Mike Ditka: NFL Should Prohibit All Players From Owning Guns

[Steven Mace]

Mike Ditka: NFL Should Prohibit All Players From Owning Guns

Posted Nov 30th 2008 4:10PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)

Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame tight end and Super Bowl-winning coach, discussed the Plaxico Burress situation today in his role on ESPN's NFL Countdown.

And Ditka proposed a simple rule that would likely make players safer, but would also draw the ire of the National Rifle Association: Simply ban all NFL players from owning guns. Here's what Ditka said today, according to a transcript provided by ESPN:

"This is all about priorities. When you get stature in life, you get the kind of contract, you have an obligation and responsibility to your teammates, to the organization, to the National Football League and to the fans. He just flaunted this money in their face. He has no respect for anybody but himself. I feel sorry for him, in the sense that, I don't understand the league, why can anybody have a gun? I will have a policy, no guns, any NFL players we find out, period, you're suspended."

Ditka's proposal will never happen, but Ditka deserves credit for pointing out a simple fact that Burress learned the hard way: If you carry a gun around, you're more likely to hurt yourself than protect yourself.

http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2008/11/30/mike-ditka-nfl-should-prohibit-all-players-from-owning-guns/

Steve Mace

[Griggs]

Fuck Mike Ditka

[El Laton Caliente]

I propose we take away Mike Ditka's right to free speach.

[L1A1Rocker]

Maybe Mikes right to vote and free speech should be voided.

[printerman]

The anti-gun rhetoric is starting !!! All it takes are events , staged or un-staged !!! "There will be accidents that are not accidents" :ssg1: Plaxico's a bum , now he's proven it !!!

[Old Grump]

Used to be a Ditka fan even though he was a Bear. He never was known for thinking before he spoke, partly why he doesn't coach anymore. Wouldn't even be thinking about trying to revoke his right to free speech but I might want to have a sit down with him and discuss a few things that he seems to have left out of his education. Apparently scholarship wasn't required of football players at the University of Pittsburgh at the time. Can't be sure but I suspect his old dad would have smacked him up alongside of the head for talking like that. Those old Ukrainians were like that.

[ironhead7544]

Yeah, lets make them all safer. No motorcycles or cars they could get hurt! Eat only what the league says, you dont want health problems. And no girls, they might catch something from them. Guess they should just be locked up in a steel box until its time to play.

[bob_fuller]

yep, all for the safety of the players, of course.

[Bluntforce]

Fuck Mike Ditka


+1

[StooperZero]

Ditka's proposal will never happen, but Ditka deserves credit for pointing out a simple fact that Burress learned the hard way: If you carry a gun around, you're more likely to hurt yourself than protect yourself.


:lool:


I hope he's unarmed and slaughtered by a foam finger wearing drunkard at a tailgate party.





STFU Ditka you dumb Fuck!


Good way to ZUMBO yourself...

[Steven Mace]

Pacman to Ditka: “From my cold, dead hands!”

Posted on December 1st, 2008

NEW YORK, NY — Mike Ditka’s made an unusual—and probably unconstitutional—suggestion on “NFL Countdown” yesterday that the NFL should bar all players from owning guns, following Plaxico Burress’ arrest following an incident involving a handgun went largely unnoticed by the mainstream media, but did not escape the attention of certain gun enthusiasts who suit up every Sunday.

Ditka’s proposal drew almost immediate ire from some of the NFL’s most colorful characters, including one Adam “Pacman” Jones.

“The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees the People’s right to bear arms,” Jones announced at a press conference. “Mr. Ditka’s proposal to strip all professional football players of their God-given right to self-defense is nothing less than communism.”

Jones, who was involved in an infamous shooting at a Las Vegas strip club back in 2007 which left a man partially paralyzed, was joined by associates “Tank” Johnson, Marvin Harrison, and NRA president John C. Sigler.

Despite the fact that Ditka has no power to make any such rule, and if such a rule were established it would almost certainly be successfully challenged in court, it has not stopped Pacman and co. from making plain their opposition to gun control.

“‘Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes …they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.’ You know who said that? Thomas fucking Jefferson, that’s who,” announced Tank Johnson, who has been arrested several times for unlawful gun ownership, to stunned reporters.

“You know who had gun control laws in their countries?” Marvin Harrison, whose handgun was involved in a shooting back in May, asked reporters, “Stalin, Hitler, Mao. All the bad guys. Gun control is Orwellian and un-American.”

“Some bleeding-heart liberals might tell you that guns are evil and kill people and waah waah,” jeered NRA President John C. Sigler. “These fine, upstanding citizens know perfectly well that no one has the power to deny a man his right to self-defense. The Neo-fascist-league wants Pacman to wander into a strip club at two in the morning completely unarmed. Not while I’m breathing, he won’t.”

“I own handguns to protect myself from the overreaching hand of the League,” Tank Johnson said. “I sleep better at night knowing that if Roger Goodell sends his goons to deprive me of my life and liberty I will be prepared.”

