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NFL: Pugilism is bad (but not really!)

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Let's establish some background. On March 18th, Miami Dolphin Joey Porter punched Bengals o-lineman Levi Jones (and maybe he was robbed as well?) at the Palms in beautiful Las Vegas. Porter acknowledged in court that he threw the first punch and pled no contest. Enraged by the dual insult of Joey Porter not even showing up to plead no contest, and by his attorney's weak plea bargain offer of merely a $1,000 dollar fine, the Judge in the case had no mercy for Porter:

[Justice of the Peace Pro Tem James] Gubler accepted the plea.
Er... Ok, so he got off with a $1,000 dollar fine for punching another person in the face, unprovoked. But the Dolphins were absolutely livid:
Dolphins coach Cam Cameron issued a statement in Miami crediting Porter with informing the team of the incident.

"Joey has been upfront and honest with me since joining our team," Cameron said. "He fully understands the type of character we expect from our players, both on and off the field, and I am confident he will learn from this."

Well, even though the judicial system and the Dolphins showed little teeth, surely Roger Goodell the Enforcer would come crashing down with suspensions and what have you. Right?
Sometime Friday, Goodell is expected to hand down one of the biggest fines in NFL history to Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter for his involvement in an offseason fight with Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Levi Jones.

Porter is expected to be fined three game checks -- a total of $141,176 -- for his role in a Las Vegas fight with Jones. More important to Porter and the Dolphins, however, their prized free-agent acquisition will not be suspended. Thus, Porter -- who is scheduled to make $800,000 in base salary for the coming season -- will be free to play in Miami's regular-season opener against the Washington Redskins.

Go get 'em, Roger (The Phinsider is pleased).

Who am I kidding, the only reason this story interests me is because Porter is cleared for the Redskins game. My advice to Joey is that he better not bring such shenanigans to Washington, because we're armed, dangerous and not afraid to shoot below the belt.

The Redskins are a three point favorite in Week 1 over the Dolphins.