DeAngelo Williams lost his mom after her courageous battle with breast cancer so naturally he wanted to do something to honor her this NFL season. His answer was simple to wear a lot of pink in honor of breast cancer awareness.
The NFL has breast cancer awareness month however apparently it is strictly in October. Williams was told (over the phone) by NFL vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent that he could not wear pink accessories (under armor, knee pads, elbow pads) to honor his late mother. The NFL's reason behind this was there are no exceptions to the NFL's uniform policy.
It is somewhat hard to see how Williams who is in a backup role this year cannot wear pink accessories to honor his mother just because the NFL says so. Sometimes sports organizations need to look a little beyond their fabricated rules and red tape and see that their players are actual people, not commodities.
Williams did not let that deter his fight to honor his mom. Williams dyed his hair pink before the season in order to pay tribute to his mother. Williams is now purchasing 53 mammogram tests for a hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is not the NFL's most recent brush with insensitivity. Cameron Heyward also lost a parent to cancer, his father Craig.
Now the NFL has apparently fined him for writing his father's nickname "Ironhead" on his eye black. How can the NFL fine a player who is not only paying tribute to his late parents, it is an absolutely heartless move. Craig Heyward was an NFL player who had legendary toughness and was a symbol of how the game should be played the NFL fining his son (who was only 17 when he died) is disrespectful not only to Heyward and his family but to the game of football as a whole.
