Well, it's late August and today is the final game of the NFL pre-season. Rosters are being finalized, responsibilities are getting re-prioritized in homes across the country and if you haven't drafted your fantasy team yet, you will be any day now. Football season is unlike any other part of the year. It's a love and passion that is hard to duplicate and it's a contagious positivity when your team is winning. I believe it's safe to say that I respect the game.
What I don't respect is the bureaucracy bullshit that happens throughout the league. Rules and regulations are established by the players and administrators of the league to protect each other and the integrity of the game. But so often when a questionable issue arises where a player may be getting the short end of the stick, commentators say things like "They lost this battle at the bargaining table." This is in reference to the Collective Bargaining Agreement that is revisited every handful of years. Player and league representatives basically draw up a "constitution" that spans for a set period of time that will be the rule book for governing the league. Just yesterday after a decision was made by the league to ignore the appeal of Cleveland wide out, Josh Gordon for failing a drug test I realized how obtuse the league really is.
This is Gordon's second failed test in 3 years, but admittedly the traces of the drug were so low, it'd almost be improbable for it to be from direct consumption. But a failure is a failure is a failure. I don't necessarily disagree with the way the drug program is setup in the league; Each failed test elevates your status in the program which in turn creates harsher punishments for each following offense. OK, fine. Get caught with steroids in your system once, 2 game ban. Twice, full year ban, and so on. But smoking marijuana? Hardly a drug that affects games like steroids do.
But how is it that smoking pot, which is legal in 2 of the 20 something states that the NFL operates in, gets you suspended for the year and being caught on video knocking your fiance out is only getting you suspended for two games?? I understand this was not Josh Gordon's first offense where as Mr. Ray "Not Nice" Rice had never gotten into any trouble prior to the KO of his now wife, but c'mon!
A handful of years back, Donte Stallworth who I believe was also playing for the Browns at the time hit a pedestrian in his car while drunk driving... That man died. Donte got the same suspension as Gordon. I'm sure if OJ was still in good shape, Goodell would consider his re-admission into the league. I'm dumbfounded.
Understandably I'm not the only person who thought this was the stupidest shit ever, so people complained about Rice getting off so easily. Rightly so, the NFL announced a new rule today specifically for domestic violence. For your first offense, you get a 6 game suspension; for a second offense, you're banned for life. At the surface, that makes MUCH more sense. We don't want some asshole who is built to punish the physically elite of the world, able to punish his partner (man or woman) without serious recourse, but now my concern falls into a deeper category. One that exists commonly in rape cases.
Let's be clear here, I DO NOT CONDONE RAPE. Not even a little bit. My concern is that our society treats the issue with such ferocity that sometimes an accuser doesn't even need any evidence to drag someone's name through the mud first. Then even worse, if they were to create some public spectacle only to later admit to lying, there is little to no recourse for the slandered victim. So essentially a woman could say "Why not, what have I got to lose?" And it's a shame because that takes an egregious act in which a person should be protected at all costs and makes people like myself start with a little skepticism rather than support. To this day, I think Kobe got fucked over. It's not a popular stance, but it's reality.
It's not just athletes either, it's any entertainer that is at risk to be falsely accused. Women see women profit with settlements out of court and it no longer is a way to prevent the terrible act from happening again, it's a way to make some money; It could literally be your career. I bring all of this up to support the idea that the NFL is perpetuating a faulty system and while they continue to get richer, their commodities continue to lose value. Here is a particular scenario that I believe could be problematic given the black and white perspective the NFL currently holds.
Imagine a young man like Johnny Football coming out of college. Barely 21, so physically gifted that they never really intended to finish college, just get to the pro's and start signing contracts. There is nothing wrong with that; People forego school to jump into their profession every day, this should be no different. These kids go from broke students to millionaires over night and these same kids are going to make mistakes.
