Was the fine levied on Steelers OLB James Harrison excessive, 75K, he says he will retire before he pays it?

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He will pay the fine. Funny you can buy a $250 canvas wrap of the hit he got fined for on NFL.com.
It's true. The men in the suits punish a guy for a hit THEN try and profit from it!! What the hell is that! Merriweather's hit was FAR more violent. This IS a contact sport and the NFL isn't anywhere near as violent as is was in the past. Ever see footage of Dick "Night Train" Lane? Some of the clothes-lines he delivered were just vicious. When you have guys who run 4.5 forty times and both are running at full speed it is tough to NOT have violent hits.
The NFL has a habit of changing the rules -- uuuuummmmm.... Let's see they made the Mel Blount rule... then the Hines Ward rule.. we are now on pace for the James Harrison rule-- hitting people too hard!! Harrison's hits were not intentional -- Merriweather's was CLEARLY!!...Show more

It's laughably over the top.

I understand the "repeat offender" tag, but the ridiculous part is that one of the hits wasn't even called a penalty (although it should have been). Of all the hits this weekend, Harrison's really were the least worrisome - both of them were seemingly accidental - the ballcarrier dropped his head, and it ended up being helmet to helmet. I don't believe it was malicious. Similarly, the Dunta Robinson hit didn't really deserve a huge fine - while it was a bit dirty (because it was a defenseless receiver, and he hit in the helmet/neck area of jackson), it is one of those hits that will happen from time to time. If the league fines them, okay, but to put them in the same category as the Meriweather hit is ridiculous.

As someone else said, the Meriweather hits were the ones that deserved the biggest fine - two helmet to helmet hits, one of which was a perfect storm of everything you're NOT supposed to do - against a defenseless receiver, launching, helmet to helmet, no play on the ball.... really ugly/dirty. He deserved the biggest fine.

For Harrison/Robinson, although a fine probably is warranted (given the new rules - I don't agree with it, but that's irrelevant at this point), I take serious issues with them being in the same group as the Meriweather hits....Show more

The guy made 20 mil over three seasons. 75k is a drop in the bucket for him, so excessive is a relative term. In all honesty, I find the concept of fines wrong. Imagine your boss fining you a portion of your salary for making a mistake.

I love football but I have to wonder about the future of the sport. With more and more younger kids getting hurt, more and more parents are stopping their kids from playing. I read about over a half dozen high school forfeits that took place this year because an injury in the game caused a team to not have enough players on the field.

The NFL is in a panic right now about all the negative press that injuries have brought to the game (at all levels of the game). You have that Rutgers player that is paralyzed from a hit last weekend coupled with a huge number of NFL players that have been hurt this year. Our town had a high school player die last year of a concussion.

The reaction of the NFL this weekend is not surprising. The larger question is can they stem the violent hits they are fining players for while not destroying the game...Show more

I thought it was excessive.

Harrison's hit on Massawhatsit was probably the least devastating of the 3, certainly less than Merriweather's, yet Harrison gets fined 25k more for being "a repeat offender". He wasn't even flagged. I have liked the fact that Goodell has cracked down on player conduct, but I disagree with something like this that could totally change the game on a fundamental level....Show more

Harrison saves some money before every season in order to pay fines.
He is convinced that football is a men´s game, no girlies should be allowed, so maybe Roger Goodell should be thinking of allowing fatalities....Show more