Corrupt, negligent, money-hungry. Those are some of the things the National Football League has been called in recent memory.
Following cases such as the Ray Rice domestic violence case and Tom Brady’s deflate-gate, in which the NFL dropped the ball in many people’s eyes. It seems as though the NFL would find very little time in worrying about uniform policy, right?
Wrong!
Pittsburgh Steelers DeAngelo Williams and Cameron Heyward have both had their respective run-ins in regards to the league’s policy on uniforms.
Williams lost his mother in May of 2014 due to breast cancer. Because of that Williams thought it would be cool if he could honor his mother by wearing pink accessories throughout the entire season as oppose to just October.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Williams was told by league officials that he could not wear pink outside of the month of October.
This is not the first time he has tried to be creative in support of the disease. In the past Williams has painted his toenails pink to honor those affected.
In response to being told no to such a sensitive topic, Williams decided to dye the tips of his dreads pink instead.
Cerritos Falcon defensive tackle David Fangupo gave his opinion on the matter.
“I understand the NFL’s stance on uniform policy but if they [the players] are going to alter the uniforms at all why not be for a person they’re playing for?” Fangupo questioned.
Prior to the interview Fangupo was not aware of the matter that had taken place in the NFL.
Williams’ teammate Cameron Heyward’s approach to the situation was less than appealing to the league. Heyward sported the words “Iron Head” on his eye-black during the Steelers Oct. 12 contest.
“Iron Head” was the nickname of Heyward’s late father, Craig, who died in 2006 after a battle with cancer. Following the game Heyward was fined almost $5,800.
That didn’t seem to change much as Heyward wore the eye black again this past Sunday.
Fangupo’s teammate Anthony Murray also commented on the topic.
He feels, “[That] the NFL holds players to a certain level of excellence to an extent,” however, it doesn’t justify this.
“The reason will never make sense because there isn’t a valid reason as to why a man supporting his [parent] and the cause of [cancer] isn’t right,” Murray explained.
“I think the NFL does a good job with handling major issues off the field but with things like this…I think they do a horrible job of honoring certain things,” Murray added.
With so much negativity surrounded an organization of this caliber it seems that it may only get worse from here.
