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I’m Glad Lombardi Got a Big Stiff Fine (and I’ll bet he is too)

Matt Barry is right. And he’s not alone. The fine levied at Dean Lombardi is hypocritical and inconsistent. I completely agree. The league dispenses discipline like a … well, I was going to go for a metaphor, but let’s just say: no one — not the players, management, pundits and least of all the fans — expect anything from the league wheel of discipline but stupidity or corruption, or a delightful hybrid of same.
But I’m glad.

I’m glad Lombardi got fined $50K and not $2K. Because that’s a lot of money. And I’m not in any way minimizing the pain that this causes the Lombardi household. Just because he gets paid millions of dollars doesn’t mean that he’s happy to throw away $50,000 like the butts in a loaf of bread. (Me, I just imagine the **** his family is going to give him every time he tries to be, you know, “in charge”…but that’s my own issue, probably.)

Anyway, it’s a painful amount of money to lose. And everyone knows it. The players know it. They know he “took one for the team.” If it was $2,000, everyone would dismiss that as nothing, the price of taking the team out to dinner, etc.. But $50,000 is a fine that commands some respect. Like the manager who sticks his nose in the ump’s face and gets tossed, as an inspirational tool, as motivation.

And that’s why he did it.

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