NFL Ponders Implementing Baseball’s Three Strike Policy
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by user LastRow
How can strikes in a Major League Baseball game somehow be applied to the gridiron of National Football League? Then can the NFL’s "K Balls" somehow be applied to the pitchers mound throughout Major League Baseball? The odds of these things happening, well, lets just say we would have a better chance of A-Rod & Jeter going out for a nice quiet dinner alone so they can kiss and make up. As crazy as all this silliness might sound, truth be told one of these notions isn’t out of the realm of possibilities. The question would be why, for we all would know why…The issue would be how to implement it.
With all the off the field incidents that has received negative publicity compliments of their so responsible employees for the past two seasons, the most dominant sports league in this country, the NFL has drawn a black eye from all this. Thus causes the league to scratch their melons in hopes of coming up with a solution to their eye sore. Now that’s just awesome….One of the biggest sports league in the world, if not the biggest has to treat their players like they are in kindergarten and try to figure out a "Timeout Plan" for multi-million dollar children…That’s swell! What, is the "Go sit in the corner method" not working? Apparently not!
So in an effort to try and redeem control in a league that for all intensive purposes looks like it doesn’t have any, surprisingly the NFL is contemplating installing their own version of MLB’s "Three Strike & Your Out " steroid policy. Perhaps Gene Upshaw and his brass of league execs. should be consulting with Jose Canseco…If it wasn’t for him whistle blowing, baseball wouldn’t have it in the first place. Now this is a damn good idea for the NFL to consider…Only problem what would constitutes a strike? In the landscape of baseball, this kind of policy is cut and dried, it’s well done in black & white…With no gray areas. Simply put… 50 games for a first-time steroid user who tests positive, 100 games for a second-time user and a lifetime ban from baseball for anybody dumb enough to be caught a third time. You go Bud Selig…Only took Canseco lighting a fire under your ass to come up with this! I guess it’s better late than never, right?
Although Roger Goodell would rather have Smokey the Bear put that fire out that he currently finds himself sitting on. I don’t know if you would call this a proactive approach, but Goodell and his peeps should be commended somewhat for wanted to nip this in the bud…For not wanting this to continue. However, would a similar policy as the "Three Strikes" work when implementing it as really "A Good Behavior Checklist"? That’s the big question…Well, given the fact that "Behavior Policies" work so well amongst school aged children, I say, why not? All the NFL must do is just make sure they have enough smiley faces, stars, and my personal favorite, scratch & sniff stickers to go around. Although, be careful when it comes to those…Various players might begin sniffing those mistakenly thinking they’re something else! And for the players who behave extra special, they just might have the opportunity to pass out snacks for "Snack Time"…It should be noted only the professional can hand out the graham crackers! It takes a talented person to break them on the lines!
What would be deemed a strike under this policy if the NFL decided to follow in MLB footsteps? In relating this form of policy to steroids in baseball, all that’s needed to receive a strike next to your name is a positive steroids test result…Just hopefully nobody contaminated it, isn’t that right Floyd Landis. Okay, so if an NFL player gets charged with rape…I would say that would be a strike against him. Although what if he’s only accused of rape like Kobe Bryant only to have the charges later dropped…What is that considered then? Remember Ray Lewis and that whole murder thingy, which he was found to be in the wrong place at the wrong time…Would that count as a strike? Would a DUI be considered a strike? I can go on and on. Here’s one…How many strikes would Michael Irvin have against him then? Ricky Williams? O.J. Simpson? Tank Johnson?
Unfortunately, unlike their colleagues in Major League Baseball, the NFL has no way of being proactive in trying to solve these little problems with a select few of its athletes trying to give the league a "thugish" perception…At times giving it the University of Miami label. For the most part the NFL athlete is the most highly thought of professional athlete around…Just too bad a few, out of control knuckleheads who never graduated from kindergarten and for whatever reason tends to put themselves in unfavorable situations, is becoming the face of the league. See there David Stern, your league isn’t so bad after all!
While the NFL realizes it has a public relations nightmare on its hands they’re trying to take the necessary measures to uphold the integrity of its league to shed their black eye. While the "Three Strike" rule may be difficult to implement, in their case due to the various language that can be involved and the interruption of it, they seem to be heading in the right direction with it…Now just stay the course! For once again we see why the National Football is the biggest & best league in this country…For they don’t just sit on their asses & twiddle their thumbs!
