Rex Ryan building a bully? IK!

[Déjà Bru]

Rex Ryan's theme so far with the Buffalo Bills has been "Building a Bully"! Which was backed up by signing Richie Incognito, the guy who actually bullied Dolphins teammate Jonathan Martin a couple of years ago.

But now, the Bills have claimed Ikemefuma ("IK") Enemkpali the day after he was waived by the Jets for sucker punching Geno Smith in the locker room over a $600 debt.

I think it's reprehensible, rewarding this fellow for bad behavior. The NFL may agree with me and be harsh with the suspension and fine that's coming.

Ryan, why don't you just "Build a Winner" instead? Haven't you been listening to the commissioner and others looking to downplay violence associated with the sport?

[Questdog]

I have no problem with football players behaving poorly with one another. It is a violent sport and no place for the timid. If you can get bullied by another player, then you have no place in the League.

As long as they keep the shenanigans between themselves, it's all good.....

Being outraged by a football player's behavior is outrageous.....

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Rex Ryan's theme so far with the Buffalo Bills has been "Building a Bully"! Which was backed up by signing Richie Incognito, the guy who actually bullied Dolphins teammate Jonathan Martin a couple of years ago.

But now, the Bills have claimed Ikemefuma ("IK") Enemkpali the day after he was waived by the Jets for sucker punching Geno Smith in the locker room over a $600 debt.

I think it's reprehensible, rewarding this fellow for bad behavior. The NFL may agree with me and be harsh with the suspension and fine that's coming.

Ryan, why don't you just "Build a Winner" instead? Haven't you been listening to the commissioner and others looking to downplay violence associated with the sport?

Nothing wrong with what he is doing. He's trying to turn the team around and the best way to start is to give them confidence through identity. If they have early success they may actually start to believe it.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Questdog

I have no problem with football players behaving poorly with one another. It is a violent sport and no place for the timid. If you can get bullied by another player, then you have no place in the League.

As long as they keep the shenanigans between themselves, it's all good.....

Being outraged by a football player's behavior is outrageous.....

Originally Posted by Ragnar

Nothing wrong with what he is doing. He's trying to turn the team around and the best way to start is to give them confidence through identity. If they have early success they may actually start to believe it.

So, you guys think, just because it's football and thuggery rules, that

1. it's OK to break somebody's jaw over chump change (to these fellows, even IK), and
2. the Jets were wrong to release the guy who did this deed, and
3. the Bills should have no compunction about saving his job the very next day, and
4. therefore, to win a few crappy football games, we reward this person for thuggish behavior.

Well, OK then. No wonder pro football sucks.

[Déjà Bru]

You know something? I don't care if I end up being the last man here to stick to the principle that civility in life matters.

It matters more than the money, more than the winning, more than the fun, more than the sadistic cruelty, selfish behavior, and piggish greed that characterize professional sports and society in general these days.

"Who cares? I wanna see 'em win. That's all that matters." Not so. Not when it's your jaw that somebody breaks. Not even when it's your lollipop that somebody takes.

I am not going to debate this here. I will merely state it over and over again, however, whenever the subject comes up: Civility in life matters.

[CD1083]

As a Bills fan I love this.

It's no risk, low reward, but you get to stick it to the Jets.

In addition, this stuff happens all the time. The fact that Geno has a glass jaw is the only reason he got cut.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by CD1083

As a Bills fan I love this.

It's no risk, low reward, but you get to stick it to the Jets.

In addition, this stuff happens all the time. The fact that Geno has a glass jaw is the only reason he got cut.

Oddly enough, I don't mind your loving this. You are a fan. It should not be your responsibility or concern if Bills management takes the low road.

But "this stuff happens all the time" is another excuse to tolerate crap in life and we should not be willing to do so on this basis, or "those guys are dumb, what else can you expect" or any other rationalization.

Do you want a better society? Then stand up for it.

[CD1083]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Oddly enough, I don't mind your loving this. You are a fan. It should not be your responsibility or concern if Bills management takes the low road.

But "this stuff happens all the time" is another excuse to tolerate crap in life and we should not be willing to do so on this basis, or "those guys are dumb, what else can you expect" or any other rationalization.

Do you want a better society? Then stand up for it.

So let me get this straight, you're picking this particular event to get up in arms about? What about when Nolan Ryan beat the crap out of Robin Ventura or hockey enforcers or every play cheap shots in football. I fail to see how violent acts on the field are any different than ones in the locker room.

I don't condone what IK did and he deserved to get cut, however had it been Muhammad Wilkerson that took a shot we both know he wouldn't have been cut.

A 24 year old kid punched another 24 year old kid. This happens in and out of locker rooms. He didn't try and kill him, what do you want to happen? For IK's career to be over? The league is likely to punish him and life will move on.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by CD1083

So let me get this straight, you're picking this particular event to get up in arms about?

No, it's not just this of course, but I am getting more vocal with such opinions toward the end of my long life after having witnessed all the bad (and the good) that has taken place in my lifetime.

So sure, it's the things you talked about and whole lot more. A lot more. And I will continue to pipe up here for as long as I have breath and my fingers can work the keyboard!

Go Bills, by the way. I have no allegiance for any NFL team. I may hope IK gets cut anyway, because I don't think he's going to help your guys much, but who knows?

