Fathers sometimes have no choice but to discipline their children -- but rarely in the way that unfolded this weekend in the NFL.
Packers guard Jon Runyan Jr. received a letter from his father, Jon Runyan, the NFL's vice president of football operations, who notified his son that he has been fined $5,215 for leg-whipping an opponent during the first quarter of Green Bay's loss last Sunday to the Giants in London.
In the letter, the senior Runyan also warned his son that "further offenses will result in an escalation of disciplinary action, up to and including suspension."
"My dad and I always joked about this happening, but I never thought my style of play would ever warrant what he deemed to be unnecessary roughness, but it happened," the younger Runyan told ESPN. "I thought since I left for college, I wouldn't have to deal with him punishing me anymore, but I was wrong about that."
It was a challenging week for Runyan, who also fined Tom Brady -- his former college teammate and roommate at Michigan -- $11,139 for kicking Falcons defensive lineman Grady Jarrett.
In the letter that Runyan sent to his son, he signed it, "Sincerely Jon Runyan" -- not father, dad or any familiar family moniker.
It is believed to be one of the first -- if not the first -- case in NFL history in which a father has ordered a team to take money out of his own son's paycheck. The younger Runyan has appealed the fine.
But the junior Runyan also will have the chance to make it back, and then some. Runyan has played 297 snaps this season and he has not allowed a quarterback pressure.