Some things in the world of sports have been bothering me. Mainly when an athlete gets too angry in their sport and lashes out against someone. The Commissioner of their league looks at the tape and hands down their decision of a fine. But these fines are just ridiculous for the athletes. Take for example Serena Williams and her scream fest during the US Open.
She went way out of line when she screamed at an official. We all know that. She was fined a record of $82,500 by the Grand Slam Committee. But it is just a drop in the bucket of what she makes per year. She will make around $14 million dollars this year. That is more than enough for many people who are living month to month in a house. People are going hungry in the streets and she is going to pay a fine that is bigger than some peoples homes are worth. Ridiculous.
Rasheed Wallace also got fined this past week because of comments after this play against the Toronto Raptors.
He complained that Hedo Turkoglu gets most of his calls from "flopping." But most of his comments were not directed at Turkoglu but a the NBA officials. Chris Forsberg from ESPNBoston.com quotes Wallace saying,"This game is watered down, watered down with all that flopping. They're setting rules on us to the point where you're taunting if you dunk on somebody. Paul [Pierce] dunked it and then he didn't say nothing, but it's a tech." With these comments Wallace received a $30,000 fine. Again it is just a drop in the bucket for these athletes. Wallace will be making a comfortable $5.8 million this year with the Boston Celtics.
The only way athletes will be accountable for their actions if they were to get hit big in their own pocketbooks. If I were fine a commissioner of any of these big sports leagues I would increase the fines on all of these athletes for their actions. If the fines were one, two, maybe even three million dollars, then maybe they will think twice when they act out.
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Personally I think the fine for that Wallace quote is completely horrible. He gets fined $30,000 for speaking his mind basically, and he even brought up a good point. I feel its wrong when players get fined in general for post-game comments about officiating or the league in general. Maybe the government should fine people that criticize them.
ReplyDeleteYou are right though, if you want to fine a player and make an example out of them to prevent something like that happening again, make it in the millions.
Fines don't do anything. Athletes don't learn their lessons. They are so overpaid that the fines mean nothing to them.
ReplyDeleteSerena might be in some trouble next year if she doesn't keep her emotions in check.
ReplyDeleteSammy
Serena will be just fine, she hada moment. she isnt known for her outburst or temper. and as for Sheed, this is what fine number 45900? Im not quit sure tho that this time he deserved it.
ReplyDeletegood blog. hedo flops all the time. . most players in the NBA are floppers
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure how you feel about the fines. Is it that you think its ridiculous that they get fined so little or that they make so much. Because then you bring up the fact that so many people could live in a house worth that much. Rasheed definitely should not have been fined. The NBA and NFL are way too stringent with their discipline. They go way out of line sometimes and then wonder why athletes rebel against their rules.
ReplyDeleteits funny how even with fines they still act like children. maybe time outs would be better.
ReplyDeleteI do think the fines are reasonable. Its always the same players getting fined over and over again. The only teach them a lesson would be to suspend them. That would affect the team rather than their bank account. Millions would be outrageous to fine when these leagues already make billions.
ReplyDeleteIt's true fines do not do anything or teach players a lesson, but charging them millions for their actions is not fair to the players. Instead of fining them money, just suspend them however many games or in Williams' case ban her for a year from the U.S. Open. Suspend Sheed (unpaid) 4 or 5 games. That will stop them or at the very least increase the integrity of the league.
ReplyDeletethey should have made her choose between like a 100 hours of community service of their choice or sitting out next yrs tourney, cause even a mill to someone like her is pocket change, and why are they handing this out like 5 months after it happened
ReplyDeleteRasheed... What a guy. Fines are meaningless.
ReplyDeleteAthletes, owners... fines aren't anything to them... Oh well.
ReplyDeleteso true. fines need to be bigger and more suspensions need to be handed out to at least create a chance in preventing these athletes from their outlashes.
ReplyDelete