Shame on Goodell and the NFL Owners, Players & Sponsors

The great Charles Barkley once said,” “I’m not paid to be a role model. I’m paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court.” While it’s true, he was not paid to be a role model, there’s no denying that he was one. All professional athletes are, which is why it’s a disgrace that the NFL owners, Roger Goodell, and the Dallas Cowboys allowed Greg Hardy to return to the NFL playing field. Jerry Jones recently proclaimed Hardy a “real leader.”

My dad was a firefighter. He never drank. He worked multiple jobs to provide for the family. He taught me how to play baseball and golf, and helped the basketball coaches while hating the sport.  He was all I could’ve asked for in a father, but I didn’t have posters of him on my walls. And, it wasn’t just because he was my dad. I didn’t have pictures of any of his fellow firefighters on my walls.

I may have played fireman as a kid, but I never wanted to be a fireman. I didn’t pretend to be him at the basketball courts or on the baseball fields. I didn’t want to be him when I grew up. I wanted to be Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Andrew Toney or Dr. J.

I never wanted to be working multiple jobs in any of my daydreams. I wanted the paycheck of a professional athlete. I wanted the glory and accolades of a Hall of Fame career. I wanted the respect and adulation of an entire city, the way that people cheered for Mike Schmidt after a home run.

I don’t think I was that different from all the other kids in my neighborhood. I know that most of my friends pretended to be their favorite athletes, no matter which sport we played. Hell, we played soccer in the tennis courts at Piccoli Playground and people fought over who was Diego Maradona or Franz Beckenbauer.

This isn’t the 1800’s where people read books by candlelight in the evening. It’s not the 1940’s with families huddled around radios listening to games. This is the modern era, an era dominated by the television.

Television is filled with images of professional athletes with nice cars, designer clothes, and being treated like royalty­–revered. They visit the White House. Champions are given parades. Stadiums with crowds of 70,000 people or more cheering the athletes, giving standing ovations.

Back in the day, athletes were pretty much seen playing sports on the news and that was it. You may have seen them on a late-night television talk show or a cameo on The Brady Bunch. Now, exposure to athletes is non-stop with ESPN and a multitude of other sports-only networks. Some of the most popular video games are the sports franchises, where kids get to play as their favorite players. So, it goes without question that kids see how athletes are put on a pedestal in our society. As much as we may not like it, athletes are definitely role models.

The NFL owners, Roger Goodell, and NFL players should be ashamed of themselves. Greg Hardy viciously beat his girlfriend. The only reason that his case was dismissed on appeal is that the victim stopped cooperating with authorities after agreeing to a non-disclosed financial settlement with Hardy. And now, the world has seen the horrible photos that the NFL had seen. Don’t be naive enough to believe that teens and other kids haven’t seen those photos. They have been covered on every major news website from deadspin, to TMZ, to ESPN.

Should Greg Hardy be allowed to earn a living? Of course, just not in the NFL. The NFL and the other professional sports leagues have a higher moral duty than most any other corporations or “non-profits” in our country. They influence kids at an unparalleled level. If you don’t believe that, go to any gym in the inner-cities and look at the kids’ sneakers. They are almost all wearing either Lebron’s or Durant’s. Why are athletes given such huge endorsement deals? Because kids are influenced by them.

Playing in the NBA, NFL, MLB, or NHL isn’t a right. It’s a privilege. Goodell and the owners should have a policy of zero tolerance for physical violence, especially upon a woman or child. End of story. Let the unions fight it. That’s a fight they’ll lose in the court of public opinion and dollars. Those NFL anti domestic violence ads are not nearly enough. They are nothing more than lip service. Do something seriously about it.

If Pete Rose can be banned for life for gambling on baseball and putting the integrity of the sport in question, I’m confident that the NFL could ban a player for beating a woman. Surely, it devalues the integrity of the league.

Bob Costas told the world last night that Roger Goodell is not to blame here. He’s completely wrong. He’s to blame as is any owner who offered Hardy a contract, and any player who plays alongside Hardy. Their silence condones the beating of women. As Cris Collinsworth said during halftime last night, it’s time for the “big, strong, NFL players to take a stand and say enough, no more, not on our watch.”

The culpability doesn’t stop there. The sponsors need to pull their ads from any games that Greg Hardy plays. Microsoft couldn’t have been happy having their logo and surface tablets in front of a giant image of Hardy while Peter King and Mike Florio discussed the situation. The image looked like Microsoft endorsed Hardy.

The sponsors, the players, the owners, and the league continue to tell the youth in the stands and at home watching that it is acceptable to beat women, so long as you have or earn enough money. You may get suspended four games. That’s pathetic.

Jeffrey Lurie wrote his doctoral thesis on Hollywood’s depiction of women. What’s the NFL’s depiction of women? I’ll tell you. They are depicted as nothing more than punching bags if you see the video of Ray Rice’s elevator incident or pictures of Hardy’s victim.

A man who beats women shouldn’t be on the field or on our televisions simply because he might be able to help a team win a game or a trophy. Everyone involved needs to reevaluate where they stand morally in this world. Everything is not about the dollar. Well, obviously it is for the NFL. Shame on them and their sponsors.