So one drunken night in Vegas a fight breaks out on the strip and everyone is trying to hold everyone else back and all of the sudden said rookie instinctually (but accidentally) pushes a lady down in the melee resulting in a severely bruised arm/leg/face/whatever. The act itself was not intended to harm the female, rather it was a matter of a legally drunk kid making a mistake that left someone (who may not be all that innocent in the first place) in pain. Since the woman knows he's a pro football player and has money, she decides to press charges. STRIKE ONE.
[disclaimer: if you honestly think I'm making these terrible types of people up, you are too naive to understand my argument, so you may stop reading now]
Now, for the rest of his career, this same player has to walk on eggshells in public and potentially isolate himself to avoid a second strike that could take his livelihood away. Not in a manner of 'staying away from violence' but having to avoid new people because he's worried he could get screwed. Forget the fact that this is a common bi-product of being famous, but imagine the mental impact of having to remain that guarded in order to stay employed the only way you know how. Now consider said player meets a girl while out with friends. She seems nice and sweet; This girl could come on to this player, take him to his or her room and instead of crying rape, she just has to wrestle with the guy enough that he accidentally gives her a big enough bruise that she could extort him. Seem implausible? Again, read the disclaimer above the last paragraph.
I say this all to draw the line that if the NFL is so black and white about their policies that a player who killed a man while drunk driving gets the same punishment as a man who possibly smoked a plant that is responsible for zero deaths or diseases (in fact, quite the opposite) and is far from performance enhancing, what kind of trouble will be created from this new domestic violence "fix"?
How about instead of letting Roger Goodell (who made 35 million in salary last year) be the fucking Pope of all things pigskin, you hire a panel of people like you would in a regular court room. Literally, Josh Gordon could invest $100,000 in a legal team that pulls experts and depositions from witnesses to defend himself and Roger Goodell can just look at it and say "Ehhhhh, nah. Suspended." I'm dumbfounded.
Furthermore, with all this bullshit about player safety being the new fad among the higher ups in the league, how is it that you treat someone who failed multiple drug tests by isolating him from his support system? A kid who has spent his whole life playing football trying to get to the big stage, makes a few mistakes off of the field and the teammates and coaches that helped support him through the hard times and celebrated him during the good times are no longer accessible to him? Do you honestly think that is helpful?
You're concerned about concussions because you don't want to get sued by the players and you don't want your sport to suffer. It has nothing to do with player safety. If it did, people like Wes Welker who has had more concussions than playoff appearances would not be allowed to play. If player safety was really a major concern, then you would spend some of the billions in UNTAXED revenue that you make each year (yes, the NFL is considered a non-profit organization because of the way the money is distributed, so they are tax exempt) and setup a program for these people to be cared for and guided. What is wrong with Josh Gordon coming to the building every day and practicing with the team? Learning to work hard without the payoff of playing in the games builds character.
The punishment is that he cannot make his salary (fair) and not participate in games that could also lead to future revenue of some kind (still fair), but what about the well being of the player? Should he lose a year of practice with his team? Should the team lose a leader because he made a mistake? I'm just fucking lost. How is it that nobody is up in arms about this? Can you lead a revolution against a company like the NFL? They know people won't boycott their product, which means sponsors will always be available, which means the cogs continue to turn regardless of how things are currently running.
Beyond the fact of all this non sense, the NFL is hands down my favorite thing on the planet to be entertained by. By the numbers, there is far less Tom Foolery happening in the league than there is good old fashioned football, but when the league is such a money maker, they tend to push their own agendas and the integrity of information and entertainment are ultimately compromised. This Josh Gordon/Ray Rice issue is just a symptom of a bigger problem and unfortunately I feel like it won't be addressed. The NFL released this new domestic violence rule as a way to "fix" the problem... Well good for you, you just took Nyquil to help you sleep but you still have a cold. It's just exhausting to love something when you know how broken it is. It makes you feel a little dirty when you think about it long enough. But it's a machine I don't think we can stop and they know it...
So as the NFL grows, it is becoming self aware. And if you ever saw any of the Terminators, that's never a good thing.
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