Mark Schlereth Calls The NFL's Policy On Late Hits And Treatment Of Ex-Players, "Garbage"

Thursday, October 16, 2008

It's extremely rare that you hear any analyst go off on a league in any fashion, let alone calling an entity, "garbage." But that's exactly what ESPN's Mark Schlereth did this afternoon on Sports Center. The topic of discussion was Troy Polamulu's comments about the NFL's fine on hitting, and after agreeing with him, Schlereth slowly starts to lose his cool a bit....



He's absolutely right and I'm proud that at least someone at ESPN has the balls to stand up to a league that most people just bow down to. It's also wonderful that an ex-athlete is actually putting his current situation, with his former employer, out in the open like that. Good for you, Stink. Hopefully you won't be come down upon too hard for talking bad about the most powerful league out there.

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 4:19 PM

30 Comments:

That's great! And absolutely correct. The NFL trying to have their cake and eat it too.

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 4:45:00 PM  

I hope Stink doesn't lose his Sears Commercial over this, the NFL can't handle the truth, they create their own!

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 4:53:00 PM  

A-fucking-men. Good for him, Polamulu and Hines Wald. The commissioner and the people around him are a shady group who are seemingly becoming more and more brash yet secretive with the power they have. It's high time to knock them down a peg. Let 'em play, god dammit! And take care of the vets.

Flip Washington said...
Oct 16, 2008, 5:07:00 PM  

If I were Stink, I would be very careful after making this statement; Goodall is likely to have his goons take him out.

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 5:34:00 PM  

Nobody messes with Rock Hoover.

GMoney said...
Oct 16, 2008, 5:42:00 PM  

Dammit, I wonder how he feels about Sears.

the NFL put a price tag on hits, which makes them more attractive, as in "I hit you for 10 grand, you hit me harder for 20, then I'll go at you for 30." It seems to me that there are fines for every player for every game, from what the Steelers got fined for.

But Goodell knows this, he is the smartest fucking man in America.

That guy is such a smug prick. He's more concerned with Mexican heritage Month.

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 5:50:00 PM  

Hollywood, let's not forget the brilliant idea of taking a home game from the Saints so they can play a regular season game in London. That's a crock of shit.

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 6:35:00 PM  

I've seen helmet-to-helmet hits that didn't draw a penalty flag. I've ssen borderline horsecollar tackles that weren't flagged. Weren't the zebras ordered to throw the flag on such plays?

Not to mention blown calls in the Cowboys-Cardinals game. The infamous "tuck rule" instead of a fumble-recovery TD ... Cards flagged for offside when a player was injured ...

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 7:02:00 PM  

The idiot Goodell has his officals calling more penalties, I have to believe this, it sure seems that way.

Now, if you're asking these old guys to referee an already fast game a lot closer, that is more and more chaotic every week, they are going to have to start fucking guessing.

But Goodell, the genius Boy Wonder, obviously knows this.

Now let's make sure the ref calls the penalties in Spanish as well as fucking English.

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 7:11:00 PM  

Good stuff. . .

Have you ever watched a retired NFL player at a signing or golf tournament or other event? They are often so wracked with pain and stiffness and arthritis that it seems as if that 45-year old guy is 80. The life expectancy for an NFL player is greatly reduced.

So every Sunday, when you sit down to watch a game, understand that you're supporting an industry that allows these guys to destroy the rest of their lives, all for your enjoyment.

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 7:12:00 PM  

Terry Bradshaw had a similar statement about the treatment of ex players on the FOX show this past Sunday too

Mark B said...
Oct 16, 2008, 8:08:00 PM  

Good for you Stink. Gooddell is a smart man and would not be where he is if he wasnt. He has a foxy wife (Jane Skinner at Fox News) and is legislating from the bench.
My thought is that the refs are the scarlet letter in the league right now. They cant handle the speed and impact. We need full time, young athletic refs.
Name me another company that treats their ex employers any different?

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 9:06:00 PM  

I think that the NFL's "protecting the players from injury" is more about the NFL's interests more than the players safety.

And about suspensions, when the next CBA is negotiated, the NFLPA needs to get a diciplinary system in it, where Goodell can't just arbitrarily decide "you're suspended for a year" and you have no way to appeal. Other than to the Commissioner, who's not going to revese his own punishment.

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 9:24:00 PM  

WAR Schlereth!!!

Excellent point with the NFL shop reference.

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 9:35:00 PM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Oct 16, 2008, 9:57:00 PM  

With all of his bluster and "zero tolerance policies," I thought Commissioner Goodell only shits golden eggs and pisses silver Patron.