“It’s the Second Amendment,” Jones told reporters. “The second, as in, number two, which means it’s the second most important one. Just behind freedom of speech, way ahead of equal rights for women.”

Jones left no room for doubt where he would stand if the League ever were to introduce such a ban on firearms for all players.

“Should this law ever come to pass, I will take up arms in defense of my freedom against the League” the Dallas corner promised. “‘For the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants,’” another famous saying of Jefferson’s. Following these comments Pacman was suspended for the entire 2009 NFL season for threatening the league with violence.

http://www.serioussportsnewsnetwork.com/2008/12/pacman-to-ditka-from-my-cold-dead-hands.html

Steve Mace

[StooperZero]

“The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees the People’s right to bear arms,” Jones announced at a press conference. “Mr. Ditka’s proposal to strip all professional football players of their God-given right to self-defense is nothing less than communism.”


WOW!


IN your Face DICKLICKTA!

[RampantScot]

I think we may all be safer if the thugs in the NFL did not have guns but somehow I do not think most of them have them legally and would follow such a law :)

[Buster Charlie]

Pacman to Ditka: “From my cold, dead hands!”

You know who said that? Thomas fucking Jefferson, that’s who,” announced Tank Johnson, who has been arrested several times for unlawful gun ownership, to stunned reporters.


I don't care if this "Tank" guy is a good guy, or a bad guy, but that is the best fucking quote ever.

"Thomas fucking jefferson!"


edit: Although I doubt the validity of this, it appears to be satire, but it's still funny as hell.

[Steven Mace]

Goodell wants NFL players to avoid unsafe places

Jenna Fryer, Ap Sports Writer – 16 mins ago

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has a simple mantra when it comes to players feeling the need to carry a gun: Avoid those situations. "The real issue to me, is when the players feel they're unsafe, they shouldn't be there," Goodell said. "So get out, don't be there. If you feel the need to have a firearm to be someplace, you're in the wrong place."

Speaking before Monday night's game between the Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Goodell said the NFL has a strict gun policy but also must manage it against the constitutional right to bear arms. The questions arose in the aftermath of New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress' accidental shooting in a New York City nightclub.

Burress was injured in the early morning hours of Nov. 29 when a .40-caliber Glock he was carrying in his waistband slipped down his leg, and as he grabbed at it, he accidentally pulled the trigger and shot himself in the thigh.

Giants teammate Antonio Pierce drove Burress to the hospital and spoke with police last Friday about the incident.

The Giants suspended Burress for the final four games of the regular season and placed him on the non-football injury list; Pierce remains active.

Goodell said the NFL is allowing the Manhattan district attorney's office to finish its investigation.

"It's a police matter, so we're supportive of the police, and we'll do whatever they need to cooperate," he said. "I expressed that to the mayor and to the chief of police. We're held accountable to the laws of the land, and so are our players."

Although the police said last week that the information they were provided came from media reports, not the NFL, police commissioner Raymond Kelly has said the league has since been more forthcoming. And Goodell bristled at the idea the NFL ever slowed or stalled the investigation.

"I don't agree with that. We have security directors who are former law enforcement people, or worked with law enforcement, and were fully cooperative," Goodell said. "I spoke to chief of police myself and he said we've been perfectly cooperative and we appreciate that.

"We're not going to hide anything from anybody. We're very direct about it."

In other topics:

• Goodell, who has made it his mission to rid the league of player misconduct, said his tough policies are clear to players. "I think they understand they have a certain code of conduct for players, coaches, commissioner, everyone involved with the game. I do think it's getting through, but you always are going to have people who make mistakes."

• He said the league would keep an eye on the developing situation with Panthers reserve offensive lineman Jeremy Bridges, who was arrested late Sunday night and charged with two misdemeanor counts of simple assault and battery and one count of communicating threats. He was released on bond, but inactive for Monday night's game. It was Bridges' second arrest in 16 months.

• Goodell spent about an hour Monday visiting Carolina owner Jerry Richardson in the hospital, where he was readmitted for tests relating to a pacemaker he recently had installed. He said he expected Richardson to remain active in negotiations with new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

• He is confident the suspensions of five players for violating the league's anti-doping policy would be upheld. The five were suspended for using a banned diuretic, but a federal judge on Friday blocked the action until he has more time to consider the case. "The players understand that you are held responsible for anything that's in your body," Goodell said. "We have been very clear that if you take something, which is unregulated, there's a danger."

• He's not ready to comment on Michael Vick's potential future in the league until after the former quarterback has concluded the legal process pertaining to his conviction for running a dog fighting ring.

• Tampa Bay is on track to successfully host February's Super Bowl, and Goodell isn't concerned the economic crisis will spoil the event. "We're pouring the normal amount of resources into the event," he said. "I think we changed one event Saturday night because we thought it would be more effective to put our focus somewhere else. But for the most part, we're going 100 miles per hour on that, and we think it will be a great event."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081209/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_goodell_burress_2

Steve Mace