Friday, March 2, 2012

New Orleans Saints: Criminals

From ESPN:New Orleans Saints players and at least one assistant coach maintained a bounty pool of up to $50,000 the last three seasons to reward game-ending injuries inflicted on opposing players, including Brett Favre and Kurt Warner, the NFL said Friday. "Knockouts" were worth $1,500 and "cart-offs" $1,000, with payments doubled or tripled for the playoffs.
The NFL said the pool amounts reached their height of $50,000 or more in 2009, the year the Saints won the Super Bowl.
 The league said between 22 and 27 defensive players were involved in the program and that it was administered by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, with the knowledge of coach Sean Payton.
The investigation by the league's security department determined that an improper "pay for performance" program included "bounty" payments to players for inflicting injuries on opposing players that would result in them being removed from a game.
In some cases, the amounts pledged were both significant and directed against a specific opposing player, according to the league's investigation. Four former Redskins players, including defensive end Phillip Daniels, told The Washington Post that Williams had a similar system while serving as the Redskins' defensive coordinator.
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis failed to stop the bounty program when directed to do so by team owner Tom Benson, while Payton was aware of the allegations but did not pursue them or take steps to stop the "bounty" program, according to the investigation's findings. 
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7638603/new-orleans-saints-defense-had-bounty-program-nfl-says
If people who were not football players did this, they would be charged and probably spend years in prison.  But if you are a football player, you  may get away with it.
We will see if a District Attorney is brave enough to bring charges.

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