America’s most powerful sports league, the NFL, faces growing criticism over its handling of players off the field. Domestic violence and related incidents rank among NFL’s biggest off-the-field issues, 87 arrest involving 80 players over the last 14 years. The league has struggled to balance justice, fairness, and its obligation to players.
Recently this domestic violence issue has been the talk of NFL fans and football fans in general. Everyone has an opinion on the actions that should be taken to discipline and correctly resolve these situations. Ray Rice, running back for the Baltimore Ravens is currently serving an indefinite suspension by the NFL league for striking fiance Janay Palmer in the face in an elevator of the Atlantic City Casino in New Jersey.
The video of Rice hitting his fiance and then having to drag her limp, unconscious body out of the elevator was posted online by TMV. Both Rice and his fiance were arrested for simple assault. Rice was fired from the Ravens and put on indefinite suspension. Owner of the Baltimore Ravens, Steve Biscotti, wrote an open letter to all Ravens fans stating that he, nor team officials, had seen the video .
“Seeing that video changed everything. We should’ve seen it earlier. We should have pursued our own investigation more vigorously. We didn’t and we were wrong.” said Biscotti.
Fans were not sold on the NFL saying they had seen no video, due to the fact that it was released on social media for anyone to see. Many supporters and companies that sponsored the Ravens and Rice no longer do. Such as Nike, who terminated deals with him, and EA sports, who is removing his name from the latest and most popular video game Madden 15.
Fans are upset and disappointed in Rice, as they should be.I believe what Rice did was not right. Physical abuse especially towards a women is not appropriate. Rice should be paying his time for the crime he committed. Domestic violence is not something that anyone, whether they play in the NFL or they live in a small town, should get away with or associate in. The NFL is taking non stop hits about these situations.
Adrian Peterson, star running back for the Minnesota Vikings, is in the same situation as fellow running back Rice. Peterson will not return to the field Sunday due to being placed on the NFL exempt list, suspending him from participating in any team activities because of being charged with child abuse, after a whipping incident that left bruises and wounds on his 4 year old son.
Peterson told police that he grabbed a tree branch, removed the leaves, and whipped his son so many times he lost count. Some don’t believe there was anything wrong with the way Peterson was discipling his son, others don’t agree at all. He is going to remain on the exempt list until the case is resolved.
I believe that Peterson probably didn’t need to go to the extent in whipping his son the way he did. His son only being four years old, I think he is a little young to have left such intense bruises and scars.
The aggressiveness that football players have on the field now is being brought off the field and is causing serious domestic violence issues that are ruining their football careers. Peterson and Rice are two star running backs in the NFL, and this negative publicity being drawn to them has people nation wide turning against them.