NFL suspensions...

[Sweet Willy]

While watching football today one of the announcers mentioned that someone had been or was suspended. That got me to thinking, so I went on-line and found out that from 1947 through 2007 (60 years!) there had been 12suspenions by the NFL. From 2008 through September of this year there were 18. The arrogance of wealth? Sixty years ago the owners didn't make the kind of money players "earn" these days.

[sweensdv]

Not sure I understand what your point is. What does wealth or arrogance have in common with suspensions?

[Cochese]

Color me confused as well.

[BobSch]

Not sure I understand what your point is. What does wealth or arrogance have in common with suspensions?

I'd say wealth or arrogance give some people an "I can do anything I want" attitude. Being told how great you are all the time doesn't help, either.

[Sweet Willy]

That's pretty much what I was thinking Bob. Movie stars, rock stars, the rich, etc., seem to be above and beyond the laws of most us mortals. And the other sad fact is that it has trickled down to college athletes as well.

[sweensdv]

It isn't just movie stars, rock stars, etc as our prisons are filled with folks that seem to feel they are above the laws of the land. Wealth really has little to do with it as feeling entitled or being arrogant is more of a personality fault than a result of a big bankroll.

I still don't see what any of that has to do with NFL suspensions. More players are being suspended in recent years mainly because sports in general have become much more aware of the possible after effects of those violent collisions. Some of those injuries after effects don't surface for years after a player has quit playing. I like the fact that sports have become much more vigiliant in policing themselves but I also think they need to go farther. Suspensions are but one tool the powers that be have and personally I'd like to see them go farther than that for repeat offenders.

[Sweet Willy]

I wasn't looking to start a controversy but...

In 1947 there was 1 Lifetime suspension for fixing the '46 chapionship game. In 1963 there were 2 suspensions for betting on NFL games. In 1983 there was one for gambling. And in 1985, '87 and finally in '89, a life-time suspension on the same guy for cocaine use. That's it for that whole period.

Starting in 2007 here are some of the reasons for suspensions. There were about 3 suspensions in this period for excessive violence on the field.

Here's the list:

Attacking a stripper and threatening a security guard's life.

Violating league's player conduct policy.

Alleged possession of six firearms and violation of probation on other charges.

Involvement in dog fighting.

Involvement in an altercation with a bodyguard.

Detrimental conduct.

Accidental shooting of leg with firearm.

Crashed into a pedestrian while DUI

Sexual assault of a woman in Georgia.

Violating league's player conduct policy.

Misdemeanor assult.

Two arrests during the 2012 off-season.

Various incidents involving police.

Maybe that will clear things up a little, or make things worse. Who knows?

[LCHIEN]

How about Hollywood stars?
Used to be rare that they got into trouble, now you have a bunch of bad actors (triple pun intended) like Lindsay Lohan for one who get into all kinds of trouble. But she's not the only one. How about rock stars? Maybe they've been in trouble since day 2.
Politicians? (can't go there). Lots of them resigning, dropping out of races and/or going to jail.

So what is it, sense of entitlement, being above the law?

[jussi]

I'm not certain that the behavior has gotten so much worse but rather they have become more publicized and the commissioner has been forced to acknowledge them. It's easy to sweep a controversial action of a player when everyone doesn't know about. Remember if a commissioner suspends a player he then has to publicly admit that player committed a crime (or some sort of punishable action). If however he can sweep it under the rug, then he never even has to talk about it. I mean how many news organizations were there in 1947. Even since 2007, things like twitter, facebook, blogs, the internet in general, makes it nearly impossible to cover anything up. Therefore more suspensions.

[sailor55330]

I think Loring may have hit it on the head when he called out a sense of entitlement. Today's hollywood heroes don't seem to believe that they should play by the same rules as we do. Much the same can be said for other high profile professions, such as sports. All too often there are reports of drunken this, drug related that, things that you or I would pay heavy consequences for that people in high-profile careers are given a pass on. The saddest part is that I see more and more young people who seem to think that they deserve the same free passes. I could probably find 25 examples in 2 minutes of a google search, but I think everyone knows what is going on. To me, it's ridiculous and why I rarely watch any sports and movies have become a joke because of the lack of talent in the acting field coupled with the "I'm above the law" mentality off-screen. I won't put money in the pockets of someone like that.

To keep the post on point, I'll finish with asking this. Could the number of suspensions in sports be up because of the increased public awareness due to electronic media coverage? I have to wonder if the athletes of yesteryear wear really angels, or did they just not get caught and the public didn't notice? Because of things such as Google, Youtuibe, Twitter, etc, what happens at 12:45am in a nightclub is viral and common knowledge by 12:48, which in turn is forcing the governing bodies of sports to take more public action. I don't know--maybe a little of both.

Sorry for the long winded post.

[sailor55330]

Ok, Jussi posted a little quicker and said the same thing....oops