Keeping Up the Pressure

In 2008, 148.3 million people watched some part of the 42nd Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and New York Giants. On the other hand, only 133 million people voted in the 2008 presidential election. Remarkably, the top 20 most watched U.S. network broadcasts in television history have all been the Super Bowl.The NFL remains one of the most influential organizations in the United States, with the power to both make a stance on important social issues and shape the beliefs of many of its supporters. Recently, however, the NFL has failed to even set an acceptable standard for its athletes, let alone create a model worth emulating. The irresponsible and astounding incompetence the NFL has recently demonstrated when faced with shocking and widely publicized cases of domestic violence and child abuse are not only deeply disturbing but also disgraceful.Let’s start with the facts.As Joonho Jo’s article last week explained, the basics of the problem are beyond dispute: Ray Rice, a star player in the NFL, was criminally charged with physically assaulting his wife, and Adrian Peterson, another star, was charged with physically abusing his four year old child. Despite these accusations of serious crimes, they were both initially cleared to play by their teams and the NFL. After months of deliberation, the NFL handed Rice a meager two-week suspension—the same that other players had suffered for use of marijuana. Peterson was suspended for one game by his team before they held a press conference to announce that he would be reinstated. Rice’s team, the Baltimore Ravens, issued a statement saying the following: "The Ravens will address all of [Rice’s criminal accusations] next week in Baltimore after our trip to Cleveland for Sunday's game against the Browns."So that’s it? The face of your franchise beats his wife unconscious and drags her out of an elevator like a sack of potatoes, or he beats a four year old until he is bloody, and the team and NFL sweep it under the table by issuing meaningless punishments and essentially ignoring the issue? Is that all we can expect from the national leaders of our most prominent sports teams and our most important sports organizations?As it turned out, Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL, received a tremendous amount of criticism for his modest two-week suspension of Rice. Eventually, in the face of these attacks and only after a tape of Rice knocking out his wife with a left hook was widely circulated on national television, did his team and the NFL Commissioner reconsider and decide that Rice should be indefinitely suspended. Of course, it turns out that the NFL had been sent the tape of Rice knocking out his wife, but instead of acting, it chose to ignore it. While Goodell vehemently denies ever having access to the recording, it’s certain that the Ravens and the league received a detailed description of the video shortly after Rice’s arrest.Respected sports analyst and columnist Bill Simmons publicly called Goodell out on a podcast, saying, "[Goodell] is lying. I think that dude is lying... And for him to go in that press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted." Unfortunately, Simmons received a three-week suspension from ESPN for his statement. Sounds dangerously close to an infringement on freedom of speech to me, or perhaps a circling of the wagons to protect the NFL’s reputation, but I digress.The Peterson case is possibly worse. After suspending Peterson for one game, his team, the Minnesota Vikings, announced that he would be reinstated. The teams’ biggest sponsor—Radisson Hotels—however, announced that it was ending its relationship with the team, and the Governor of Minnesota publicly condemned the team. Only then did the Vikings revoke its decision and indefinitely suspended Peterson.So, at the end of the day, what’s the problem? Rice received his punishment and faces criminal charges, Peterson was indefinitely suspended and the NFL has condemned domestic violence and child abuse and said that it would issue a clearer policy and training for its athletes.The problem is that this wasn’t the NFL’s default reaction. It failed to pursue the matter thoroughly and either lied about receiving the explicit evidence from the elevator video (which I find very likely) or was so uninterested in the matter that they did not seek out the truth. They knew the gist of the situation, and they opted to leave it as be and award Rice a minimal suspension, as opposed to doing their jobs and investigating the case so as to make an educated decision regarding his punishment. And they wavered on Peterson, letting the Vikings reverse their position only because they faced the loss of a sponsor and public condemnation.The problem is that money trumps social justice. Sports culture is so prevalent in America that I would almost call it a cult; children idolize these athletes and consider them nearly divine, so how can the NFL prioritize their broadcast ratings and total viewers over setting a good example for the rising generation? If any crime these players commit is countered with nearly inexhaustible funds protecting them, and the NFL defends these criminals or fails to appropriately address the matter, then essentially that’s the same as justifying their actions.The problem is that the NFL sent its viewers a message that football is more important than domestic violence or child abuse. Two other NFL players, 49ers’ Ray McDonald and Carolina Panthers’ Greg Hardy, have also been arrested for domestic violence, yet were still permitted to play during their teams’ Sunday game several weeks ago.What kind of message are we sending to the next generation by rewarding such inexcusable violence and abuse with tolerance and leniency because the perpetrators are famous, rich athletes?Esta Soler, a prominent member of Futures Without Violence and adamant supporter of women’s and children’s rights captured this perfectly in an article she wrote for the MMQB. "The leaders of the institution—coach, GM, owner, commissioner of the NFL—should be speaking with a loud voice to say, We won’t tolerate it. They need to speak with a megaphone. They need to get it right. Our young people are listening to these leaders, whom they revere, and they are not sending the right message."Until the NFL takes a firmer stance on domestic violence and justly (and promptly) punishes players, regardless of their fame, it is sending the wrong message. Nor is feigned ignorance an excuse for incompetence. The NFL needs to make it a priority to investigate these cases and prevent further instances of domestic violence and child abuse by promoting education and awareness. Delayed responses can no longer be tolerated. The NFL suffered a severe blow to its public credibility with its inadequate responses to recent events, but finally was swayed by public opinion. The public can force it to change and so can its sponsors. We need to keep up the pressure. 