NFL Fines Players For Supporting Embattled Friend

This from ProFootballTalk.com:

"Roddy White, Alge Crumpler, DeAngelo Hall, and Chris Houston were all fined $10,000.
Joe Horn also was fined $7,500 for pulling up White's jersey to reveal his "Free Mike Vick" T-shirt."

The league levied the fines under the auspices of the shirts being a violation of the league's uniform policy. Despite the fact that White's t-shirt was UNDER his uniform jersey. And the league doubled the usual fine for uniform violations. Horn was fined and he apparently wasn't even wearing one of the t-shirts.

Normally, we'd support team mates showing some support for an embattled friend. A fellow gladiator. A mistreated and seemingly purposely misunderstood and misrepresented Negro. Normally.

However, we believe that each of these players should sit out a game. Forfeit a game check.

All of these players have foolishly, though altruistically, played into the hands of the league rulers and the attempt to further demonize Vick.

Certainly, the players watched not long ago as Redskin players wore tribute t-shirts under their game jerseys for Sean Taylor. And, just as certainly, the Falcon players assumed that since the Redskins were not in violation of the uniform policy (they weren't fined) for wearing the t-shirts under the game jerseys; there would be no issue if they did it as well.

The foolishness in all this was that the Falcon players thought for a moment that the NFL Czar of Discipline and Behavior might not expound his traditional arbitrary application of policy and rule. And for somehow forgetting who they were memorializing, the Falcon players should march into their GM's office and let him know that they will not be playing in next week's game as a self imposed penance for their foolishness in believing that the Czar would allow them to memorialize the 'dead' player on their team.

What was supposed to be an act to show Vick that he was not forgotten. That he was still in the hearts of his team mates. That, despite the fact that he was locked up in a money making prison, his spirit and soul were still free. That act of brotherly solidarity and compassion for Vick's well being is now turned into a negative by the NFL's PR machinery.

Instead of it being the unifying and rehabilitative message that it was meant to be, the NFL turned it into some sort of forbidden phantom violation. What was meant to generate positive media representation that might get back to the incarcerated Vick was run through the NFL ringers.

And what got back to Vick (from the NFL) is clear:

You are dead to us.


'Free Mike Vick'?

No.

Mike Vick has been in chains from the first day he put on shoulder pads.

And this well intentioned, though poorly thought out maneuvre by the Falcon players only further tightened the shackles around their own wrists.

Bobby Petrino: DeAngelo Hall and Alge Crumpler were right

Bobby Petrino.

The equivalent of the promiscuous girl of the coaching world. Always ready to listen to an offer. Often willing to put out. Quick to leave the groom standing at the altar.

Or in this case, cheat on the honey moon.

Petrino's stay in the ATL has been tainted almost from the start. He was unable to give tremendous, but wayward, QB Michael Vick the type of guidance a young man under considerable pressure could expect from a seasoned head coach/mentor. And quickly things fell apart.

Clearly, Vick didn't receive good advice from the organization and ended up responding to the early accusations with a dubious denial. Obviously, a caring and nurturing infrastructure would have given him the proper counsel necessary to take responsibility from the get go. Only after things spun out of control and Vick was able to separate himself from the organization did he come clean and accept responsibility.

So, the reality is that much of the distress caused by the Vick situation was a product of Petrino's botched leadership.

Certainly, Vick's team mates recognized this, and it compromised Petrino's ability to effectively be the man in charge of the team.

Early in the season, DeAngelo Hall and Alge Crumpler received some negative press for openly wondering about Petrino's ability to lead an NFL team. For challenging Petrino's demands that the team buy into his system, but not providing any real leadership for the team.

The media seemed to enjoy painting Hall and Crumpler as out of line or disgruntled primadonas.

Well, vindication is sweet. And Hall and Crumpler were correct all along. Petrino gave up long ago and went through 3/4 of a season as a charade. Certainly he wasn't wooed by Arkansas between the Monday night game and the Tuesday announcement.

And, just as certainly, Hall and Crumpler's instinctual questioning of the validity and sincerity of Petrino and his 'system' was spot on the money. Petrino's 'system' was an empty shell that couldn't fool real NFL players. His leadership was a corrupt and cowardly masquerade.

And Hall and Crumpler should be commended for having the awareness, commitment and esprit de corps to put the teams needs ahead of their own and question the rotten smell emanating from the coach's office.

In this day and age of selfish players with agendas, it is refreshing to be able to look back on this and unequivocally state the players were one hundred percent correct and that the media owes them an apology.

Certainly this isn't the first time that a group of Negroes sensed and spoke out about the white man in the corner office using them for his personal gain. It just happens to be one of the times the media can't hide it.

Whitlock: Spanked by Viv Stringer

Morehouse College, an HBCU in the ATL, hosted a Black Athlete forum. Spike Lee put it together and the panel was made up of Stephen A. Smith, Alge Crumpler, Alonzo Morning, Vivian Stringer, Etan Thomas, Jim Brown and more.

Ostensibly, the panel was to be a discussion on the lack of Negro sportswriters in the media. To address that, Morehouse has started a sports journalism program. But, the discussion covered a wide variety of topics.

One that grabbed the audience's attention was Vivian Stringer addressing Jason Whitlock. We all know about Whitlock's columns deriding Stringer and mitigating the words of Imus.

Stringer let him have it.

"I'm amazed," she said, staring down the length of the table at Whitlock. "I just want to understand your mind-set. I just want to understand people like you."

She went on:

"It wasn't the Rutgers women's basketball team that brought Mr. Imus down," she said, still glaring at Whitlock. "It was America. Women spoke. Black people spoke. It was America! I made a statement that it wasn't black or white. The truth of the matter is that we have been fooled for such a long time. We have such promise and we all are important. We need to step on each other's heads to get the little piece of the American dream. It became green. It was power. You [Whitlock] understand that. That's the reason why you chose these few minutes to get your one moment of [fame]. Because other than that, who knows Jason Whitlock?"

Pretty strong words.

We can't wait to see if Whitlock mentions the forum in his upcoming columns.