Mathews, Harrison and Peppers facing suspension

[Red Dawg]

If they don't have interviews about their PED usage in the report before 25 August.

Damn son!

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...t-to-interview

[Amnorix]

For what it's worth (nothing), I have historically leaned pro-league. I do not support guaranteed contracts, for example, and I do believe teams and the league need a fair bit of discretion in all matters, including discipline. The NBA and MLB have some pretty crazy systems where players have far too much control.

What has gone wrong in the NFL isn't so much the system itself, as the ****ing lunatic who is running the show and seems to think players should be punished if they don't kiss the ring.

[Red Dawg]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

For what it's worth (nothing), I have historically leaned pro-league. I do not support guaranteed contracts, for example, and I do believe teams and the league need a fair bit of discretion in all matters, including discipline. The NBA and MLB have some pretty crazy systems where players have far too much control.

What has gone wrong in the NFL isn't so much the system itself, as the ****ing lunatic who is running the show and seems to think players should be punished if they don't kiss the ring.

He wants to see them concerning a PED matter that a report brought them up in. How is that kissing the ring?

Is your butt hurt over Brady so great that you think employees should just ignore what the head honcho says? It's just an interview and if they don't want to they can retire.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Bleeding Red is spot on.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Originally Posted by OctoberFart

Keep on pushing that narrative. It is pretty obvious on how stupid you guys are and will believe anything your pea brain wants you to believe. I really wonder if you guys pay attention to NFL news at all.

Lemming ****

[Amnorix]

http://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/p...ons-like-crazy

The latest imposition of NFL power over its players goes something like this:

If someone, anyone, makes a public allegation, substantiated or otherwise, recanted or supported, of possible improper conduct, the player must submit to an investigation on the league's terms or face suspension.

That's essentially what the NFL said Monday in a letter to the NFL Players Association as a final warning to four players named in an Al-Jazeera report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The source for the report has since retracted his information, and the league already has cleared the name mentioned most prominently: retired quarterback Peyton Manning. But if the Green Bay Packers' Julius Peppers and Clay Matthews, the Pittsburgh Steelers' James Harrison and free agent Mike Neal don't play ball with the NFL -- if they don't step forward to prove their innocence, as it were -- then they will be suspended as of Aug. 26.

It would be easy to say that a rule-abiding player has nothing to worry about, but I'm going to guess that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and retired defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove, among others, might not agree.

As I said Monday night on SportsCenter, there has been -- to put it diplomatically -- plenty of gray area in previous NFL investigations. Based on recent history, at least, these players are more likely to be disciplined for their conduct during the investigation than for any of the allegations that spurred the investigation in the first place.

Brady will serve a four-game suspension to start this season because the NFL determined he was "more likely than not" involved in a scheme to deflate footballs in the 2014 AFC Championship Game. The league's final report, of course, carried not a shred of direct and verified evidence that Brady was involved -- or even that the balls themselves were artificially deflated. It focused heavily on Brady's refusal to provide his mobile phone, even though he said he provided all the information the league requested from it.

Hargrove, meanwhile, essentially lost his career in 2012 when the NFL pinned much of its Bountygate investigation on him telling his New Orleans Saints teammates to "pay me my money" after a hit on then-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. Hargrove adamantly denied saying it, and the NFL concluded he was not being truthful in his deposition. Later, an NFL Films video confirmed Hargrove's account. The NFL quietly acknowledged it.

The point, of course, is that Peppers, Matthews, Neal and Harrison have been smart in approaching the latest investigation with extreme caution. One wrong move, or one perceived to be uncooperative by the league, and they'll forever be stained by NFL discipline.

The NFL already has a PEDs policy, to which all four players have been subject. The policy's testing procedure should be the source of any allegation. Unless one or more of them have tested positive, they are innocent under the terms of the agreed NFL-NFLPA policy. The policy does allow for discipline if violations are found through "sufficient credible documented evidence," but unless the NFL has uncovered something more than Al-Jazeera did from a now-discredited source, it's difficult to imagine what that might be.

In this case, the NFL is asking the players to step outside the policy and answer to the allegation anyway. Ask Brady and Hargrove, both of whom denied their respective accusations from the start, how that worked out for them.

In truth, this really isn't about PEDs. Again, the NFL has a policy for that. This is another maneuver in the now-ubiquitous power struggle between the league and its players. The NFL is emboldened by its legal victory over Brady and is using the same broad authority -- as written in Article 46 of the collective bargaining agreement -- to compel participation in an otherwise out-of-policy investigation.

If you celebrated Brady's discipline, surely you realized that your team could be next. You did realize that, right?

At the moment, it's difficult to imagine the limits of the league's power. Even in a union environment, with a legal CBA in place, we might finally have reached the moment when players are subject to discipline whenever they don't do what the NFL asks of them. If you thought the relationship between the two sides was icy and too litigious already, wait until you see what's next.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Tuckdaddy

He wants to see them concerning a PED matter that a report brought them up in. How is that kissing the ring?

Is your butt hurt over Brady so great that you think employees should just ignore what the head honcho says? It's just an interview and if they don't want to they can retire.

