NFL to penalize use of N-word, racial slurs

[MadtownPacker]

Any parent knows that as soon as you 'ban' a word you get two reactions:
1) it gets use more and more
2) If you really get punished harshly, and effectively, for using a particular word, you just come up with something else

Joemailman, you are a parsnip!

This cookie knows what he is talking about. This changes nothing.

[Fritz]

Player A: "You gosh-darn crazy negro! You pushed off!"

Player B: "Golly gosh darn, you uptight caucasians, always complaining!"

Fine them both!

[mraynrand]

This cookie knows what he is talking about. This changes nothing.

Stop acting like a total parsnip

[Guiness]

Stop acting like a total parsnip

This coming from a kapuska.

[bobblehead]

That's quite an overreaction. Sounds like they're saying NFL employees cannot use the word in their workplace. I couldn't use it in my workplace either if I wanted to.

Awesome. I think every employer should hand a list of offensive words to new hires. Words that aren't accepted. It could be amended every time a new offensive word was used at the workplace. Progressive discipline should be in place for use of words on the list. Most importantly, no one should/could be punished in any way for saying words not on the list.

[bobblehead]

Any parent knows that as soon as you 'ban' a word you get two reactions:
1) it gets use more and more
2) If you really get punished harshly, and effectively, for using a particular word, you just come up with something else

Joemailman, you are a parsnip!

As a matter of fact, I know a couple younger gentlemen that use the word "bomb" to describe african americans, and in the airport they use the N word to describe explosive devices thus avoiding using the wrong words in the wrong places. They are very sensitive to others emotional response to words.

[mraynrand]

This coming from a kapuska.

Keep it in the Kapusa thread!

[pbmax]

Awesome. I think every employer should hand a list of offensive words to new hires. Words that aren't accepted. It could be amended every time a new offensive word was used at the workplace. Progressive discipline should be in place for use of words on the list. Most importantly, no one should/could be punished in any way for saying words not on the list.

Pretty sure the necessity of handing out a list to new hires would be grounds for firing them immediately.

#BeProfessional

The NFL is still special in a lot of ways.

[Kiwon]

Hey, somebody help me out here. What's the pronunciation of "*"?

Rapper Rick Ross has produced a song that will unite us all in love and I'm trying to get the words down. Maybe the NFL will offer a pronunciation guide for * in his song.
.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..

On "Black and White," Ross raps, "Forbes dot com/I'm the Teflon Don/Too close to a ni**a as a mother**king bomb/Trayvon Martin, I'm never missing my target/B*tch n****s hating/Tell me it's what I'm parking/Wing Stop owner/Lemon pepper aroma/Young, black n***a/barely got a diploma."

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2014/02/27/Rick-Ross-defends-Trayvon-Martin-lyric-on-Mastermind/6761393556610/#ixzz2uahtk6Pa

[mraynrand]

The disconnect between the NFL under Goodell and a team like the Steelers tells you all you need to know about why Goodell struggles to implement change.

I may have misinterpreted this comment, because Rooney asked his players to lay off the music with all the N-word refs in it and they did, but only for about a week and then started up again. What point are you making here?

[pbmax]

I may have misinterpreted this comment, because Rooney asked his players to lay off the music with all the N-word refs in it and they did, but only for about a week and then started up again. What point are you making here?

Rooney went straight to the source and communicated his concern and desire. Even though it wasn't successful on this attempt, he started by going to the people he needed something from. Any subsequent action will be better received and understood by that group because of his first choice. If he truly wishes those pieces of music to stop, he may have to take more direct action, but the field he is treading is more favorable to him now because he spoke to them directly.

Rooney will reap the benefit of goodwill that Goodell will not.

EDITED TO ADD: Goodell has simply created a list (inexplicably with one word on it) and penalty. Execution is a simply, if uneven. Compliance, as you pointed out, will elude him.

