Recently, the National Football League has come under intense scrutiny for the mishandling of personal/legal matters of certain players. Most notably the domestic assault case of Ray Rice and his then fiancée Janay Palmer. Months ago, we all became familiar with the tape of Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer out of a hotel elevator after they had been involved in an intense argument. Though we realized Rice had put his hands on Palmer, it wasn't until TMZ released a new video weeks ago showing what actually took place inside the elevator. We see an angry Rice punching Palmer unconscious and attempting to drag her outside of the elevator, at times kicking her feet and her motionless body. It wasn't until this video that we became truly angry. We questioned the NFL's Commissioner Roger Goodell's handling of the case and the details he actually knew. Rice claims that he told Goodell the truth about punching Palmer, and we have also heard a voicemail recording of a female in the NFL's front office saying that they have received the tape showing what happened inside the elevator.
Not long after TMZ released the video of Rice punching Palmer unconscious, Adrian Peterson, arguably one of the best players in the league, had been charged with child abuse. Ironically and sadly enough, one of Peterson's other sons was tragically killed by the hands of the mother's boyfriend. Reports also surfaced that Peterson was recently investigated for the abuse of yet another son. The Minnesota Vikings, the teams for which Peterson plays, has taken the necessary steps of deactivating him from the team--although with pay.
Two other incidents involving domestic violence have caused players to be deactivated from there teams--Carolina Panthers' Greg Hardy (although this happened awhile ago, but in light of the Rice controversy, the Panthers have changed their tune) and Arizona Cardinals' Jonathon Dwyer (this incident being the most recent).
My question is: how do you think the NFL should handle such cases? The NFL has a Personal Conduct Clause that each player must abide by, but how harsh should the punishments be? These cases are all also legal matters--should the outcome of these legal decisions affect how the NFL and each individual team punishes their player? Should Goodell himself be held responsible for the mishandling of the Greg Hardy and Ray Rice cases? And lastly, what does it say about our culture that even though we knew what happened inside the elevator, we didn't truly care until we saw a video of a strong NFL player knocking his fiancée unconscious?
My co-workers and I were just talking about this the other day. I hate the fact that just because they are famous athletes they have not been imprisoned for their actions yet. If they were regular men they would be behind bars somewhere, especially since there is video evidence displaying the abuse. The wealthy get away with too much. I'm glad the NFL suspended them, but I'm not happy with the fact that they are still being paid. I think they should have been terminated immediately after the evidence was released and forced to await trial without pay. Abuse needs to be taken more seriously.
ReplyDelete