Yesterday, after another appeals process seemed like it would be underway for the four players suspended by Roger Goodell in the New Orleans Saints' bounty case, the NFL Players Association filed yet another motion to have a new arbitrator inserted into the hearings. Following the NFL's rulings that Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, Scott Fujita, and Anthony Hargrove were all to be suspended for their roles in this so-called "bounty" scandal, Roger Goodell ruled that they would all be disciplined.
Vilma was suspended for the entire 2012 season, Fujita was suspended but has since gotten hurt and has now been placed on injured reserve anyway, making his suspension a moot point because he will now miss the rest of the season due to the injury. Smith was suspended four games, and Hargrove was suspended eight (although that was eventually changed to seven). Smith has served his suspension and Hargrove is a free agent, so the only suspension that is still in effect is Vilma's.
However, to the surprise of many (including myself), Vilma was on the field for the Saints this past Sunday due to the fact that his suspension was currently being appealed and the case is still pending. How Vilma was able to play last week is based upon some kind of legal technicality that I don't really care about at this point. Vilma initially appealed his season-long suspension, but the appeal was heard by Roger Goodell, the same man that decided how long Vilma's suspension would be in the first place. To the surprise of no one, Goodell did not change his ruling, and Vilma's year-long suspension remained.
Following Goodell's ruling, Vilma went to court to attempt to appeal the suspension, and it looked as if former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue would be inserted and would conduct Vilma's new appeal and rule on whether or not the year-long suspension would remain or not. In my eyes, this seemed to be fine. Tagliabue was familiar with NFL suspension and appeals processes, and he had a close relationship with not only the game, but the Players Association as well. Tagliabue could rule on whether or not he believed Vilma's suspension was appropriate, and we could all move on. But no, Vilma and the NFLPA wouldn't accept that.
Saying that Tagliabue was unfit to hear the appeals because of a conflict of interest, the NFLPA and the four suspended players once again filed motions calling for the removal of Tagliabue and the appointing of a neutral arbitrator to decide the fate of the suspended players. In the meantime, Vilma will again be on the field this week as the Saints take on the Denver Broncos. Am I the only one who thinks this seems to make no sense?
The NFL commissioner ruled that Vilma was suspended for the entire season. Vilma appealed the suspension and is now about to play his second game of the year while he is in the midst of yet another appeal to another legal ruling. Vilma wants to clear his name of any wrongdoing in this case, while the NFL wants to stand by its initial ruling. I get it. But at the same time, everyone involved in this case is just looking more and more foolish. The NFL can't decide who it wants the final decision maker to be, and in the interim, they are letting Vilma play even though he is supposed to be suspended for the entire season. Vilma will never be able to avoid the fact that his name will be forever linked to this entire bounty case, yet he is looking more and more like a toddler who will not give up his favorite toy no matter what it takes.
At this point, I have to say that it seems like Vilma has already won this battle because he is out on the field when he is also supposed to be suspended for the entire season at the same time. However, this entire process is really getting tiring, and I'm sure that I am not the only one that feels this way. I understand that the legal process in this country is not something that is exactly synonymous with prudence, but can we please end this sometime soon?
We know that there was some kind of pay-for-performance system within the Saints' locker room. We know that Vilma was somehow involved, and we know that the NFL believed that he deserved a suspension for any kind of role that he played. What we also know is that the NFL season is about halfway through, and it is time to focus solely on football and not lingering legal issues that could have, and should have, been solved months ago. The Saints got off to a bad start (whether it was due to the suspensions levied in this case, poor play on the field, or a combination of both), but two straight wins have helped their cause. While they are still far from the playoffs, a win this Sunday night against a good Broncos team will greatly enhance their postseason chances.
I am through with trying to keep up with all of this legal nonsense. It is time to focus on the play on the field, and forget about anything that may be going on off the field. Like I said, at this point the chances of New Orleans making the playoffs do not seem very good. However, the Saints still have two games to play with the 6-0 Atlanta Falcons, and games with the Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, and 49ers. All of those teams have postseason aspirations, and all of those teams currently have better records than the Saints. That means that New Orleans still only has to worry about their own play, and if they are able to beat those teams, they will have a great chance to be playing into January.
There is no question that these legal issues have to be playing at least a small part in the Saints' on-field performance, if due to nothing other than the fact that the players on the team need to be constantly reminded of them. So please, for the sake of everyone from Drew Brees to Isa Abdul-Quddus, get this all over with as soon as possible so we can focus on what really matters; the games on the field each Sunday.
Daily Giants Update: I'll give you an update on my next post, which will come later today, so each of my posts today will be close to similar in length and this one won't be twice as long as the following one.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: This news is about a week old, but it has been a while since I have added any new posts. It has been officially announced that our new broadcast team in 2013 will be Steve Berthiaume and Bob Brenly. Given the circumstances, I have to say that these two are one of the best-case scenarios that I could imagine. Brenly was our manager during the 2001 championship season, and even though Berthiaume has not done much play-by-play, I am very familiar with him from ESPN, and he seems to know what he is talking about (he is actually one of the few ESPN commentators that ever even acknowledges the Diamondbacks exist!). I will always miss Daron Sutton and Mark Grace, and it is a shame that we will never get to listen to them because I really enjoyed listening to them each and every night. However, I have no problems with Berthiaume or Brenly, so I am excited to see how things go both on the field and in the booth for the 2013 season.
Daily Nets Update: As I said, I am on the Nets bandwagon now that they are in Brooklyn and I can root for a team in New York that isn't the Knicks. I was thinking about doing an NBA preview, but I'm not sure if I will yet. However, I will say that I believe the Nets both can be and should be a playoff team this season. Despite a starting lineup that features a few big names, I think it might take a year for the team to gel and for each player to find a defined role. I don't believe that they are one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, but I think that anywhere between the 5th and 8th seed should be considered a success. If they were to win a first round series, I would say that it would be a great season. The first regular season game will be at the Barclays Center against the Knicks on November 1st.
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