The Bounty Gate Suspensions Actually Changed a Little

Like Forrest Gump, my momma used to tell me little nuggets of wisdom to help my get through life. I can remember her saying once not to let anything to catch me by surprise and to run faster to make sure that it didn't. Yea, unlike Forrest Gump's momma mine didn't make sense all too often.

Sense and logic are two things that are not used as often as people would like. On one hand it means that we can often be surprised by what people do, but at the same time they can shock and amaze us with their antics just as much. When it came to the Bounty-Gate suspensions no one would have surprised if Roger Goodell kept them as is. Surprise! Surprise! He actually changed them!

It's been a while since we talked about Bounty Gate so let's review. Basically there was a pool of money that was used to fund a system by which players intentionally tried to inflict injuries on players in order to earn a little extra cash.

The case was sent back to the commissioner on appeal, and on Tuesday Goodell ruled on the incident once again. As it stands right now, the suspensions are as follows:

Scott Fujita (now with the Cleveland Browns): down to 1 game from 3

Anthony Hargrove (Free Agent): down to 7 games from 8 (with five already served during the season); his final two will be served if/when he signs with another team

Jonathan Vilma: 10 games down from 16; Goodell wanted to keep it at a year, but opted to allow him Vilma to collect his game check while he's on the PUP list.

Will Smith: remains at 4

Assuming they are innocent, it would still suck to be punished for something they didn't do, but Scott Fujita and Anthony Hargrove should be pleased with the outcome. Missing games always sucks, but at least it will not be hard to finally put this mess behind them. It sucks, but what can you do sometimes?

Vilma and Smith still aren't happy and have cranked up the rhetoric once again accusing the NFL of all sorts of craziness. The NFLPA has released its statement also accusing the league of all sorts of things:

"…the NFL has ignored the facts, abused the process outlined in our collective bargaining agreement and failed to produce evidence that the players intended to injure anyone, ever. The only evidence that exists is the League's gross violation of fair due process, transparency and impartiality during this process…"

Is anyone else tired of it all? If the NFL really wants this to die down what they need to do is create a website and upload every single last shred of evidence that they have in the case. Once the general public gets a hold of it all—and assuming there is something there—the backlash to the players will be severe enough to shut them up for good.

Then again, maybe there isn't anything there; that's why we've seen so little.