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As the NFL season rolls into week 6, a trend from NFL officials is becoming more apparent. Commissioner Goodell and the League are going to fine players for whatever they want. Antonio Brown has found this out, along with his wallet. Brown was fined $12,154 for twerking because it was deemed inappropriate sexually explicit behavior. Which under league rule is a fineable offense. Excessive celebration is one thing, but fining players based on personal messages or the cleats they wear, it seems like personal preferences are starting to take over actual offenses. Roger Goodell continues to shove as Steeler Guard Ramon Foster stated “this is what happens when you give someone total control of power.” Goodell proves almost weekly that he is the worst thing to happen to the NFL since the Janet Jackson Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction.
There are those who remember the days of Joe Horn 03’ Saints who was fined $30,000 for having a cell phone stashed under the goal post. Everyone can agree that excessive celebrations are something that the game of football can do with out. Most fans would rather see players score and hand the ball to the official and be done with it. The twerking in week one and the excessive celebration call Brown received against the Chiefs in week four, are for the most part excessive fines but fineable offenses nonetheless. However, fining a player over his black and gold cleats? In the win against the Chiefs, Brown wore a pair of cleats similar to those he wore vs the Jets. One week he was not fined, the following week the NFL went so far as to threaten to have Brown benched if the cleats were not removed. This leads one to believe that Roger Goodell could wake up on any given Monday, and decide he did not like the specific attire of one player, fining them whatever amount he sees fit.
This is not the first time that Goodell has gone after players for expressing themselves. In 2015, three Pittsburgh Steelers were fined for messages they were trying to represent for their own personal reasons. Cam Heyward was fined $5,787 for “IronHead” appearing on his eye black. Iron head was Heyward’s way of paying his respect to his late father. Goodell fined him the following week $11,576 for a repeat offense. William Gay came under fire when he was fined $5,787, for wearing purple cleats to raise awareness for Domestic Violence. Gay’s mother was killed as a result of domestic violence at the hands of his stepfather; Gay was 8 years old. The last Steeler on the list of obscure fines, DeAngelo Williams was in Goodell’s crosshairs. Williams was fined $5,757 for the phrase “We will Find a cure” on his eye black to support breast cancer awareness. Williams mother passed away as a result of breast cancer. Now, you can add Antonio Brown to that list, who was threatened to be ejected from the game for wearing Black and Gold spikes with Ali’s face on them. A week earlier Brown received no issues for the same Black and Gold spikes with Arnold Palmers likeness on them. So the question must be asked why is Palmer acceptable and Ali is determined to be inappropriate?
The examples given go to show that Roger Goodell is the worst thing to happen to the NFL and football in general. You have examples of players trying to shed light on important issues and being punished as if they have done the most awful thing in the game. It does not make sense that he would punish players, who are expressing themselves on a national stage while they are playing a childhood game, and getting paid very well for it. Mr. Goodell, you are the worst thing to ever happen to this great game. The best thing for the NFL and football in general is for you to go to an island far, far away and never look at, talk about or have any involvement in the game of football again. Seeing as that suggestion unfortunately will never happen, football fans will have to continue to watch Rodger Goodell destroy the game they love.
Edited by:
Cody Yocca
Daniel Bishop M.A.
Sources
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/10/28/nfl_fines_deangelo_williams_and_william_gay_for_trying_to_raise_awareness.html
https://www.google.com/amp/www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/antonio-brown-draws-a-ridiculously-large-fine-for-his-latest-end-zone-twerk/amp/?client=safari
http://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers/post/_/id/20659/antonio-brown-vs-the-nfl-cleats-pumps-and-the-american-way
http://operations.nfl.com/football-ops/fines-appeals/
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2015/10/19/Steelers-Cam-Heyward-wants-NFL-to-allow-players-to-honor-more-than-just-breast-cancer-victims/stories/201510190147
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