The NFL won’t discipline the Rams players making “hands up, don’t shoot” poses at Sunday’s game at the Edward Jones Dome in downtown St. Louis, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and others report.
When asked about possible disciplinary measures, the NFL responded by providing Breitbart Sports with a vaguely-worded statement: “We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation.”
Although the Dolphins fined and suspended defensive back Don Jones for an “OMG” Twitter response to Michael Sam kissing his boyfriend after the St. Louis Rams drafted him, and the league has grabbed pay from players wearing unauthorized headphones during pregame warmups, shirts during postgame press conferences, and messages on their person, the NFL has embraced a more libertarian ethos in response to offensive Rams players Jared Cook, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens, Tavon Austin, and Tre Mason for their on-field antics.
The hands-off reaction to the “hands up” displays will no doubt please many Michael Brown partisans, who had issued threats and criticism to the league via Twitter.
The Rams demolished the Oakland Raiders 52-0 in Sunday’s game. On Monday, few talk about the biggest blowout of the NFL season; everybody fixates on the gestures of a few individual players.