Now that former all-star and respected CFL observer Adriano Belli (and two other unnamed CFL players) have confirmed what many fans suspected concerning bounties in the CFL, what is the league and its commissioner going to do about it?
All part of the game, you go too far and you get a penalty. It's football, you try and hit hard, always nice leaving an extra sized bruise, nothing wrong with that and admitting it. Our coach in high school used to like to teach gang tackling. Part of the game. Now if you said you want to blow the guy's knee out with an illegal block, that's different, you don't go around saying that sort of stuff.
I read Dan Ralph's article this morning and found it intriguing. Frankly, I don't know of what positive
steps the CFL might take to eliminate bounties. I suppose they could levy some heavy fines or suspend
players but bounties, IMO, are usually done on the sly and unbeknownst to others.
Its not like a team will call in the media to announce their intentions when they decide to go head hunting.
I think bounties are fine, and even encouraged maybe, as long as the intention is simply to put a good lick on the other guy within the rules. If you know he has a bruised shoulder and you have a chance to clock him on the shoulder, you do it solidly with no hesitation and hopefully he has to go out of the game and can't return but in no way is it intent to maim someone. There is a fine line but if a guy plays dirty, you have a bounty to see he gets back equal what he deserves.
QB's are there to be hit and as hard as you can within the rules. If I'm coaching and the players want to place a bet who knocks the qb out of the game first, fine, but if they are doing it with illegal intentions and cost my team, they sit. Belli was problematic in that area.
Any player's salary is just another word for bounty. Or surely things like contract bonuses for things like sacks are bounties. As long as they aren't playing to injure opponents, it's fine by me.