The NFL Wants To Ban The N-Word?!? N*gga Please.

No need to rehash my feelings on the word nigger here. If you've read the blog long enough, you already know my stance. If not, get familiar. For those of you too lazy to do the homework, I find the word ignorant, try (and on occasions fail) to not use it, and think white people shouldn't say it under any circumstances. There. If you need more context, consult the link above.

Anyways, with NFL, a league that seemingly has an image threatening issue going on all the time, is still smarting from the bad PR that resulted from the Richie Incognito/Johnathan Martin story last season. For those unaware, Incognito (who has since gone to the looney bin) threatened his then teammate with racial slurs (among other things) but says he did so because his other black teammates basically co-signed on the idea. I thought this was the worst kind of "well, they say it, so why can't I?" rationale for explaining away ones own shortcomings, but whatever. Reality is, the other black players in that lockeroom enabled Incognito, and they're every bit as much to blame as he is, at least for the racial epithets he peppered Martin with.

The NFL conducted an independent investigation that basically determined Incognito was a psychopath (how appropriate) that Martin maybe shoulda stuck up for himself sooner, and that the Dolphins lockeroom, as well as other NFL lockerooms, needed to be a bit less toxic. So how does the NFL fix said problems?

The NFL is throwing a flag on use of the N-word.

In a groundbreaking move, the league is expected to agree to start penalizing players 15 yards for uttering the racial slur on the field, according to the group that monitors diversity in the league.

John Wooten, chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, said the rule will likely be adopted by the NFL competition committee at March’s owners meetings.

“I will be totally shocked if the competition committee does not uphold us on what we’re trying to do,” Wooten said, according to CBSSports.com. “We want this word to be policed from the parking lot to the equipment room to the locker room.

“Secretaries, PR people, whoever, we want it eliminated completely and want it policed everywhere.”

Wooten expects the NFL to push for an automatic 15-yard penalty for first-time offenders. A second offense would result in an ejection.

It’s hard to know how often the N-word is used on the field, but it was a prominent off-field issue for the league this season.

The use of the slur by NFL players was thrust into the spotlight in late July when a video surfaced showing Eagles receiver Riley Cooper yelling the epithet at a concert.

Just a few months later, it was part of the controversy in the Miami Dolphins locker room mess.

The N-word was part of a barrage of bullying texts Richie Incognito hurled at Jonathan Martin. In one, Incognito referred to Martin, who is biracial, as a “half-n-----.”

And then in November, an NFL game official was suspended for one game without pay after making “a profane and derogatory statement” to a Washington Redskins player during a game.

Left tackle Trent Williams later said that the N-word was not among the vulgar language uttered by umpire Roy Ellison.

But the incident prompted the Fritz Pollard Alliance to issue a statement imploring all NFL players to stop using the racial slur.

I think this has to be the most misguided attempt at political correctness I've ever heard of, and I'm generally a guy who believes in political correctness. But this is simply treating the symptom, not the disease. Black players say the N-word so liberally because they've been mislead into thinking it's a term of endearment. White players say the N-word, either because they're racist as hell (see Riley Cooper and the aforementioned Incognito) or because they've also been mislead into thinking it's a term of endearment by black players who have allowed them to say it without any repercussions. Penalizing a team when a player utters this in the heat of play isn't going to "fix" players.

How about educating them, all of them, on why the word is so ignorant, why it's hardly a term of endearment, and that it's just one of lots of words (f*ggot, r*tard, f*ckboi) they should eliminate from their vocabularies. And maybe they should ease up on all the pointless hazing and behave like grown assed men, instead of 9th graders. Not because it's best for the league's image (clearly the only thing that matters to the NFL) but because it's for their best as men.

This N-word penalty tho? Nonsense. This will not work. At all.

Roger Godell? N*gga Please.

Question: Is this N-word ban going to work? Are there better ways of going about this if you simply want a more wholesome team environment?