The NFL Picks a Word to Penalize

The NFL is still saying it's gonna do it.

No, not naming a designated grandmother for each team. At least, we don't think so, but this is the NFL. Who really knows what that wacky Roger Goodell will think of next?

The league office wants to penalize NFL players a 15 yards if they use the n-word on the field. They just seem to have a hard time converting their words into action. Really, how many media cycles is it going to take to either move forward or forget it?

Here's your hardball ...

I understand what the NFL is trying to do, but is it actually practical to police grown rich men into controlling their language?

My guess is probably not. Let’s be frank here; the NFL has done a lousy job of policing its players in much more serious areas. Just look at what's been going on in the past few months alone:

• You have a former player in jail awaiting a murder trial,
• another former player who may be a serial rapist,
• a drug suspension du jour, and just recently,
• a player being arrested for beating up his girlfriend.

Now, the NFL wants to stop players from using at least one racial slur on the field. Good luck with that.

To me, the NFL has bigger fish to fry than worrying about what players say to each other in the heat of a very physical game.

Instead of trying to implement policy on the field, why not do what a lot of Fortune 500 companies are doing and start teaching diversity classes?

If players understood why they shouldn’t use that word -- or any word of a similar nature -- in the first place, may be they wouldn’t use it at all.

That, to me, would have more of a lasting effect than a 15-yard penalty.