Jamie Reidy riffs on the news that New Orleans Saints defenders purposely tried to knock opposing players out of the game for cash.
During the past three seasons members of the New Orleans Saints’ defense maintained a lucrative bounty system that paid players for injuring opponents, according to an extensive investigation by the N.F.L.
Judy Batista’s story in The New York Times has upset a lot of people.
I am one of them. But not because of the despicable departure from fair play and blah, blah, blah.
My upset-ness derives from the fact that this article awoke a lot of negative memories for me.
You see, I was an extremely bad high school football player (Note: administrators and graduates of St. Joseph Regional in Montvale, NJ are currently cringing at being connected to me.) Chris Christie might have scored a touchdown against me. The today version of the Governor, I mean.
I earned the nickname “Toast” in my sophomore year after getting beat deep for a 95-yard touchdown. Nobody cares that the receiver, Derek Horner (yes, I remember his name 27-years later), was the fastest kid in New Jersey. Nobody asks why we were blitzing on 3rd-and-fucking-35, when we had them pinned in their own end zone, thus necessitating man-to-man coverage.
My football skills were so lacking that the wife of a teammate of mine—they met in college—occasionally calls me “Toast,” just to let me know she knows I sucked.
So, after reading the article about the Saints, I only had one thought: I bet my coaches and teammates wish they had thought of the Saints’ bounty system: I might have actually made a tackle.
Additionally, I bet they wish they had come up with a bounty for interceptions; maybe I would not have dropped that wide open pick at midfield against Bergen Catholic, only our biggest rival, in October of 1987.
At least I’m over it.
What would you have done better in your athletic or work career if you were illegally paid for it?
Photo by Gaspa
Gregg Williams is to Jerry Sanduskly as Sean Payton is to Joe Paterno, except Sean Payton said nothing at all. At least JoePa reported what he knew, despite personally doing nothing to stop or address it. Gregg Williams especially deserves to be fired and banned from football for life, and will likely be brought up on charges of conspiracy to commit felony battery. Sean Payton, like Joe Paterno is JUST as guilty in that he knew and consented by his silence. He too should be fired and banned for at least 3 years. This might seem to be an overstatement… Read more »
Yeah Jamie I am right there with you. I absolutely LOVED the game until I actually started playing it. Then I sucked. Forgive this overly long comment, an unpublished recollection of my short football career: The New England Patriots first introduced me to football. They held summer camp at UMass just across town. I rode my bike to the practice fields to stare through the fence in awe at the tight spiral of footballs lofted up in the blue sky. I jumped at the crack of three hundred pound men smashing into each other. These were men to be sure.… Read more »