Bruce Bochy Provides Support For Alex Smith In His Hat-Battle With The NFL

While the NFL takes their time trying to claim victory in the battle with NFL referees, they have decided the important thing to deal with is their continuing battle with swag. The NFL has long had problems with players wearing non-approved gear during and immediately after the games. They are entitled to that because they are an employer, the players are their employees and they have bazillion dollar merchandise contracts they deal with on a daily basis (but obviously not enough money to grandfather in some refs pensions, but that's a story for another day).

The latest shenanigans involve a pair of 49ers. Tarell Brown was fined $5,250 for wearing red sleeves on Sunday. Brown was kind enough to tweet out a copy of his letter from the league, including some interesting information from the letter. There has been no word on any fine.

Alex Smith also faced a $15,000 fine for his decision to wear a San Francisco Giants cap after a 49ers playoff game last year. He was informed of the fine but it was subsequently retracted as just being a warning. According to the rules, Smith cannot wear non-NFL sponsored apparel of a competing league in the 90 minutes after the game.

Earlier today, the San Francisco Giants sent out a tweet that showed Bruce Bochy rocking a 49ers cap during his dugout press conference. I'm not a Giants fan, but props to Bochy and the Giants for having Alex Smith's back. The NFL does have a right to enforce uniform rules, but it still makes my day to poke fun at them for something so ridiculous.