Oh, the humanity. The NFL continues its assault on common sense and decency, as they flippantly (that's how it appears, anyway) hand out player punishments for any number of absurd transgressions.
The latest scrapbook entry involves Steelers safety Ryan Clark, the former Redskins player who was very close to the late Sean Taylor. Via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
...Clark revealed that he was fined $5,000 by the NFL for wearing eye black with the No. 21 etched into it Sunday. Clark said he did it to honor his late Redskins teammate Sean Taylor, who was murdered in his Florida home last year. Clark, who wears No. 25, wears a No. 21 practice jersey in honor of Taylor. Clark said he will continue to wear the eye black with "21" in it.
I understand that uniforms must conform to certain league guidelines, but at what point does somebody in the NFL Gestapo offices stop and think that fining a player for wearing two inch-high numbers on his face to honor a fallen teammate could be a public relations disaster.
Yeah, we get it: the NFL will cease to exist as we know it if rules aren't followed TO THE LETTER. Repercussions and consequences and whatnot. The thing is, Commissar Goodell and his minions are already over-legislating, and when it takes Steelers safety Troy Polamalu (who I just figured was a mute because he never seems to talk) to point out that tackle football has become a "pansy game," well, it might be time to re-evaluate things.
Maybe the league should set up a hotline to educate players on which disgusting acts constitute punishable offenses, and those that are just in bad taste. Oh, and don't forget to actually staff the phone banks this time.
Jeebus already.
NFL Fines Ryan Clark $5K for Honoring Sean Taylor, Violating Uniform Dress Code originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on 2008-10-30T10:45:00+00:00. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
