15 yard penalty for the "N" word

[K-Dog]

I have a question.

What is the point of this rule?

If someone would use the n-word on the field, he is also likely to use it in the locker room, in his home or even out on the town.

I have had some pretty good seats at games, but other than the QB I have never herd or at least discerned a word any one has said on the field.

[jaege]

I would get fired if I used that word at work. Why should that be permitted while the players are "working"? They can keep their mouths clean on the field.

 

If it is because the NFL is trying to clean up the game to make it more family friendly, I could see it (don't agree, its just words but I understand that weird puritanical neo-religious thinking), but why just the one word. Why not the "F" word. Or the various other 4 letter words we are all familiar with? What is it they are trying to accomplish? Just give the refs another way to legally penalize the team that the NFL does not prefer to win? I really do not see the reason for it, considering the conduct rule that already covers this sort of thing.

[Ravenatic20]

If it is because the NFL is trying to clean up the game to make it more family friendly, I could see it (don't agree, its just words but I understand that weird puritanical neo-religious thinking), but why just the one word. Why not the "F" word. Or the various other 4 letter words we are all familiar with? What is it they are trying to accomplish? Just give the refs another way to legally penalize the team that the NFL does not prefer to win?

I agree, ban all extreme foul words (like the F bomb) or nothing at all. The league is looking to make more money by means of fines and gaining new fans from this. Personally, this is not your standard business, and on the football field guys can say whatever they want. They're all civil outside of the game and 99% of them know how to separate that.

[BloodRaven]

NFL is going to be No Foul Language pretty soon......

 

Bu..but… what kind of lawless, inhumane place would ban foul language?...

[K-Dog]

Bu..but… what kind of lawless, inhumane place would ban foul language?...

 

 

church?

*shrugs*

[Inqui]

I can see what they're trying to do - in making the league more accepting for everyone - but I'm not convinced this is the way to go about it. Leave the players to carry out (and essentially regulate) their own banter, and make sure it gets edited out of Sound FX or they don't accidentally say anything within shot of the refs' microphones (language warning). Otherwise, like someone else said, you go down a dangerous road of cutting words out arbitrarily.

 

Then again, I don't think the move will generate the political willpower to push it across the line any time soon.

[Poes Crows]

If a private league can find a way to impose Owner Embraced wage restrictions upon players that are indentured servants per the Draft.  If a league can become partially closed to Player Interests but fully supportive of Owner Interests, then a league can restrict the use of a word. 

 

Heck make the restricted word "cupcake".  Fine and discipline a player every time he calls another competitor a cupcake.  The question is will Goodell fine an owner when he has too much to drink and uses the word in public or when an owner runs into a genuine cupcake, because however one purports to restrict the usage of a word, many have used it and many still do.....there's a place in the world for a word just like you!

 

Who the heck really cares about this trivial nonsense.

[Guest Omerta]

Personally I do not think the N word or any variant there of has any place in an intelligent conversation. That being said people have the right to say whatever it is that crosses their mind. In some cases there are repercussions like yelling fire in a movie thatre but this is far from the same.

 

It is not surprising because of who our commissioner is, he is the absolute worst thing that has ever happened to football. I hate that man more than I hate the patriots ten fold, which never seems possible until Roger opens his mouth again. Once again he has taken his executive arm and decided that he needs to somehow make football more or less Rogerball where you can only play by his rules and you must micromanage every detail so that way you can pick your winners and then have it play out like that without controversy.

 

I am against the use of the word, but even more against this rule. It is not up to anyone to decide or dictate what these players can say short of something extremely egregious.

[Bltravens]

I would get fired if I used that word at work. Why should that be permitted while the players are "working"? They can keep their mouths clean on the field.

While this is true in a basic sense, what athletes say during the game in basically any sport would have most of us fired.

Theres just a certain things they can say.  We can't talk all kinds of crap to coworkers or the like.

[berad]

This isn't Goodell - everything he does is what the owners want, he's their mouthpiece. It's just a discussion at this point.

Individual franchises could impose this themselves, supposedly the Steelers did... for an afternoon lol.

Anyways, to be league-wide the owners would have to agree to it and the competition committee too if there were on-field ramifications.

[Inqui]

This isn't Goodell - everything he does is what the owners want, he's their mouthpiece. It's just a discussion at this point.

Individual franchises could impose this themselves, supposedly the Steelers did... for an afternoon lol.

Anyways, to be league-wide the owners would have to agree to it and the competition committee too if there were on-field ramifications.

I don't understand the Goodell hate. I feel like he's a scapegoat more than anything. Like you say, he speaks for the collective of the 32 owners.

 

And I agree that it would be a tough thing to implement league-wide. I don't think the idea is popular enough for that to happen.

[berad]

I don't understand the Goodell hate. I feel like he's a scapegoat more than anything. Like you say, he speaks for the collective of the 32 owners.

And I agree that it would be a tough thing to implement league-wide. I don't think the idea is popular enough for that to happen.

He is the scapegoat and punching bag. I think those responsibilities are built into his job lol. The owners like him and I heard he made over $41M last year so he isn't going anywhere.

I agree that it's unlikely to pass. We'll see.