Today: Saints' bounty system sets off NFL investigation

Nothing conjures up NFL fans' feisty side quite like the word "bounty," whether they're for them, against them or somewhere in the middle. SportsNation's conversations on the subject have been active. Here is a sampling of voices:

Vote: For or against bounties? Do they help team chemistry? Punishment for Saints?

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?
• rwinters1969: "I personally have no problem with bounties. Football is a violent sport and no one is forcing these players to play. If you don't like violence watch tennis and golf. Soon they will be playing flag football if all these pansies complaining get their way."
• CohenJ16: "You're all hypocrites, we complain that the league is getting soft and the rules are preventing the defense from playing yet this happens and you all act offended. I'm a bigger fan of the Saints now. Good stuff boys!"
• LB413LB: "It sounds like everyone wants the old hard hitting NFL back but no one wants to see the ugly side that comes with it. Make up your mind boys. This stuff was the norm back in the day."
• sammyj2007: "Who cares if there was a bounty system if it got the players to play harder and do their best. Wouldn't you play better if you knew that there was a bonus waiting for you if you got a sack or interception? Hell Yeah!"
• elw0077: "Man I can't stand snitches. Especially for something everybody knows has been going on since forever in the league. Flag football, here we come!"
WHAT'S IN A BOUNTY?
• Pfisiar: "Incentives to make plays is one thing. Incentives to hurt people is quite another."
• JDUS4: "There is a big difference between hitting someone and a cheap shot. Kids are rewarded for hurting their opponents even in pee wee leagues whether it's ice cream, ribbons, pats on the back. It's called football and everybody does it."
• apc_103: "College Football uses this exact same bounty system. They just pay players with helmet stickers."
• Texas10056: "The bounty thing doesn't bother me, but trying to ruin another person's livelihood does."
• JackietGreatest: "I get that the notion of paying a guy to knock another out of the game isn't exactly heart-warming, but knocking a guy out of a game will all but guarantee you a $10K+ fine (with emphasis on the "+"). Giving a guy $2K just doesn't seem to be all that much of a reward, which makes me feel like this is all being blown out of proportion. If it were profitable to knock a guy out, I might be worried here, but paying a small fraction of his fine just doesn't seem like it'd be all that motivating."
THE UGLY SIDE OF FOOTBALL
• cunaxa401: "Informally rewarding players for sacks and turnovers is a lot different than offering money for causing an injury, particularly anything that involves getting carted off. Ignore the former, bring the hammer down on the latter."
• Lenny Dome: "$1500 for a 4-sack game to me is not illegal but what makes this wrong is getting 'bonuses for injuring players' and receiving $50 grand for knocking a player out of a game. I'm sorry but my opinion is they took it too far. Football is violent enough without a bounty program."
• Elephant Tussks: "Good coaches and good players don't need bloodlust to be great. Everybody knows that part of the game is about inflicting pain. You don't need a few thousand bucks on the line to make that point."
• ctrtrey: "If this was just big hits and QB sacks, then it would not have been announced. This is looking to hurt people. This is looking to cripple people. This is wrong."
• lucas.kohner: "Football IS Football. But this isn't football at all. Paying players to injury another player is just wrong. They are trying to eliminate injuries with the kickoff being moved back and having concussion rules but those dont matter when you have a coach telling them to go out and hurt people and get paid for it."



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