Bountygate, a not so funny look back

The N.F.L.’s last bounty scandal of note did not provoke outrage or condemnation. It did not result in fines or suspensions. The accused perpetrators showed no remorse. The only person to receive any penalty was the victim.

Mostly, the incident was played for laughs.

There had been bad blood between Buddy Ryan’s Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys since 1987, when the Cowboys sent their stars onto the field against Philadelphia’s overmatched replacement players during the strike. The feud intensified in 1989 when Ryan released kicker Luis Zendejas after a string of poor games, and Zendejas criticized Ryan before signing with Dallas.

After Zendejas kicked off to start the third quarter of the Eagles’ 27-0 victory over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving that year, Jessie Small, a 239-pound linebacker for the Eagles, ignored his usual blocking assignment and raced across the field toward the 175-pound Zendejas. The kicker crumpled in self-defense, his helmet colliding with Small’s ankle.

The referees, dutifully enforcing the letter of the rulebook, flagged Zendejas for a low block. He stumbled to his feet with what was later diagnosed as a concussion. Small was not penalized.

After the game, Cowboys Coach Jimmy Johnson accused the Eagles of putting a price on Zendejas’s head.

“We were told last night by a coach, and it is confirmed by two different players: there is a $200 bounty on Luis Zendejas, a $500 bounty on Troy Aikman,” Johnson said in his postgame news conference.

Livid, Johnson also took a shot at Ryan.

“I would have said something to Buddy, but he wouldn’t stand on the field long enough,” Johnson said. “He put his big fat rear end into the dressing room.”

Ryan, one of the game’s more colorful personalities, called the bounty allegations excuses and “High School Charlie stuff.”

He added of Johnson’s “fat” comment: “I resent that. I’ve been on a diet, lost a couple of pounds. I thought I was looking good.”

Ryan was not the only one who found humor in the unsportsmanlike hit. “The NFL Today,” the pregame show on CBS, devoted a long segment the next week to what became known as the Bounty Bowl. The host, Brent Musburger, chuckled at Ryan’s remarks. “Oh, the rips you can make in 30 seconds,” he said. Irv Cross asserted that the Eagles had a reward system for big plays, not a bounty system. “What they are is aggressive and arrogant,” he said.

“What they are is in trouble,” their “NFL Today” colleague Will McDonough added, noting that players were not allowed to receive noncontractual money from a team.

Finally, Chicago Coach Mike Ditka, who had a checkered history with Ryan, the Bears’ defensive coordinator when they won the Super Bowl in 1986, added a dollop of sarcasm during a satellite interview. “That would seem much too constructive for him to think of anything like that,” Ditka said of Ryan.

Set aside the humor, however, and there are many parallels between the Bounty Bowl and the current scandal which led to the suspensions of Gregg Williams, Sean Payton and other coaches and executives for the New Orleans Saints, punishments that were upheld this week after an appeal to Commissioner Roger Goodell.

In both instances, there were initial denials and dismissals by players that it was all “part of the game.” Some tried to make distinctions between “big-play bonuses” and bounties. There was even a tape: Zendejas claimed to have recorded a telephone conversation in which the Eagles’ special teams coach, Al Roberts, warned him of the bounty in the week leading up to the game.

The N.F.L. looked into the matter, though not as zealously as it pursued the Saints scandal.

“Calling it an investigation would be overstating it,” said the Hall of Fame sportswriter Ray Didinger, who covered the Eagles for The Philadelphia Daily News and now writes for CSNPhilly.com. “It was more of an inquiry.”

The N.F.L.’s security chief met with Ryan, Roberts and several Eagles players but found no evidence of wrongdoing.

“After a thorough review of all information available to the league, Commissioner Tagliabue has concluded that there is no proof that ‘bounties’ were placed on any Dallas Cowboy player by the Philadelphia Eagles,” the N.F.L. said in a statement, referring to Paul Tagliabue. “Nor is there convincing evidence of an intent to injure any Cowboys’ player or to make contact with any player outside the rules of the game.”

Ryan reacted in typical fashion: he demanded an apology from Johnson.

The commissioner’s ruling came just days before a rematch between the teams in Philadelphia. The game was called Bounty Bowl II. “The NFL Today” promoted the game with on-screen “wanted” posters of players. Tagliabue attended the game. Small and Zendejas played.

The Eagles’ 20-10 victory passed without incident between the teams, but Philadelphia fans pelted Johnson and everyone else they could reach with snowballs. The television commentators Verne Lundquist and Terry Bradshaw endured a barrage inside their open-air broadcast booth.

“I got to tell you what a joy it is to come here to Philadelphia to dodge ice balls,” Lundquist said in the telecast’s final seconds.

Didinger never found any clear evidence of a bounty system, but he is convinced that Small was acting on Ryan’s wishes, whether they were stated or implied, and was compensated with money or simply the coach’s favor.

“Looking at the film of the play, there is no other logical explanation,” he said. “Somebody put this idea in Jessie Small’s head.”

Didinger also believes that Johnson’s allegations would have been taken more seriously at the time were it not for the personalities involved: the blustery Johnson, the smart-alecky Ryan and a tiny journeyman kicker in Zendejas.

“There was a slapstick element to it,” Didinger said, noting that the incident might not have been brushed aside so quickly if a star like Joe Montana or Phil Simms were involved.

Attitudes have changed, and teams, the news media and fans take excessive roughness much more seriously than they did 23 years ago. That is a reflection of the league’s emphasis on safety issues and the awareness that the deaths of some former players have been linked to injuries sustained on the field. They include Andre Waters — Ryan’s favorite enforcer, who was on the field for the Bounty Bowls.

“To a large degree, it was laughed off,” Didinger said of the Bounty Bowls. “No one is laughing now.”

(source New York Times)

Posted by Necesitamos Mas Football on 11:02 a. m.. Filed under Bountygate , Gregg Williams , noticias . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0