The recent slew of National Football League players gaining media attention is on the rise, but not in the way one might think.
Domestic violence and child abuse cases have been in the spotlight lately in the NFL, with players such as Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson heavily scrutinized in the media. The league has always been known as a “bad boys club” filled with questionable role models, but now it is getting much more attention for violent acts off the field.
Rice was suspended indefinitely for allegedly knocking out his fiancé in an elevator. The Minnesota Vikings’ Peterson supposedly struck his child with a stick until his thigh was bleeding. And most recently, Arizona Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer was barred from team activities following his domestic abuse case.
In the situation of Baltimore Ravens running back Rice, the scrutiny is not only falling on him but also NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who allegedly knew that Rice initiated the violence against Janay Palmer but hid it from the public until TMZ released footage of the incident. If the league knew about the video beforehand, is it right to hide that fact in order to help someone?
“No, absolutely not,” said Tom Scott, a senior film student at Azusa Pacific. “They didn’t necessarily have to show the video to the public, but they should have been upfront about it and admitted to seeing it if they did already have it in their possession.”
As Christians, what are we to do when we hear stories of domestic violence such as this? Responses range from calling Rice a monster to fellow running back Arian Foster’s response in a tweet: “Everybody is just riding the media wave. There has been tons of dv [domestic violence] cases throughout the years where was all this support then? Its political” (sic).
As controversial as Foster’s statements are, this cannot be the first time domestic violence has happened involving the NFL. His comments do cause one to evaluate and wonder if we are just going with the media on this one or we actually have a heart for victims of domestic violence.
“I think we do care. I don’t think we are talking about this because someone got caught on video,” said senior business management major Joseph Antos. “NFL players serve as role models to a lot of people, and when they get caught doing things like this, it should be talked about.”
With the slew of new domestic violence cases hitting NFL players, many have begun to question the league’s punishment policies regarding personal conduct violations. Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was suspended for an entire season for smoking marijuana, but Rice was suspended for two games initially for knocking a woman unconscious.
There has been no league punishment yet for running backs Peterson and Dwyer. ESPN reported that the NFL Players Association, the union for all the league’s athletes, has recently petitioned for Rice’s indefinite suspension to be overturned because the union feels that he was punished twice for the single incident and no player should be suspended indefinitely.
Whatever the outcome in the NFLPA and NFL hearing is, the consequences of it are likely to impact the NFL and its fans for many years to come.