During the game against the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Early Doucet was involved in a minor altercation that led to the ejection of San Francisco 49ers safety Dashon Goldson. The NFL reviewed the play and situation and announced on Thursday that both Doucet and Goldson were fined.
Goldson was fined $25,000 for throwing punches at Doucet and Doucet was fined $10,000 for his involvement.
This is not at all surprising. In fact, even though the process by which decisions on fines may seem to be rather arbitrary, the NFL does actually have a set of guidelines.
If you go through the explanation the league has for the process and amount of fines, you will note that Goldson's involvement falls under the category of fighting as a first offense.
In the case of Doucet, it is a sportsmanship fine, under "Excessive Profanity; other Unsportsmanlike Conduct (e.g., toward opponent(s), game personnel, fans, etc.)" After he believed that he was pushed during the play (something that Darren Urban explained was simply an accident), he got in Goldson's face, who then lost his composure and started throwing punches.
As noted in the explanation of fines, Doucet has three days from the time of his notification to appeal the ruling. While it is doubtful, he does have a chance of avoiding that fine.
The league uses, as it explained, the fine money for charitable contributions. It cites that usually in a season the league collects over $3 million in fines. That is insane. While the money is put to good use, it seems a little excessive to be fining these men their paychecks when that is money they need to take home to their families.
What do you think of the fines, the amounts and the use of those funds?