[Cinnamon J. Scudworth]

IK is a project who has some upside, and Rex is already familiar with him. It's a no-brainer for the Bills to pick him up. They didn't "save" his job because it's more likely than not that he won't even make the final roster. And even if he did, I don't think it's the responsibility of individual teams now to blackball him from the league. If the NFL decides to punish him, then so be it. That's the risk that the Bills are taking in claiming him.

[knightdreamer2k]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

You know something? I don't care if I end up being the last man here to stick to the principle that civility in life matters.

It matters more than the money, more than the winning, more than the fun, more than the sadistic cruelty, selfish behavior, and piggish greed that characterize professional sports and society in general these days.

"Who cares? I wanna see 'em win. That's all that matters." Not so. Not when it's your jaw that somebody breaks. Not even when it's your lollipop that somebody takes.

I am not going to debate this here. I will merely state it over and over again, however, whenever the subject comes up: Civility in life matters.

I am right there with you brother, that civility matters in life. I don't know if it is because we have grown numb to the the behavior of Pro football players or we ignore our sense of morality because we enjoy the sport. I still hold on to some standards.

I do want to say that while $600.00 dollars may be chump change to you, to many others it is not. If this LB that punched the qb was smart he probably knows he is not going to be in the league very long and so if you are making league minimum than that money can dry up fast. I don't think it is as childish as many make it out to be. I put more blame on Geno. That would be like me paying for an expensive lunch for the CEO and then him stiffing me and not paying it back.

I also long for a better society, but I think everyone has there own perspective on what that is. I assume you and myself hold respect and civility in high regards, where a lot of others it is not important to them or they believe respect is earned. I enjoy pro sports but I believe sometimes our moral code gets lost when in the end it is just entertainment.

[DamPenguin]

Sometimes we get wrapped up in the amount ($600 in this case) or the fact that these are professional athletes. Look to be honest I'm 41 years old and if anybody for any reason starts putting his finger in my face and disrespecting me you can bet the house I would react violently. I would also know that I would be held accountable for my actions later. Maybe Geno thought because he is the starting QB of the team he could get away with acting that way but I don't in the least blame IK for reacting the way he did.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by knightdreamer2k

I am right there with you brother, that civility matters in life. I don't know if it is because we have grown numb to the the behavior of Pro football players or we ignore our sense of morality because we enjoy the sport. I still hold on to some standards.

I do want to say that while $600.00 dollars may be chump change to you, to many others it is not. If this LB that punched the qb was smart he probably knows he is not going to be in the league very long and so if you are making league minimum than that money can dry up fast. I don't think it is as childish as many make it out to be. I put more blame on Geno. That would be like me paying for an expensive lunch for the CEO and then him stiffing me and not paying it back.

I also long for a better society, but I think everyone has there own perspective on what that is. I assume you and myself hold respect and civility in high regards, where a lot of others it is not important to them or they believe respect is earned. I enjoy pro sports but I believe sometimes our moral code gets lost when in the end it is just entertainment.

Excellent post. Yes, the $600 may not have been "chump change" to IK, come to think of it. Smith bears responsibility in this matter as well for apparently not doing the right thing in the first place.

Originally Posted by DamPenguin

Sometimes we get wrapped up in the amount ($600 in this case) or the fact that these are professional athletes. Look to be honest I'm 41 years old and if anybody for any reason starts putting his finger in my face and disrespecting me you can bet the house I would react violently. I would also know that I would be held accountable for my actions later. Maybe Geno thought because he is the starting QB of the team he could get away with acting that way but I don't in the least blame IK for reacting the way he did.

Well, when you say you "don't blame IK for reacting the way that he did," you really mean you can understand why he did what he did. And I can agree with that thinking. He still had no business punching somebody in the face over it even if you can understand his emotions, given the type of person he is and his background.

I've had almost a week to think about this a bit more. What set me off is not necessarily that there was a fight; that's just human nature. What bothered me is that the guy appeared to be rewarded rather than punished, like you and I would be. So far, at least. I have heard nothing further about any sanctions levied by the NFL.

Most people deserve second chances, including this guy because his offense was not that severe, but second chances should be earned and paid for, not given freely because he fits your idea of a football "bully." The Bills rushed to grab him before somebody else did, as I am sure somebody would have, so it's really professional football that looks bad here. To me.

Let's see. In recent years, we've had NFL players stomping on others without their helmets; players being paid bounties to injure other players; players arrested for arrested on drugs and guns charges; players indicted for murder or shot to death themselves; players beating up girlfriends and children; even players cheating with deflated footballs (which seemed to be a bigger story than all the others). What else? I know I did not cover it all.

Sure, football is fun to watch. Of course, all of this stuff happens in society at large. No, NFL players have no (official) obligation to serve as role models. But if the NFL wants to save itself from becoming a brutal bloodsport, it had damned well better make sure that all of this bad behavior gets punished rather than rewarded. I say a guy that gets rehired the day after he is cut from a team for a violent act, before the NFL can even investigate the matter, has been rewarded, not punished.

[Déjà Bru]

As the articles says, "No punches were thrown this time." He just isn't a very good linebacker, apparently.

Yet, I hesitated to post this for fear of appearing to be gloating. My wrath has cooled, and I don't take special joy in his failure.