Let me guess, OSHA sucks, the Department of Labor sucks, all labor laws suck, and the DOL, and probably the EPA too, should be abolished? Companies should be able to do what they want. They're paying you, after all....

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Jesus cuck..you are STILL whining about Brady being rightfully suspended for " lying and cheating????

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Let me guess, OSHA sucks, the Department of Labor sucks, all labor laws suck, and the DOL, and probably the EPA too, should be abolished? Companies should be able to do what they want. They're paying you, after all....

When arguing with a complete idiot, I find it best to find something else to do instead. In the end he will pull you down to his level and win with experience.

[Red Dawg]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Let me guess, OSHA sucks, the Department of Labor sucks, all labor laws suck, and the DOL, and probably the EPA too, should be abolished? Companies should be able to do what they want. They're paying you, after all....

I am not picking a side. I am talking about reality of being in the work force and how the players think that they are above what they agreed to in the CBA.

If the boss, CEO or owner wants to speak to you about an issue then you will either have the conversation, be canned or you can quit. That is life anywhere you go. Successful players have big ego's and simply don't like being treated like workers but at the end of the day, that's what they are, employees of a multi billion dollar company that will answer to the man.

Fair of unfair that is what happens and they may as well just live with it and comply because it's not going change any time soon. None of them will quit that's for sure because their ego won't allow them to go out like that.

Brady could have easily walked away on his principals. He's a legend with 4 rings no matter happened but he didn't and these guys won't either. He lost a so will they. Give the interviews and move on and unless they have a hot drug test nothing will happen. If your clean then they have nothing to fear.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Tuckdaddy

I am not picking a side. I am talking about reality of being in the work force and how the players think that they are above what they agreed to in the CBA.

If the boss, CEO or owner wants to speak to you about an issue then you will either have the conversation, be canned or you can quit. That is life anywhere you go. Successful players have big ego's and simply don't like being treated like workers but at the end of the day, that's what they are, employees of a multi billion dollar company that will answer to the man.

Fair of unfair that is what happens and they may as well just live with it and comply because it's not going change any time soon. None of them will quit that's for sure because their ego won't allow them to go out like that.

Brady could have easily walked away on his principals. He's a legend with 4 rings no matter happened but he didn't and these guys won't either. He lost a so will they. Give the interviews and move on and unless they have a hot drug test nothing will happen. If your clean then they have nothing to fear.

Yeah, that last bit is demonstrably not true.

But let's get back to what matters. Here's the thing -- the PED program is spelled out in the CBA. It contains all kinds of stuff about urine testing etc. Now, the NFL wants players to answer questions about PEDs. That's not in the CBA. They want NFL players to potentially give incriminating evidence in a way that is not in the CBA.

What if the NFL suddenly wanted players to sign affidavits, under oath, swearing that they have not taken any illegal substance since the last drug test. That ok?

Well, it shouldn't be. The CBA doesn't say anything about that. But now, under Article 46, perhaps refusal to give affirmative evidence exonerating yourself is enough to establish reasonable belief that you did take illegal substances, so now you're penalized not under the PED policy (because you didn't violate that in a way that can be established under the PED policy) but rather under Article 46.

Oh, and it's conduct detrimental, and Herr Kommmissar wants compliance, so it's an automatic one year suspension.

Done and done. Don't like it, too ****ing bad. Not in teh CBA? Too ****ing bad. That's what Herr Kommissar wants today, so that is what he shall get.

Life under Zie Kommissar.

You know what this looks to the NFLPA, which spent all that time and money negotiating a PED policy with the NFL?

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Tuckdaddy

I am not picking a side. I am talking about reality of being in the work force and how the players think that they are above what they agreed to in the CBA.

This is absolutely nonsensical. There is a long, detailed PED policy in the CBA, which doesn't include anything about having to go before anyone to disprove an allegation that was made then withdrawn.

[Mr. Laz]

Every other person in the world has to report to the bosses office when he calls or you get fired ..... period. It doesn't matter why you are called to his office, it can just be that he doesn't like you ... you go.

These sports athlete seem to think that they are too important to have a boss. The rules don't apply to them.

Everyone hates Goodell but if the teams/players would just follow the rules and defer to their boss, 99% of this shit wouldn't happen.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

Every other person in the world has to report to the bosses office when he calls or you get fired ..... period. It doesn't matter why you are called to his office, it can just be that he doesn't like you ... you go.

These sports athlete seem to think that they are too important to have a boss. The rules don't apply to them.

Everyone hates Goodell but if the teams/players would just follow the rules and defer to their boss, 99% of this shit wouldn't happen.

Ugh. You really don't understand unions do you?

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Ugh. You really don't understand unions do you?

The fact that a bunch of millionaire have a union is a ****ing joke to begin with.

Teachers need unions
factory workers need unions

Pro athletes need diapers these days.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Mr. Laz

The fact that a bunch of millionaire have a union is a ****ing joke to begin with.

Teachers need unions
factory workers need unions

Pro athletes need diapers these days.

Ugh, you really don't understand unions do you?


I guess you enjoy player holdouts and stuff. That part of the game is sooo much fun. And there would be so much more of it without the CBA. But you're too dense to get that, apparently.