Ferguson says he accepts Darius’ apology
It’s difficult to imagine the mindset of any official of the National Football League who would allow headhunting to occur on the football field. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Gene Washington, the NFL’s chief disciplinarian, has done. You can argue that a $75,000 fine is substantial, and I suppose it is…unless you’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. I do not know how much Donovan Darius makes (nor do I particularly care), so 75k may or may not be a significant chunk of his income. What I cannot understand is why Darius was not suspended. Indepedent of whether or not Robert Ferguson has made peace with Darius is the message that is sent when Darius is not even suspended for an assault that temporarily paralyzed Ferguson.
NEW YORK — Jacksonville safety Donovin Darius was fined $75,000 by the NFL on Tuesday for a hit across the neck of Green Bay’s Robert Ferguson that left the wide receiver temporarily paralyzed….
Ferguson caught a pass over the middle, and Darius hit him across the helmet and neck with a forearm. Ferguson lay on the ground and was taken off the field, regaining feeling in his legs later, after he was hospitalized.
He was released from the hospital Tuesday and is officially listed as out for Friday’s game against Minnesota with head and neck injuries.
Ferguson said in an interview with Houston television station KRIV that he thought the league took the appropriate action in imposing the fine.
“I think the league definitely had to step up and do something in that situation,” Ferguson said. “That’s a tackle that’s been outlawed for awhile.”
Ferguson said he didn’t think Darius meant to hurt him.
“It was definitely an illegal hit but I don’t think he did it on purpose, though.”
Granted, violence is part and parcel of the game of football. What too many players lose sight of, though, is the fine line between clean, physical play and outright thuggery. Darius went well over that line. Argue if you must Darius’ intent, or lack thereof, but you simply cannot “clothesline” a player at full speed and expect the hit to provoke no reaction.
To me, the fact that Darius was not suspended is an indication that the NFL really doesn’t take this sort of gratuitous violence seriously. Is it going to take another Darryl Stingley to shake up the NFL’s power structure? Is someone going to have to die?
If this were the National Hockey League that we were talking about, pundits nationwide would be heavily engaged in paroxysms of righteous indignation over the assault. Todd Bertuzzi has been demonized, and justifiably so, for assaulting Colorado’s Steve Moore and driving his head into the ice, likely ending Moore’s career. If it will land you in prison outside the arena or the playing field, it has no business between the lines.
There is no place in the NFL, or any other sport, for this sort of behavior. If an assault that would draw jail time in the real world is soft-pedalled when it occurs between the lines, what does that say about us as a society? That there is a time and place for brutal, senseless violence- and it’s on the playing field? That temporarily paralyzing a player is merely a cost of doing business?
At the very least, Donovan Darius should be suspended for the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs. Ferguson was temporarily paralyzed; what if his paralysis were permanent? I realize that it can be difficult to draw a line in the sand when it comes to violence in an exceedingly violent game. Still, throwing a forearm into another player’s neck at full speed clearly should be held to cross whatever line one may draw.
Darius has displayed no history of thuggery during his NFL career. Nonetheless, can the league afford to send the implicit message that paralyzing a player, even if only temporarily, is an accepted part of the game? Will a player have to die or be permanently paralyzed before this issue is taken seriously by the NFL? Let’s hope not.
This “punishment” is a mockery, and it sends the clear message that the safety and well-being of Robert Ferguson is a distant second to the game’s entertainment value.
Well, you have my entire empathy.
'Cause on this one, Northstar, you're spittin' into the wind. I can say that 'cause I know, 'cause I've been doing it for years. (Mike Haynes carried off the field on a stretcher in '84 ... before that, the ref hit in the head with the bottle at the Cowboys game ...)
Football is (loosely) organized mayhem; arguably, it's nearer the true National Religion of the USA than Christianity. Heaven knows we glorify everything about it out of all reason, especially the violence.
Darius' hit was judged an 'accident' according to the ESPN2 news I saw an hour ago; some of the commentators there thought the fine was excessive in the circs. (Which leaves me going, Whiskey Tango FOXTROT ... but that's another rant.) It was their consensus he'd misjudged an attempt to swipe the ball, and Ferguson had 'run into' the hooked arm. (Yeah, right ... and John Lennon just happened to run out in front of that bullet ...)
But in point of fact Darius isn't known for this kind of WWF-imitation stunt. Whether he modifies his performance in the future will determine how effective the 'punishment' in question proves, I guess; meanwhile the ESPN football pundits are saying, "twenty five thousand, I could see, but this is way excessive ..."
They were more heated up about Cody Pennington's "undeserved lecture" to the media on "how we should interview him ... that's an argument you can't win. There's no upside to this for you, Cody."
That gives me hope. Eventually maybe the great mass of mesmerized fans will decide either that the games themselves have lost all meaning (Jerry Jones is the poster boy for this IMHO) or that the commentators have lost all touch with reality, or maybe both ... and something else will replace the NFL as our national obsession.
Sadly, I doubt it'll be anything requiring thought or interaction on the part of its fans.
It certainly looked to me like he intended to hit him the way he did.
Maybe he didn't, maybe he did. He's the only one that know his intent. But damn, it looked as dirty as that guy who elbowed Tab Ramos in the face years ago during the World Cup.
Blatant, intentional and without any regard for the guy being injured.
He should have been suspended.