The No Fun League is no fun

By Jeff Christian

Published: October 18, 2008

The NFL (No Fun League) is at it again and hitting player’s wallets pretty hard.
Just this week the NFL has fined St. Louis offensive lineman Richie Incognito $35,000, Miami linebacker Joey Porter $20,000, Denver cornerback Dre Bly $20,000 and Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher $20,000 — all in just one week.
St. Louis’ Incognito deserved his fine, there is no doubt about that. He took ignorance to a whole new level Sunday in the Rams’ 19-17 win over the Washington Redskins.
He was fined $25,000 for repeated verbal abuse of a game official, $5,000 for a major facemask and $5,000 for a chop block.
But here is where the problem comes in, as Porter, Bly and Urlacher were fined $20,000 each because they were complaining about officiating. Bad officiating.
Porter was fined due to critical comments made about referee Ed Hochuli — what? Is this like the fourth week in a row for this crew?
During Sunday’s last-minute loss to Houston, Miami’s Porter stripped Houston quarterback Matt Schaub of the football on the very first play of the drive.
The Dolphins recovered, but Hochuli ruled Schaub’s arm was moving forward. It was very clear due to replay that both arms were in the grap of Porter and it should have been ruled a fumble.
Bly’s comments came after Denver lost to Jacksonville on Sunday on a variety of calls — two of which were questionable pass interference calls on the Broncos defense.
And Urlacher didn’t wait for the post-game press conference, he started his referee bashing right on the field and again, the player was correct.
NFL Commissioner Roger Gadell is just not cutting it.
Players are being held back and are not being allowed to go out and do their jobs in fear of being fined by the league on Monday morning.
Hines Ward, wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has been fined twice this season for aggressive hits while blocking — neither block received a flag during the game.
However, the NFL felt it needed to fine Ward, which makes no sense.
Football is a brutal game.
Dick Butkus, Ronnie Lott, Jack Tatum, Mean Joe Green. Remember theses guys?
They would take your head off and hand it to you on a platter and the NFL would do nothing about it.
Why can’t we go back to that style of play?
Quarterback’s are wearing dresses and defenders aren’t allowed to hit anyone with any force.
And don’t get me started about end zone celebrations — the No Fun League won’t allow that either, or someone will be fined.
We want to be entertained by the players of the National Football League, not by the officials. And when they make a mistake, players and coaches should be able to comment on it — and without a fine.
Jeff Christian is the assistant sports editor of the News & Messenger. He can be reached at