MorrisBX
07-17-2008, 06:45 PM
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League officials have hired experts to examine game tapes because they are concerned that players are flashing street gang symbols on air.
"There have been some suspected things we've seen," Milt Ahlerich, the league's vice president of security told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. "When we see it, we quietly jump on it immediately, directly with the team and the player or employee involved to cease and desist. Period."
Two incidents have pushed the league to make this a high priority according to Farmer's story. The 2007 shooting death of cornerback Darrent Williams of the Denver Broncos and Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics being fined $25,000 by the NBA for "menacing gestures." (Photo of Darrent Williams by Brian Bahr, Getty Images)
"We were always suspicious that (gang-related hand signals) might be happening," said Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating. "But the Paul Pierce thing is what brought it to light."
Pereira said that the league with deal "harshly" with players caught flashing signs. "The commissioner is not going to stand for gang signals on the field."
Former NFL player Marcellus Wiley is from Los Angeles and he says it can be a time and place thing.
"Where I'm from, you're not the one that wants to throw up a gang sign if you're in that neighborhood. Now, in front of millions of people on TV in the middle of the 50-yard line, who's going to attack you?
"Who's going to do something to you? But you do that on Slauson and Crenshaw and see what happens."
League officials have hired experts to examine game tapes because they are concerned that players are flashing street gang symbols on air.
"There have been some suspected things we've seen," Milt Ahlerich, the league's vice president of security told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. "When we see it, we quietly jump on it immediately, directly with the team and the player or employee involved to cease and desist. Period."
Two incidents have pushed the league to make this a high priority according to Farmer's story. The 2007 shooting death of cornerback Darrent Williams of the Denver Broncos and Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics being fined $25,000 by the NBA for "menacing gestures." (Photo of Darrent Williams by Brian Bahr, Getty Images)
"We were always suspicious that (gang-related hand signals) might be happening," said Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating. "But the Paul Pierce thing is what brought it to light."
Pereira said that the league with deal "harshly" with players caught flashing signs. "The commissioner is not going to stand for gang signals on the field."
Former NFL player Marcellus Wiley is from Los Angeles and he says it can be a time and place thing.
"Where I'm from, you're not the one that wants to throw up a gang sign if you're in that neighborhood. Now, in front of millions of people on TV in the middle of the 50-yard line, who's going to attack you?
"Who's going to do something to you? But you do that on Slauson and Crenshaw and see what happens."