FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Sports

NFL Fines Cam Heyward For Eye Black Tribute to Father Who Died of Cancer

The NFL can't do a single thing right.

Got fined for honoring my Dad who bravely fought cancer on my eye black. #Nevergiveup #CancerSucks pic.twitter.com/RTx988ijG9
— Cam Heyward (@CamHeyward) October 14, 2015

"You will wear pink everything this month so we can sucker people into buying merchandise under the false assumption that they are donating to help fight cancer." - The NFL to its players, every October for the last seven years.

"You will be fined $5,787 for scribbling an innocuous message on your eye black in honor of your father who passed away from cancer. Yes, we know you wear a helmet and it's virtually impossible to see your face, let alone tiny letters written on stickers—unless a camera zooms all the way in so your face takes up the entire frame—but rules are rules." - The NFL to Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward, today, October 14th.

Craig "Ironhead" Heyward was a fullback in the NFL for 11 years, playing with the Saints, Falcons, and Bears among others. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 39 after an eight year battle with cancer. Cam was 17 at the time.

Heyward's fine comes a day after DeAngelo Williams was informed he could not wear pink for the entire season to honor his mother, who passed away from breast cancer last year.

If the NFL's pink gambit is to simply raise awareness, it seems like having one guy, personally affected by the disease, wearing pink all season would be a pretty good idea. But maybe the idea of a year-long con instead of a month-long makes the suits feel a little squeamish, which is fair. The fine for Heyward is less defensible. Former Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still made national headlines as his young daughter Leah battled cancer. He quite publicly wore "Leah Strong" on his eye black in a primetime game last year and I can't find a story about him being fined. Nor can I find news about Tim Tebow being fined for writing bible verses on his wrist band.

They shouldn't be fined for it, of course, because these are personal and otherwise harmless gestures. Fr some reason, though, the NFL is really trying to reinforce how it can't seem to do a single thing correctly.