Deeper Issues
by William C. Walker Jr.
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| Starting Top Left: Jonathan, Dwyer, Greg Hardy, Bottom Left, Adrian Peterson, and Ray Rice all find themselves in limbo. |
September 18, 2014
Jonathan Dwyer running back for the
Arizona Cardinals because the latest NFL player to be deactivated .
After being arrested based on domestic violence charges from an
incident in July involving his wife and 17 month old son. Dwyer now
joins former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice, Minnesota Vikings' Adrian
Peterson, and the Carolina Panthers' Greg Hardy as players to have
their careers on hold. The NFL has been steadily drowning in bad PR
since TMZ released the video of Ray Rice knocking unconscious his
then fiancee Janay Palmer. The NFL has constantly been playing catch
up since Rice's initial 2 game suspension. In all honesty it
shouldn't have taken another video for them to realize a stiffer
penalty should have been employed. So while I agree that Rice's
punishment is definitely justified, it feels wrong to me that this
punishment was doled out after the fact. I know this is a court of
law so Double Jeopardy doesn't apply, but the NFL has been reacting
to public opinion as opposed to actually trying to do the right
thing.
As if this wasn't bad enough then
within the same week you have Adrian Peterson one of the best backs
in the NFL, now charged with child abuse for an incident involving
his 4 year old son. Peterson's actions have made things a little
more clouded. While Rice's actions were immediately and unanimously
condemned. Peterson's actions brought up a clear divide between
those who have experienced or enforced corporal punishment. I think
Adrian Peterson suffered more from sheer stupidity than rather the
intent to physically harm his child. Within the black community
itself corporal punishment has been seen as a way to discipline a
child, which the roots of this idea many believe can be traced back
to slavery itself. Where I can see the logic in that I think
Peterson's actions stem more from personal experience than a
throwback to slavery. But at the heart of all of the issues is the
reality that these young men are mere reflections of issues that
reside in our very society. Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, and Jonathan Dwyer
aren't the only men that have committed acts of domestic violence.
Even more sadly is that they probably won't be the last. However
rather than the quick reaction to categorize and demonize every NFL
player should be the thought of how can we educate and assist to
prevent these actions in the first place not just in the NFL but in
society.
I was taught right from wrong, and
instilled what I should and should not do. Yet when you have these
young men that have been given anything and everything at a very
young age. It's easy to see how some can lose their way. We live in a country where sex & violence sells on a daily basis we're bombarded with it. So while you may applaud a billion dollar company like Anheuser Busch for releasing a statement on their condemnation of the NFL's actions. Are they actually going to step away from their billion dollar cash cow, that heavily promotes nor regulate the consumption of their product at stadiums across the country. I'm not going to even touch on the effects that alcohol has on countless yet escapes the criticisms of say tobacco or other narcotics, but that's for another article. It's easy
to scream for blood it's much harder to try and actually fix the
problem. The thing that bothers me so much about all of this is
would any of these issues come to light if Ray Rice hadn't been video
taped striking his fiancee? There were plenty of players that
committed crimes before this yet you never heard a word nor the
public outcry that's been evident in this case. The truth is Greg
Hardy would have continued playing, he was actually convicted of his
domestic violence charge before the video of Ray Rice ever surfaced.
Yet it wasn't until Peterson's deactivation and the media's added
attention that the Panthers decided to deactivate him. While the
media swarms to get every detail in regards to these cases. As well
as reopen old transgressions see ESPN dusting off an E:60 piece on
2007 incident involving Brandon Marshall.
Scandal sells this isn't
some new concept. There are 1600 players in the NFL yet less than 1% of the league has shrouded everyone under this dark cloud. While the majority of the players in the NFL may do
the right thing, there's no story in tracking the good guys. I say
this because while it's easy to immediately rush to a conclusion
before all facts are presented and pass judgment, I have a problem
with punishment being doled out before due process. Part of the
NFL's issue in dealing with this has been a monster of it's own
creation. When Roger Goodell came into the league he set himself up
as judge, jury, and executioner punishing players before the legal
process would even run it's course. This actually drew criticism and
it was this criticism that made Goodell take a wait and see approach,
but after the public outcry in the Ray Rice case he's now felt the
need to react again. That's not real leadership that's just going
the way the wind blows and there's always something about that
mindset and philosophy that just seems wrong to me. While lost in
all of this is that how can we help stem the appeal to respond in
violence to situations. This issue is bigger than the NFL beyond
reacting to surface it's time to look deeper.
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