Accept that T.O. admitted freely that he did spit at Hall.


>For arguement sake, let's look at a no-name respected receiver who does his job, and serves his community and team well. He is being closeley guarded by a pro-bowl caliber corner during a game where both are constantly jawing at each each other after every play, blah, blah, blah. "Spittle" gets exchanged because of endless banter and one player takes it for deliberate spit while the other just got carried away with words with "P's" in them and does not realize what happened. Later he finds out what happened, apologizes and is truly embarassed by the incident. For THIS receiver, the explanation is plausible, likely and the deed is basically forgiven.
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>Since this is T.O. and because of his history in wrecking his 2 previous teams, his credibility is zilch. Do not take this as an excuse for T.O. because he is reaping what he has sewn and deserves no "benefit of the doubt" even if the "spit" was an accidental result of mindless banter. Too bad he is too stupid to figure out credibility and respect are earned, and he will never get the benefit of the doubt because of his history.
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>>--While I'd be happy to see TO suspended, based on what I saw on TV, this punishment is in line with previous punishments for spitting.
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>>That's actually debatable.
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>>The Titans benched rookie standout LenDale White for a pre-season game, for spitting at a teammate.
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>>To say that it's 'in line' with previous punishments, assumes that the previous punishments were sufficient.
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>>It's too bad that the refs didn't see T.O. spitting at Hall - given that it was so early in the game, they could have tossed T.O. for the game, and that would have been sufficient punishment.
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>>Like it or not, teenage athletes imitate the antics of the pros. They're also smart enough to know that T.O. has plenty of money, and that a fine means very very little [though, to make matters even more pathetic, T.O. is appealing the fine].
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>>But sitting a player, even if it's a big game coming up, sends the right message to everyone. Coaches everywhere can use it as a precedent to show kids about consequences. I still say the NFL is too scared to suspend T.O., because the next game is against Philly on Christmas evening and has huge playoff implications.
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>>I'm a firm believer that punishments sometimes need to 'send a message'. While off-topic, the NBA suspensions are being criticized for 'sending a message' - yet that's EXACTLY what needs to be done. David Stern doesn't let team impact or lost endorsements or other factors affect his decisions - his focus is always on the incident itself.
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>>Kevin