Oct 16, 2008, 9:59:00 PM  

Ditka's crusade last year has emboldened ex-players, who, ironically, stand beyond the reach of Goodell's demagoguery. I will not be surprised to see more and more ex-players begin to take a stand against the league.

Anonymous said...
Oct 16, 2008, 10:22:00 PM  

I'm a little disappointed with the disparity in punishment Goodell hands out to racially different players. How has Nick Kaczur not been suspended? If Pacman got busted with OxyContin, Goodell would burn his house down.

Scott said...
Oct 16, 2008, 10:48:00 PM  

Jeff Delaney, former Pitt star and LA Ram lived near me when I was a kid.

He gave a talk at my grade school and this was after he left the NFL, and he said he had bad arthritis in both shoulders, knees etc. He told us not to bother thinking about the NFL, it wasn't worth it.

And really, those guys back then didn't make that much, they really don't make much now, especially when you consider career lifespan and how much they work compared to baseball players. They might not play in games, but those practices always seem to fuck someone up. So many "modern" football guys are such assholes that I don't exactly feel sorry for them.

"Griddell" is sitting on a time bomb.

If the NFL is around in 100, 300 years, it could end up having to shell out a lot of cash to a lot of players and families if they are successful at getting compensation.

E Buzz said...
Oct 17, 2008, 7:41:00 AM  

Maybe if Schlereth's employer ESPN stopped showing vicious hits over and over and over and over again, they might actually decrease. Maybe more players would be more concerned with making a smart football play then making a hit that will get them some screen time on the 4-letter network.

Rick Rottman said...
Oct 17, 2008, 9:28:00 AM  

Um, ESPN is a total talking head for player interests. Unless you focus on harping on individual players like Pacman Jones, basically they are just one big talking point for pro-player analysis and news. So I don't see anything unique here. Plus, his position is just stupid - the league needs to fine malicious hits more severely and get rid of the life-altering thugs that have a choice on how to tackle and end up making WRs and QBs dumber for the rest of their lives.

Anonymous said...
Oct 17, 2008, 9:36:00 AM  

Stink just went off again on M&M this AM

Anonymous said...
Oct 17, 2008, 9:51:00 AM  

why should Stink get credit for saying this? I'm not even sure what his point was in all of that rambling. what is the problem with trying to cut down the dirty hits but selling a highlight video of the clean hits? players in the NFL, and other sports for that matter, keep getting bigger and stronger over time. sure, the NFL has always been a violent game, but the force that these guys hit with today is often dangerous. players can keep building up their muscles, but they can't build up strength in their heads, bones, and ligaments. do you mean to tell me that the NFL shouldn't have fined the DB who hit Boldin in the helmet? maybe I'm imagining things, but that hit appeared much more violent that any hit Ronnie Lott ever put on anybody. In my opinion, the guys are just too big and strong nowadays to let them take dangerous hits that are likely to injure someone.

Anonymous said...
Oct 17, 2008, 10:58:00 AM  

Mike Webster played around 250. The guys playing line today are a hundred pounds heavier.

That's nuts.

E Buzz said...
Oct 17, 2008, 11:13:00 AM  

Any man with hair as long as Polamalu's has no business calling anybody or anything else "pansy".

Anonymous said...
Oct 17, 2008, 2:34:00 PM  

Wow...thank god for mark shlereth..A-Fuckinh holes the NFL is....hypocrisy and money

Anonymous said...
Oct 17, 2008, 11:10:00 PM  

Anon 10:58:"what is the problem with trying to cut down the dirty hits but selling a highlight video of the clean hits?"

How do you know they're all "clean"? I'd wager that at least 25% of any hits from the last 10 years on that video were fined by the League the next week.

Anonymous said...
Oct 18, 2008, 12:19:00 AM  

Phil Mushnick has pointed this out for years. And here's something you never see:Ravens CB Corey Ivy when told noted cheap shot artist H Ward was fined for a hit on Ivy "That's BS. He should appeal. This is a contact sport isn't it?"

Anonymous said...
Oct 18, 2008, 4:29:00 PM  

More amazing: He made it through the whole segment without ONCE referencing the Broncos. That's a first for Mark.

J said...
Oct 18, 2008, 7:04:00 PM  

the late hit calls on the quaterback suxs because if u go full speed and hit them. they expected u to stopped and its hard to stop going full speed.

Anonymous said...
Nov 16, 2008, 6:30:00 PM  

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