By Tyler Duke (Staff Writer)
It has undoubtedly been the worst week in the history of the National Football League.
The NFL has the biggest influence of any league in the United States. Unfortunately, they often do a bad job at representing themselves in the public eye.
Though the NFL cannot control what its players do off the field, they can take action when it is deemed necessary to hold players accountable. In the wake of the Ray Rice incident, it has failed miserably to correctly control the situation, and ultimately shown a very concerning trend to be true.
Domestic violence is one of the scariest crimes committed. It is also entirely too common. One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, 85% of domestic violence victims are women, and an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of domestic violence each year. Of women who are victims of homicide, one in every three is murdered by her current of former partner. It is a horrible reality in our world today.
NFL players seem to be a part of these statistics way too often. Some of the biggest role models in America today are continually in the news for the terrible crime of domestic violence. It is unacceptable, and it is a trend that has to be discontinued. The best way to do that is the NFL cracking down on players found guilty for domestic violence and making it clear that it will not be tolerated.
The problem is the NFL has not done that at all. They have actually made domestic violence seem like a pretty tolerable offense. Since Roger Goodell became the commissioner of the NFL in 2006, there have been 56 cases of domestic violence by NFL players. That is an average of seven per season. For those 56 cases of domestic violence, players have been suspended a total of 13 games. That is right; for 56 players that have had domestic violence arrests, not even a season’s worth of suspensions have been given out.
I suggest looking at the NFL player arrest database to see some of the sickening reports. To relate, wide receiver Josh Gordon is currently serving a 10-game suspension for a few failed drug tests. The drug in his system was an extremely low amount of marijuana. The message that sends is incomprehensible.
Ray Rice was arrested for domestic violence in February after he was involved in a physical altercation at a casino with his fiancée (now wife). A video was released of Rice dragging his unconscious fiancée out of an elevator.
The NFL suspended Rice for just two games. Due to the popularity of the video, many people complained that the suspension was not enough and eventually Goodell admitted that he did not get the suspension right.
Last week a video was released by TMZ that showed the actual physical altercation in the elevator. The video shows Rice spitting on his fiancée, pushing her, and then knocking her out with his fist as she charged towards him. The reaction was enormous, and people immediately called for Rice to be banned.
The Ravens released Rice when the video was made viewable to the public, and the NFL “indefinitely” suspended him shortly after. After people were able to see what was already known, the NFL decided to take appropriate action.
The problem is there are reports that the video released had been sent to the NFL months ago. Roger Goodell denies that he has ever seen the video. Even if he is not lying, that is not acceptable. There should have been extensive efforts to see the video, instead of ignoring it and handing out a minor suspension.
The NFL has to fix this issue. The enabling of domestic violence has to end, and there has to be a stand taken against it. The league needs to endorse the problem and show that it intends on being activists in domestic violence. Additionally, Roger Goodell needs to be removed as commissioner of the NFL. His mistakes have become too frequent, and he’s shown to be inadequate to hold such a prominent position.
In a bounty scandal with the New Orleans Saints from 2009, Roger Goodell stated, “ignorance is not an excuse.” Mr. Goodell, you could not be more right. Your ignorance in this situation is no excuse, and we deserve a better leader of America’s most popular sport.
