By LeRoy McConnell

First thing we learn when playing the game of football is to put your head on a swivel and when a player chooses not to, that’s his A$$!  Adrian Peterson has the NFL rushing record of 296 yards in a single game against the San Diego Chargers.  I bet there were Chargers players, coaches, and fans making a vow  to each other to get this Mutha (SHUT YO MOUTH) out of there!  Tom Brady threw for 517 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first game this past season in Miami!  How embarrassed were the players and coaching staff after an ass whooping they’d received in front of all their fans on Monday Night Football?

Breathtaking highlights happen while competing in football from week to week.  We watch unique players on offense, from pee-wee football all the way up to the professional level, trying to embarrass the opposition.  We watch hot-dogging, show-boating, and other celebrations when a touchdown happens.  It is part of the game and that is one of the reasons why football is so popular today.  The other reason why football is so popular, it’s a physically demanding game. 

I am in disbelief at several football analysts and radio sports jockeys we listen to who have never played the sport criticize how horrible it is to have a BOUNTY on a player.  ARE YOU F’N KIDDING ME?  A BOUNTY, FOR REAL, SERIOUSLY?!?!  There have been BOUNTIES on football players since the game began.

Lets define the word BOUNTY.  The definition of BOUNTY is a gift or a reward, something freely provided.

High school and college football use some sort of a mascot sticker (a reward) usually given out on Monday for outstanding plays that occurred in the past game.  In professional football there are no STICKERS given out; but there are motivational tactics for succeeding.  Now what would be an incentive to blast the upcoming opponent’s top player whether it be the quarterback, running back, or receiver?  Could it be money?  Well if so, then what is the problem?  

Football players receive a playbook each week, and in that book coaches put on a sermon about certain ball players that need to be stopped.  This is where the BOUNTY begins.  Coaches may practice a play fifteen times until a play is right.  If the opposing team has an offensive or defensive stud that is a threat to a possible victory, then we might need to take his A$$ out! 

America… Are you really shocked that a BOUNTY system exists in the NFL?  Do you know what these NFL players do for a living?  THEY HIT FOR PAYCHECKS!  Is the NFL going soft on us once again?  I shell out a few hundred bucks each year for the NFL Sunday Ticket on Directv, purposely to watch smash-mouth football.  I pay to see some of the best performers run, catch, and throw touchdowns.  As a defensive minded guy, I want to see blood making the grass grow from a pulverizing blow from a James Harrison quarterback sack on Colt McCoy or a TKO by Donte Whitner on Pierre Thomas.  MAN DOWN!  Down goes Thomas! 

Brett Favre was quoted the other day as saying “I’ve always been friends with Darren Sharper, and he came in a couple times and popped me hard.  I remember saying, ‘What the hell you doing, Sharp?’  I felt there should have been more calls against the Saints.  I thought some of their guys should have been fined more.”  Players are trying to win by any means, if you are the best player then you are public enemy #1.

The game of football is the best sport in America,  our modern day “Clash of the Titans”.  With that said, I am tickled by all of these non-athletic “media experts” astounded by what went on in New Orleans.  There are media types that think Gregg Williams and Sean Payton should receive a lifetime banishment from the NFL for allowing a BOUNTY pot to go on.  Last I checked, football players wear protective gear from head to toe.  NFL referees are responsible for protecting players, and if there are illegal hits, the league does not have a problem handing out  fines and suspensions.

Football is a contact sport better known as legalized violence at any level.  Its popularity comes from being able to knock the snot out of the opposing players.  At anytime a player can literally hit somebody as hard as they possibly can and fans in the stand will jump up and down cheering for that exclamation point. 

You can take the money out of the equation all you want, but the BOUNTY will still exist.  They will just call it a TARGET!  The Indianapolis Colts won ten games, 11 out of 12 years.  Last year they were 2-14.  You don’t believe Peyton Manning thinks he was a TARGET?  The last time I checked, in 2010 the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl using the BOUNTY system. 

In the words of Herm Edwards, “YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME”!

LeRoy McConnell III of A Fan’s Point of View, for War Room Sports