It is now two weeks into the NFL season and
it’s shaping up to be the weirdest ever, topped only by the strike-shortened 87’
season with replacement players and the 2012 replacement refs debacle. There
has been more ink flowing the last few weeks about off the field antics then
the penalty filled yawn fests gracing our TV screens the past two weeks.
For me this question arises. How many of the types of incidents we’ve seen splashed all over all forms of media the past few weeks were buried and never say the light of day in the past? The stuff going on here is not new, not new in the NFL or the rest of society unfortunately. It is an uncomfortable feeling finding out our heroes are not so heroic isn't it? OJ’s four hour Ford commercial should have surely cemented that idea home. Charles Barkley said it best, “I am not a role model.” Pro athletes are just people like the rest of us and sometimes the rest of us, as people, we screw up. That’s’ why they put erasers on pencils, mistakes are pretty much a given. Should we hold these guys to a higher standard because they have chosen to do what they do for a living and have chosen to live in that fishbowl? No. Should they be held to the standards that the vast majority the rest of society makes an effort to adhere too? Yes. The perception is they are not and the NFL’s lack of foresight to head this kind of stuff off before it reached the credibility crisis they seem to be having now is its own fault. The recent moves they made to address the issues like domestic violence and child abuse have produced a collective, “Well duh, why didn’t you address this before, were you out of paper clips or something”? The game has changed a lot for me and I‘m sure for many longtime fans like myself, and not in a good way.
For me this question arises. How many of the types of incidents we’ve seen splashed all over all forms of media the past few weeks were buried and never say the light of day in the past? The stuff going on here is not new, not new in the NFL or the rest of society unfortunately. It is an uncomfortable feeling finding out our heroes are not so heroic isn't it? OJ’s four hour Ford commercial should have surely cemented that idea home. Charles Barkley said it best, “I am not a role model.” Pro athletes are just people like the rest of us and sometimes the rest of us, as people, we screw up. That’s’ why they put erasers on pencils, mistakes are pretty much a given. Should we hold these guys to a higher standard because they have chosen to do what they do for a living and have chosen to live in that fishbowl? No. Should they be held to the standards that the vast majority the rest of society makes an effort to adhere too? Yes. The perception is they are not and the NFL’s lack of foresight to head this kind of stuff off before it reached the credibility crisis they seem to be having now is its own fault. The recent moves they made to address the issues like domestic violence and child abuse have produced a collective, “Well duh, why didn’t you address this before, were you out of paper clips or something”? The game has changed a lot for me and I‘m sure for many longtime fans like myself, and not in a good way.
There were a couple of occurrences of note
that are part of the current seasons happenings that in no way diminish what we‘ve
seen of late, though are a couple of examples of organizations that make the effort to do good things. Not
everyone is clueless in the NFL though it feels like it sometimes. The Seattle
Seahawks signed a player to their roster to make sure he got paid and could take
advantage of the health benefits NFL players receive: Story here: http://agoodsportshang.com/2014/05/24/seahawks-do-the-right-thing-for-scott/
Another
surprise was the Cincinnati Bengals selling one players jersey to help fund
cancer research: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/09/bengals-selling-devon-still-jerseys-for-cancer-research/
NFL
players have never been nor will they ever be choir boys, the nature of the
game make it so. Signing up to have 60-70 car accidents in the span of 3 to 4
hours one day a week for 5 months of the year would make any one a little
addled in the brain pan. Will the social
issues that keep coming to the surface be addressed in such a manner that it doesn’t
appear as just pandering to sponsors? Time will tell, though my inner cynic says no. Some of us will keep watching,
others will only watch with one eye, some will walk away. Me? I ‘m going to go
brush my teeth and get this bad taste out of mouth.
