Cards DT Dockett Fined $5,000 For Pre-Game Tweet

Well, the league handed down its punishment. Darnell Dockett will have to pay $5,000 for tweeting “AMEN!” within the 90-minutes-before-kick-off no-tweet zone.

However, the fine isn’t stopping Double-D. Soon after news of the fine began to leak through the media, Dockett tweeted the following:

ddockett Don’t worry though I got another account I’m setting up that will be ran by someone else and they will tweet when they think I would! #fact

Darnell Dockett Twitter Could Earn NFL Fine

Pro Football Talk is reporting that the NFL is investigating Darnell Dockett for an alleged violation of its Twitter policy. Dockett -- aka @ddockett -- posted this controversial message at 2:55 p.m on September 12:

While the content of the message probably fits with in the NFL's standards for public prayer, the timing of the Tweet was offensive. 

According to PFT:

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told us on Tuesday that the league is looking into the matter.  But, frankly, it should be an easy process.  Dockett posted the message on his verified account at 3:55 p.m. ET.  The game began at 4:15 p.m. ET.

The Tweet itself shows a 2:55 p.m. time stamp, which may (or may not) be different from the 3:55 p.m. noted in the report. The variance could (or may not) be accounted for by those mysterious time zones.

We can only hope the NFL has the resources and expertise to unravel this mystery and put and end to the hideous practice of "Tweeting Inside The Restricted Area".

Arizona sports fans will recall that former Phoenix Suns Tweeter, Amare Stoudemire, was also fined for tweeting at the wrong time, although that fine was later rescinded after it was revealed that it was a ghost Tweeter who posted the Tweet during the game.

Athletes should follow the example of Coyotes winger Paul Bissonnette, who only tweets about appropriate things and most importantly at the appropriate times.