October 17th, 2010 was a normal Sunday for most Americans. I for one woke up at my parents home, had a bagel and waited for my wife to arrive. She got to the house right around 10:15. This was nothing but a challenge to me to arrive in La Plata for Church before 10:30 am. Well, long story short, I failed... In part because of the Charles County Police Officer who caught me doing 69 in a 40 ;) Aside from that little hiccup, my Sunday was normal. Church(New Life Garage) was great, as Pastor Micheal totally brought it. Then we split the party to pick up some 8 lb Ribeye to make the absolute best cheesesteaks I have ever had. My Redskins weren't playing until 8:30 that evening, but I am very vested in many players from my 7 fantasy leagues.
From the moment I tuned the TV to football I was hearing about the bone jarring hits that had taken place. But I'm pretty much used to seeing big hits. I'm from the DC area and live in the Baltimore area. So seeing Sean Taylor, Ray Lewis, Laron Landry and Terrell Suggs pop dudes is no new news to me. The first hit I saw was the Dunta Robinson hit across the middle to the low flying Desean Jackson. Both players were out cold with concussions. After seeing the replays it looks like he lead with his shoulder and got a pretty clean shot. But both players couldn't help but crack skulls. The next big hit, or hits should I say hits, were those of James Harrison on Mohamed Massaquoi and again James Harrison on Josh Cribbs. That dude is hella dirty, but that's just me... In both occasions the player was already on his way down and yet Mr. Harrison felt it his job to throw is full force forward, using his arms as leverage to sling himself cone first into the dome piece of both the Browns.
The other guys that left week 6 with concussions were David Garrard, Vince Young and Chris Cooley. But the last big hit I wish to highlight was the Patriot's Brandon Merriweather's hit of Baltimore's Todd Heap. This hit, much like that of James Harrison's seems to be more than just momentum and trying to get a head on the ball. See, Merriweather also added the last little pop after Heap was coming down with a ball and was already mid-tackle. To top it off, he launched himself upward. Heap was going down and Merriweather was going up in what seemed to aim directly at Heaps head.
Because of this, Roger Goddell and the NFL big wigs have decided to start handing out suspension on top of the fines they are already handing out for helmet to helmet hits in an attempt to reduce the head injury of its players.
This is where I have a problem. They are watering down our product. It's our product because it belongs to us. We're the ones who buy the tickets, the jerseys, the TV packages and all the other products that come with the game we love. No, headhunters aren't good. But lets not take all the great hits out of the this very well understood, violent game. And the NFL old guys(ex players) complain about the lack of being taken care of after they retire. And you know what, I feel for the really old guys. But this isn't the same game anymore. But anybody who retired in the 90s or 2000s and have enjoyed the absolutely RIDICULOUS salaries that these guys get don't need any help. They don't need a pension. I don't get a pension! I struggle to pay my bills every month and I'm going to have to work well into my sixties. So I have a little bit of a hard time finding sympathy for these guys who make enough in one season at the veteran minimum(310K/yr) for me to not have to work another day in my life. So why, Mr Goddell are we protecting these overpaid performers who UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY SIGNED UP FOR!! You ask Desean Jackson and Mohammad Massaquoi which they would choose if they would never have to take another hit again but would have to work for the next 40 years or play for another 5-7 years and make 25 million while getting crushed every Sunday. I have a feeling it's not gonna take em long to answer.
This is all about me. I'm not gonna complain anymore about the salaries how stupid all of that is. But I am going to beg the NFL to not move so quickly with all this stuff and let time play it's course. Yes, we had a pretty hard hitting Sunday and some guys got hurt. But don't take away what we love so much about this game. In the cases of Heap, Jackson and Massaquoi's, they went across the middle. They no better and might think twice about it next time... Or maybe they won't, cause they know good and well what came with the job when they signed across the bottom line.
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