CFL fines four kickers for complaining about chips in footballs

There’s one specific aspect of the NFL that has made it to the CFL. If you get verbally out of line, they’ll hit you in the wallet.

Via the Canadian Press, the league fined four kickers for daring to complain publicly about the insertion of microchips into footballs.

The CFL fined Sergio Castillo, Brett Lauther, Sean Whyte, and Lewis Ward on Friday.

Castillo complained after Winnipeg’s season-opener against Montreal. Castillo missed two of three field goals and an extra point.

“I don’t know where to aim,” Castillo told reporters after the 27-12 loss. “Every time I’m out there, I’m literally praying the Rosary. . . . I don’t know where to aim.”

He also said the chips affect the trajectories of the kicks.

The other three kickers supported Castillo on social media. The amounts of the fines were not disclosed.

The CFL has since amended the rules to allow kickers to opt out of using the balls with chips in them.

It’s a stupid and heavy-handed tactic. And it makes the powers-that-be look like bullies and cowards, simultaneously.