Ever since the video of Ray Rice
knocking out his then-fiance, followed quickly by Adrian Peterson and
the discipline of his son, domestic violence has been a topic of
conversation in the NFL. Ray Rice lost his career as a result of his
actions and Peterson lost nearly a full season. Most recently, it's
Greg Hardy.
Hardy's case is disturbing, to say the
least. He was found guilty of assault and “communicating threats”
but somehow he was able to set aside the conviction and opt for a
trial jury. This after the victim courageously testified against her
attacker, detailing the beating, the choking, the guns. Not
surprisingly, and as it happens in too many cases of domestic abuse,
she stopped cooperating with the prosecution and charges were
dropped. Nonetheless, Hardy had to serve an NFL-imposed suspension.
During his suspension, he was signed to
a new contract with the Dallas Cowboys. Many were openly critical of
the move by Jerry Jones, but Jerry assured everyone that Hardy was
deserving of a second chance, knew he had done wrong and had learned
from his mistakes. Immediately upon his return to the Cowboys,
following his suspension, he talked big about coming out “guns
blazing” and making really creepy remarks about Tom Brady's wife.
People everywhere, except Dallas, were outraged.
Now the photos of the woman he
assaulted last year have been made public. People everywhere are even
further outraged. Hardy's peers, across the league, are openly
condemning him. On ESPN's “NFL Countdown” show that aired on
November 8th, reporter Wendi Nix went on the attack (see
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wendi-nix-greg-hardy_563f87ede4b0411d307161a3).
One of the comments that she made really infuriated me, and it made
me think about a lot of the commentary and rhetoric being thrown
around by all the experts. The statement was that people didn't need
to see the pictures to know what happened.
BULLSHIT. People are acting like Ray
Rice and Greg Hardy are the first and second pro football players to
ever hit their girlfriends. The conversation went on to say that
Hardy should have had to earn the second chance he was given by the
Cowboys. Show some regret, contrition. Show that he's changed his
ways. BULLSHIT. Ray Rice did all the things that people say Hardy
should have done in order to get a second chance. Where is Rice's
second chance? He came out immediately very
apologetic, taking full responsibility for his actions, pursuing
anger management counseling, etc. It wasn't enough. But then again,
he was approaching the end of his career, with his best days behind
him. In comparison, Greg Hardy is 27 years old and in his prime. If
Rice had a few good, dominating years on the field left in him, you'd
see him in someone's uniform.
The
truth of the matter is that the NFL is not outraged by the violence.
If they were, incidents like Janay Rice and the cocktail waitress who
had the snot kicked out of her by Hardy wouldn't have been needed in
order to exact change. The only reason that the NFL is taking a hard
stand against domestic violence is because the videos and the
pictures were public, and it's the public who is demanding the
outrage.
And so to all those who are acting so
shocked and horrified at Greg Hardy and are sitting in judgment of
him, I say this: Get off your high horse and stop being such
hypocrites. Unless and until every person involved in the NFL, from
coaches and owners and players to journalists and talking heads,
current and former and future, unless and until a TRUE Zero Tolerance
policy is embraced, you are a part of the problem.
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