New York Jets cheerleaders can get away with sticking their legs out on the field, but Sal Alosi's salary suffered when he tripped an opposing player during a game. Image: CC Ed Yourdon/Flickr

Sal Alosi wasn’t thinking about his salary when he tripped an opposing player running down the sideline Sunday. The New York Jets strength coach, a former college linebacker, impulsively stuck a leg out to trip a Miami Dolphin covering a punt return. Sal Alosi’s salary took a major hit when he was fined and suspended for the rest of the season without pay for his actions.

The Sal Alosi trip

Sal Alosi’s salary as the strength and conditioning coach for the New York Jets is about $200,000, if a tweet from Jay Glazer at Fox Sports can be considered accurate. In the heat of the moment, Alosi probably wasn’t thinking about all the bills he pays with that salary or the sweet interest rate on loans he qualifies for with that kind of income. When a player for the Dolphins, a hated rival of the Jets, ran out of bounds down the sideline, he just couldn’t help himself. And now his cash flow will be severely impinged by the Sal Alosi trip. With the holidays almost here, he could take out a payday loan if it weren’t for the fact that Alosi won’t be getting anymore paydays for the rest of the season.

How bad did Sal Alosi’s trip hit his salary?

Sal Alosi’s salary of $200,000 a year is pretty good money for the average person. But in the National Football League, $200,000 a year is minimum wage. For his inexplicable lapse in judgment, which brought down more public enmity on a team already despised for its bravado, Alosi was fined $25,000 by the Jets. He was also suspended without pay for the rest of the season, which may include a playoff run and the subsequent bonuses. Sal Alosi’s salary pencils out to $12,500 a game. With three games left in the season, Alosi’s salary takes a $62,500 hit — a 31 percent pay cut. A fine from the league hasn’t been announced yet, but Alosi should expect to drain his bank account further.

Act immortalized by Sal Alosi trip video

Alosi apologized for his dirty deed. But any mea culpa for such a stupid act is too little, too late. Most people expect him to be looking for a job after the Jets lose in the playoffs and once again disappoint legions of New York football fans who believe they are entitled to greatness. “Coach trips player” is a hard search term to live down, especially when the Sal Alosi trip video is one of the hottest trends on the Internet. Sal Alosi’s salary may never recover.

The Sal Alosi trip video

Sources

Bleacher Report

Business Insider

New York Daily News