A Bounty on the Field

In early 2011, following an epic season on the field, the New Orleans Saints walked away as the NFL Champions. They defeated a host of good NFC teams — including Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals and Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings — to get to the Super Bowl, where they bested Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. It was a crowning achievement for the team, for its players, and for a city that had endured so much heartache.

A little more than two years later, it's hard not to see that shinning moment of glory as tainted. It's not tainted because they won, but rather because of the goals, practices, and standards put in place by coaches and those within the organization. The Saints, in short, played dirty, and the revelation of that dirty play can't help but color the way you look at those games and that success.

That is what I have come to believe after nearly a week of listening to the story of the Saints' bounty for hits and injuries that has been discussed. At first, when I heard of the bounty system I didn't know what to think. It seemed easy to believe, and it was hard to understand some of the cries that Sean Peyton, Saints head coach, should be fired.

But then more details began to pour in. Not only did Peyton know what was happening, he allowed it to happen. He allowed one of his assistants to put into place a system that offered monetary rewards to players that were able to injure opponents. That's the NFL equivalent of ordering a hit. It's a repugnant practice that diminishes the spirit of the game — especially in an era where player safety and the damaging effects of playing this brutal, contact sport are becoming more of an issue.

There are certain things in sports that, though they draw fans, are not really what sports are about. People that watch hockey for the fights, people that watch auto racing for the crashes, and people that watch football for the injuries aren't really fans of the sport, they are fans of spectacle. Major injuries, crashes, and fights are spectacle that detract from the competition. They are an accepted risk associated with the game, but they should not be the focus. A bounty system changes that focus.

I fondly remember the Saints' Super Bowl title. I loved watching those games leading up to the Super Bowl, and I was excited for the team and the city when they won. But I can't help but think, given this new information, that victory is a little bit tainted.

Football is a beautiful, complicated, and sometimes violent sport. It requires a lot to earn a victory. But when that victory comes as the result of an illegal and immoral bounty program, there is no place for celebration, and certainly no honor.