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

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!!

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.

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

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.

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.

It might not be .. the fact that no flag was thrown makes it harder to justify ...

However, The NFL even said that James Harrison is getting the largest fine becuase the league already sees him as a "repeat offender."

How about you give the receivers a 5 yard imaginary line that no one can cross until they catch the ball, turn around and take one step. That will make the game almost as fun to watch as curling. Soon the No Fun League will be not worth watching. Goodell is the the NFL Anti-Christ.

I think it's excessive.

I think if they're going to do this, they need two levels of fines. One for intentional dirty hits, which should be higher, and possibly accompany a suspension. And un-intentional helmet to helmet hits should either not be fined, or there should be a smaller fine for not being careful, so maybe guys will pay more attention to what they're doing.

But in my opinion, fining guys for something that's not intentional will be disasterous for the sport. It will cause guys to half-*** it and not play as hard, because they're worried about losing $$$. The sport will suffer.

The crybaby can't imagine winning without cheating. I bet he thinks he looks real tough cheapshotting the blindside of WRs. Pittsburgh will be the most affected by the new suspension rule. They have the dirtiest player in the game in Hines Ward drilling guys in the back and a whole plethora of Steelers defensive players with weekly cheapshots and hitting after the whistle. I hope Harrison does retire, I hear enough whining from Steelers fans, don't need their players doing it too.

I would be willing to bet that if James Harrison played for the Browns you would not be talking about this my friend.