A Story to Remember and Forget: The "Bounty Scandal"

One of the most, if not the most intriguing stories within the past half decade, was the controversy surrounding the New Orleans Saints football organization regarding the investigation called the “Bounty” program. This has long been throughout the history of the sport in general. The sports is known for its violence and hard-hitting tactics the inflict punishment on the opposing teams best player.

 According to Larry Holder of the New Orleans Times, at the beginning of the 2012, Saints Head Coach was suspended from the N.F.L for a full season and eight months without pay. This is the direct result from allowing an actual form of “Recognition” and payment to players who forcefully inflicted additional punishment to opposing stars. A number of players and assistant coaches were penalized for their participation within the program.

The NFL placed a very firm and harsh penalty on the Saints organization and essentially made an example out of the teams allegations. According to Judy Battista from the New York Times, the league was already under a flux of investigations when news of this “Bounty Program” became public. At that time, the league was facing issues of former players committing suicide and players suffering from concussion symptoms.

In many reasons, the NFL had to make a statement of harsh punishment that would not tolerate such activities to occur in their league. Above all, the New Orleans Saints were a city still recovering from harsher realities. Acts of Hurricane Katrina still loomed the cities aftermath as these legal issues hindered a promising season. This legal act saw coaches and players suspended at a minimum of half a season to a full season without pay.  By far, this scandal was one for NFL history to remember and for the Saints to move past this season.