's one thing, in my view, for players to have side bets on big hits, and quite another for coaches to do it because the coaches sit safely on the sidelines. Would Greg Williams encourae "cartoffs" if he was vulnerable to them?
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