Interestingly, I heard several people championing baseball as taking care of this and other problem with the unwritten rules of baseball. One of the unwritten rules of baseball is the magic word you cannot say to an ump and expect to continue to play. Of course, there is more than one word that will get you in trouble.

[mraynrand]

Rooney went to the straight to the source and communicated his concern and desire. Even though it wasn't successful on this attempt, he started by going to the people he needed something from. Any subsequent action will be better received and understood by that group because of his first choice. If he truly wishes those pieces of music to stop, he may have to take more direct action, but the field he is treading is more favorable to him now because he spoke to them directly.

Rooney will reap the benefit of goodwill that Goodell will not.

OK, and sure that's true. But Rooney also had a lot of good will built up with his players to begin with, prior to his request. Let's follow this rabbit around the tree: Players generally don't like Goodell because he's the 'enforcer' and punishes players for bad behavior and because he's seen as being in the owner's camp. Rooney of course is an owner, yet his own players respect him, so Goodell must be seen more as supporting more generally the interests of owners. But the league also sponsors these programs to help players with their money, and to prepare them for some of the risks associated with having fame and fortune as a player. But those efforts also have a corporate air about them, and the personal connection to Goodell is missing or at least weaker. So I agree with your POV and wonder if Goodell is personally distant; seems he could bridge a number of issues by making connections with a collection of more vocal, popular, and influential players. I wonder if he's a good people person and if so, if it's limited to owners and staff, being that he's been an NFL office guy almost his entire career.

[pbmax]

OK, and sure that's true. But Rooney also had a lot of good will built up with his players to begin with, prior to his request. Let's follow this rabbit around the tree: Players generally don't like Goodell because he's the 'enforcer' and punishes players for bad behavior and because he's seen as being in the owner's camp. Rooney of course is an owner, yet his own players respect him, so Goodell must be seen more as supporting more generally the interests of owners. But the league also sponsors these programs to help players with their money, and to prepare them for some of the risks associated with having fame and fortune as a player. But those efforts also have a corporate air about them, and the personal connection to Goodell is missing or at least weaker. So I agree with your POV and wonder if Goodell is personally distant; seems he could bridge a number of issues by making connections with a collection of more vocal, popular, and influential players. I wonder if he's a good people person and if so, if it's limited to owners and staff, being that he's been an NFL office guy almost his entire career.

I cannot be certain why he chooses to act as he does. The easy and flippant answer is the insult I hurl at him when he does this, that he is governing by Press Release. And I think there is a definite a piece of that to him. He does not have a history of running a large organization, but in that his background is similar to Tags.

The reason he is not trusted I think is more certain though still not detailed. He asked for and got the NFLPA to sign off on the Personal Conduct Policy, I want to say under Upshaw but perhaps not. The players seemed to think they would get a Tagliabue effort on the thing with some collaboration and there was a lot of reporting about the expectations over waiting for the legal process, hearings and adherence to precedent. The players probably believed they were gaining certainty in limiting teams ability to act unilaterally (Keyshawn and the TB Bucs).

Many of those things went out the window when the Policy was put into effect. No matter whether you agree with his efforts or not, the players felt blindsided. Goodell did not behave as his predecessors did and the NFLPA really let them down by having no escape hatch or other points of intercedence.

How he got that power is probably a story of allowing his negotiating party to believe things would remain largely status quo, consultative and work to some degree like it had in the past. So the players who OK'd this probably feel they were misled or lied to. The players who came after or were caught up in the policy (themselves, friends or teammates) probably feel its arbitrary.

I have no sympathy for the NFLPA signing off on something so one sided even after a big win in the 2006 CBA. I do think the process is ridiculously shrouded and uneven. If anyone can explain to me how Aldon Smith played the week after his trouble, I would be glad to hear it.

[mraynrand]

I see where you're coming from. If the PCP were uniformly and consistently enforced (that is, like any good 'law' and legal system, people understand it and can trust it), then they could add language rules and it might be accepted. But for any PCP to really work, you have to build it from the ground up, over a longer process, so the players actually are invested in what's going to affect them.