National Football League fines Heyward for tribute to late father

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward took to Twitter on Wednesday to tell people he was fined for writing “Iron Head” on his eye black in honor of his late father, Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, who spent 11 years in the NFL.

Heyward said he’ll try to appeal the violation of the league’s uniform policy, and he wants to continue to wear the eye black if he can. I honor my dad.

According to Sports Illustrated, Hayward’s father, Craig “Ironhead” Heyward, was diagnosed with malignant bone cancer in November 1998.

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive finish Cameron Heyward was fined $5,787 by the league for violating the uniform code.

Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams knows better than anybody how important the issue is. The National Football League, which annually promotes breast cancer awareness by pumping out pink merchandise for fans and allows players to wear pink accessories such as socks or gloves, sadly only gives 8.01 percent of the money raised by the merchandise to breast cancer research.

This is not the first time this week that the NFL’s frankly ridiculous restrictions on personal messages has been in the spotlight.

Instead Williams has chose to keep his dreadlocks dyed pink for the remainder of the season, because apparently the league office has yet to find a way to outlaw that.

Heyward ran for 1,813 yards and 13 touchdowns in five seasons with the Saints from 1988 to 1992.

PASSING THE TEST? Jaguars QB Blake Bortles fully participated in practice, getting all the starter snaps three days after spraining his throwing shoulder.