Today's news of the special investigator paid by the league finding that Ray Rice was suspended w/o the league viewing or allegedly knowingly having the elevator video raises the obvious inference of incompetence as regards that decision or was a well orchestrated cover up of deliberate dishonesty on the part of the league. Why this decision about Lynch is a surprise to anyone mystifies me.
This whole fine for not talking to the media is pure horse poop and ridiculous. Lynch has a dislike approaching a phobia about speaking publicly and mediots making him talk is stupidity to the point of bullying. I hope he challenges the fine in Court as being unreasonable or a penalty unrelated to the severity of the offence or as an unfair labour practice that is forced upon him in a situation where he should have been given a pass.
Meanwhile on the player safety front the big lie isn't fooling anyone, the league only wants to pretend they actually give a rip. The league wanted the matchup with Suh in the Detroit @ Dallas game so the Jerrah 'fix could get put in' as a game between Dallas and GB will get better ratings than a Carolina/GB contest. After looking at Suh's record for attacks on other other players and intentional dirty play he should have been suspended and fined, a fine of $70,000 in that situation was a joke.
The biggest player fine this season was given to player who was suffering back spasms and needed massage and medical help after the game because he didn't talk to the media, seems unfair to me. For Lynch to be fined in this situation notwithstanding his earlier warning to cooperate with media is to me patently unfair. This really points out how arbitrary and unreasonable the whole league imposed fine process is, and how much the players union needs to re-open the subject in CBA revision discussions. A player revolt will come when it is seen that the league is simply using the players and don't really have any cooperative fair process to allow for review and reconsideration or actually care genuinely about player safety.
Slowly this subject is beginning to alienate fair minded folks and is another of the numerous ways the league's pure greed is taking away from fair oversight of the game.
I expect significant referee intervention this upcoming game until the outcome is clearly decided notwithstanding best efforts to force a decision that creates a better story to sell. Things are starting to smell like wrestling. Goddess will eventually kill the golden goose.