Golden Tate: TV cameramen should be fined for injury-causing collisions

ByMICHAEL ROTHSTEIN
June 17, 2015, 3:50 PM

— -- ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Detroit Lions receiver Golden Tate joined the ranks of athletes who believe that cameramen should be moved for safety after watching  LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers  hit his head on a television camera during Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

Tate even went one step further when asked about it Tuesday. He said if a cameraman injures a player while the cameraman is in the way, the cameraman should be fined.

"When it comes to a safety hazard, they don't need to be on the field or the court and if they are, they ought to be, if something happens like that, they should be fined," Tate said. "Us athletes get fined for just about everything so they should have repercussions for when they are at fault for injuring a player, especially in that magnitude of a game."

Tate hasn't personally had any run-ins with cameramen during his time in the NFL or in college at Notre Dame, but he did recall his somewhat famous leap into the Michigan State marching band after he said he couldn't slow down after catching a pass against the Spartans.

At Notre Dame, the bands are somewhat close to the perimeter of the field in the end zones.

Tate wasn't the only one to question camera placements following James' collision during Game 4. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers tweeted and wondered why the cameraman couldn't get out of the way as James was falling to the ground.