My son will never play football
Amidst widespread fears about the long term dangers associated with football--concussions, skeletal damage, blown knees, permanent brain damage--comes a juicy scandal: It seems that at least one coach at an NFL team was actually placing bounties on injuries opposing players. For every player his guys injured so badly they could play any more, they received $1,000 cash. More for star players.
Gregg Williams Meets With NFL Amid Bounty Probe, Washington Post Reports - Bloomberg
The coach at the center of a program that paid bounties for injuring opponents met with National Football League officials yesterday, the Washington Post said, citing a person familiar with the case who requested anonymity.
Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the NFL, declined to confirm the meeting in an e-mail last night.
The league last week said that about two dozen New Orleans Saints players were paid to injure rivals during Gregg Williams’s 2009-11 stint as defensive coordinator.
Players received $1,500 for a “knockout,” in which an opponent was unable to return to the game, and $1,000 for a “cart-off,” in which rivals were carried off the field. Payments doubled or tripled during the playoffs.
“It was a terrible mistake, and we knew it was wrong while we were doing it,” Williams said last week in an e-mailed statement. “Instead of getting caught up in it, I should have stopped it. I take full responsibility for my role.”
. . .
