Man. Everything in professional sports is expensive. The water bottles are worth $25,000. And the going rate for middle fingers is apparently twice that, judging from the fine that was handed down to New York Jets coach Rex Ryan when he gleefully flipped the bird at a fan during a mixed martial arts event last weekend.
In a more innocent, less technologically connected time, such an incident would have simply passed into the ether of legend. But, of course, Ryan’s digit quickly spread all over the internet and resulted in a significant fine. The Jets, however, will not punish Ryan further.
With both this and the LeBron James incident, I understand why the fines were so high. The professional leagues have pretty narrow definitions of personal conduct and while they don’t always prevent jackass behavior, the low tolerance is a good policy and, in a perfect world, encourages low-key decorum…off the field or court at least.
$50,000 is a lot but I think gets the point across and ending the punishment there seems pretty reasonable.
Now we just need to question Ryan’s attendance at an MMA event. Those things aren’t exactly gentlemanly.
If you’d like to see what a $50,000 finger looks like, you can view it after the jump. Send the kids out of the room so that they’re not blinded by the sheer blinginess of it.
*runs and hides half of pictures from college*