"I think the skirts need to be taken off at the NFL offices..."

NFL Players Association President Kevin Mawae is not mincing words when it comes to the swift action taken by the NFL this week over "vicious" hits.

Mawae on 710 AM in Los Angeles:

"I understand helmet to helmet contact hits. I understand the flagrant launching at a player with the crown of your helmet. But for a player who's playing in the game, acting instinctively, dropping the shoulder, and hitting a player coming across the middle, or trying to run a ball, and it be considered a vicious or violent hit because of some uncharted standard. I cannot and I will not, and the NFLPA will not, support it.

There's a way to play the game and it's to play within the rules of the game. And if our players are playing within the rules, for the commissioner or the NFL to say they are going to increase fines just because the hits seem to be vicious or violent, I think it's ridiculous.

I think the skirts need to be taken off at the NFL offices."

He does side with the league when it comes to Brandon Meriweather's hit on Todd Heap:

"That clearly violates the rule of launching yourself and hitting with the crown of your helmet to the helmet of another player. And as much as I hate having our players getting their money taken away from them, that's a play that falls within the rules that the competition committee have put into the NFL.

There is no set fine for any of those kind of hits like Meriweather's, so just to throw out a $50 thousand fine with there being no fine schedule, I have a little issue with that."

A valid point when it comes to Roger Goodell's unilateral decision to impose these fines in the same arbitrary style he has imposed "personal conduct" violation penalties in the past.

As for James Harrison, who claimed he was contemplating retirement earlier in the week, Mawae feels his pain.

"James Harrison is playing football. He's being an instinctive player and he's making a play on a player trying to catch a ball across the middle. There was no helmet to helmet contact. It was just a vicious hit and vicious hits happen in the NFL. I disagree with any penalty or fine that he would have gotten on that hit."

Mawae's "skirt" reference may have struck a coincidental chord. The NFL's sudden stance against what was seen on Sunday can be loosely tied to its month long breast cancer awareness initiative.

The league isn't having its players wear pink as a cute gimmick. The NFL already owns every important male demographic. It's trying to expand its brand to bring more women into the fold.

The NFL doesn't just want to sell pink merchandise to women, it wants women to embrace the game itself.

The league office most certainly believes this latest wave of negative publicity does not bring more people into the fold.

But the question now is, how far can the NFL go with its fines/suspensions before alienating its core base of fans?

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"Take the example of hockey..."

When not attending random celebrity events, Alan Thicke is apparently studying NFL issues and coming up with new ways for Roger Goodell to phrase the rules in his rulebook.

As required by law, all Canadians must relate everything in the world to hockey, but in this particular instance it might actually make sense.

As told to the Dan LeBatard radio show in Miami:

"Take the example of hockey where they ultimately, simply say in the rules that you are responsible for your stick. By the way, that rule could also apply to Brett Favre and Ben Roethlisberger I suppose.

But if you're responsible for your stick, that means that no matter who lifts or how it gets swung around or what happens, if you hit somebody with your stick, even accidentally, and they bleed or get cut, there's a penalty for that and occasionally fines for that.

So, ultimately, you're responsible for your stick and maybe if you're responsible for your helmet and that be the ultimate definition of that rule... maybe that's one way to approach it."

Tune in next week, when David Faustino comes up with the definitive solution to the college football postseason.

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