Living: the ultimate team sport

Cup-gate

Posted on January 24, 2015 Updated on January 25, 2015

I’d like to shift the focus from footballs and their degree of inflation, to “indecent” gestures that draw fines.  In particular, let’s look at the actions of running back, Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks.  This beast of a Seahawks player has been fined twice this season – so far – for “grabbing his crotch” after making touchdowns.  Interesting.

The NFL is so hell-bent on harassing Marshawn, that in addition to fining him for not talking to the media in the manner expected of him, they’ve taken to harassing him for adjusting his cup in public.

Wait a minute, Irene.  What he did was obscene.  He touched his crotchal area and moved it up and down.

Exactly.  That’s the same crotchal gesture baseball players perform numerous times throughout the course of a game.  Think about it.  You’re watching your town’s MLB game, the television camera is directed at the pitcher as he goes through the various ministrations inherent with the position, and before he winds up in his pitching stance, he places his hand on his crotchal area to adjust his cup.  By NFL standards, that’s an indecent gesture but you don’t see MLB players being fined for trying to get comfortable in that area of their anatomy.

And why do NFL fines for crotch grabs and media silence outweigh those for other professional football faux pas, such as illegal substance use, DUI, domestic violence, and dog fighting?  Why all the focus on behaviors that don’t harm the general public? Make the fine fit the crime.

Speaking of fines vs crimes: during Seattle’s January 18th NFC Championship game, Green Bay’s Clay Matthews clocked Seattle’s quarterback, Russell Wilson.  The NFL fined him $22,050 for an illegal hit from the blindside, a hit that could have caused a concussion and a potential long-term health risk.  If Seattle’s quarterback was determined to have incurred a concussion, he would have been taken out of the game, thus seriously posing a threat to the game’s outcome.  Marshawn Lynch’s recent crotch grab cost him $20,000, an alleged indecent gesture that did nothing towards altering the outcome of the game.

But I digress.

The NFL needs to clean up their act to be sure but they need to focus on what’s really wrong with the sport instead of harmless boys-will-be-boys behavior.

But Irene, how can you characterize Marshawn Lynch’s crotch grab as a cup adjustment rather than him performing a pre-meditated grab of his package?

Let’s turn that question around.

How can you not?