The following newspaper article was written by Barry Wilner, of the Associated Press, and the piece was published in the Albuquerque Journal on Tuesday April 10, 2012.  The headline reads as follows;

"Saints' Suspensions Upheld"

The sub-title reads;

"Goodell Now Turns To Players Involved"

"NEW YORK;  Roger Goodell sent a message to every coach and player in the NFL;  safety first! 

The NFL commissioner stuck with his punishment for New Orleans' pay-for-pain bounties on Monday (4-9-12), rejecting Saints coach Sean Payton's appeal of an unprecented season-long suspension.  A league investigation found that, under Payton's watch, an assistant ran a program offering cash payments for hits that knocked targeted opponents out of games or hurt them so badly they needed help getting to the sidelines.

Next on Goodell's agenda:  discipline for players involved in the bounty program that began in 2009, the season the Saints won the Super Bowl.  Given recent history, at least some of those penalties are likely to be tough, too. 

The Saints case represents perhaps the starkest example yet of the sea that the NFL has undergone since medical research and media reports on the long-term damage suffered by football players to gain attention. 

As recently as October 2009, while testifying before Congress, Goodell did not acknowledge a link between head injuries on the field and brain diseases later in life.  And hundreds of NFL retirees are now suing the League for health problems they say began with their playing careers.   

Yet the league has taken a series of steps to better protect players in the past couple of years, and just last month expanded the definition of 'defenseless players' who may not be hit in the head or neck and cannot be hit by someone leading with a helmet. 

While NFL veterans say off-the-books incentives have been around for years, and some current players claim tough talk about hitting opponents where they are injured happens in locker rooms throughout the league, Goodell responded to the Saints case by handling out stern penalties. 

In addition to upholding Payton's suspension, which begins next Monday and runs through the Super Bowl February 2013...by coincidence....in New Orleans...Goodell also affirmed suspensions of eight games for Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and six games for assistant head coach Joe Vitt.  He also kept in place a $500,000 fine for the franchise and the loss of draft picks this year and next. 

Loomis, who along with the team, declined comment, and Vitt begin their suspensions after the preseason ends.  Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who left the Saints in Januray to join the St. Louis Rams, ran the bounty program and has been suspended indefinitely.  He did not appeal. 

Suspensions for New Orleans players who participated in the bounty pool could be coming within days.  The NFL has said as many as 27 players also could be sanctioned in the scandal.  That might include former Saints defensive regulars who have signed elsewhere.

The league's investigation found that Williams' bounty system, which ran from 2009 through 2011, offered cash payments of $1,500 for 'knockouts,' in which an opposing player was knocked out of a game, or $1,000 for 'cart-offs,' in which an opponent needed help off the field.  The league has said the bounty pool grew as large as $50,000. 

END OF ARTICLE;

No matter how you slice it, this is a  DISGRACE for the NFL.  My days of watching these over-paid millionairs has come to an end! 

One of the STUPIDS in all this, is Peyton Manning, who has had three neck surgeries, and continues to play.  This guy is a multi-millionaire, and doesn't need the money...so he must be playing just out a big fat EGO! SHAME!   And, who are the real STUPIDS in all this?  The fans who pay these disgraceful ticket prices...another SHAME! 

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Copyright; 2012; Jerry Aragon; The Humor Doctor