The Sporting Life

I’m not a football fan; in fact I don’t follow sports at all. I always have something better, or more challenging to do when sporting events try to intrude in my life. I occasionally watch a game of the sport de jour because the channel  has preempted a more thoughtful show in order to pander to their potential sales audience. I also don’t know the first thing about “Fantasy Football”, and frankly can’t care less about that. I don’t gamble on sports events, and I don’t talk sports at the water cooler, in short I’m not part of the audience the sporting industry depends on.

All of that is by way of introduction to my thoughts on the latest “NFL scandal”. This isn't a scandal at all. The hoopla is being whipped up by people who know and care nothing about football, instead it is being driven by people who want a very lucrative business (the NFL) to feel a deep sense of guilt and give money to their cause.  In short, there is no “domestic violence epidemic” in the NFL, statistics show that it’s a universal social problem but the truth doesn't help drive the agenda being pushed by people with their own agenda.

Domestic violence is not an NFL problem it’s a cultural problem with a particular group of NFL players.  When you read their histories, or charge sheets, you quickly find they usually grew up in families that had poor or no male role models. Penury and abuse were constants in their lives, and they never knew there is a better way. Many of them were desperately poor as kids, shunned education and if not for their athletic ability, wouldn’t be making more than minimum wage. At least one player apparently was involved in some gang activity before he played football and it appears that he was unable to shed his history and upbringing when he reached success in the football world It may be that he didn't want to rise above his origins but the end result is that he now sits in jail awaiting trial for several murders. All of which happened after he signed a very lucrative contract with a professional team. What we don’t see is this kind of behavior among players who grew up in traditional families with strong male role models.

The NFL (and other major league sports) are aware of this problem and offer all sorts of social services to new players. The National Basketball League has problems with a similar player demographic and also offers the same type of program for new players. In addition all pro sports teams have very experienced investigators. The teams know a lot about these young men who are coming in to the sport. Not everything, but a lot. What they do with that information is problematic, but apparently they don’t use the data wisely; perhaps the profit factor is what drives them the most. The new found wealth allows these kids, which is what most of them are, to engage in irresponsible life styles. With no cultural background and no experience handling large amounts of money they tend to live dangerously, father children they have no interest in and ignore social constraints they should be aware of as members of society. They just spent like drunken sailors and have plenty of help from hangers on that wouldn't even talk to them if they weren't famous and wealthy.

I don’t think that the players involved should be banned for life as so many people seem to think is appropriate. If convicted, they should serve whatever punishment is meted out and then be allowed to resume their lives. The idea of prison is supposed to be punishment and rehabilitation. It is a separate discussion whether rehabilitation works or not and I’m not interested in having such a discussion. (My personal experience has given me many and varied lessons in that arena) The voices calling for suspensions and banning and the suspensions and banning being handed out by the NFL are a panic reaction to the media dog pile. Most of which is coming from people who never watch the NFL or have much interest in it other than trying to win concessions and money out of the league. Their shrill cries are mostly based not on criminal convictions, but upon allegations. And I’m not comfortable with that.

Is domestic violence wrong? Of course it is. Should Ray Rice, a thug who beat his girl friend and then married her so she couldn’t testify be sent to prison for some period of time? Yes. Should he be forever more banned from making money in the only way he is capable of doing so? I don’t think so and I think if you asked his wife, she’d agree with me. Do you think she’d be better off if she was married to Ray Rice and he was working at Walmart? Keep in mind that she married him after the assault and battery in the elevator. Sure, it would be satisfying emotionally to ban him forever, but would it be fair? The dynamic is slightly different with another player who is accused of child abuse, in my mind he should not be allowed unsupervised visits with any of his children. That’s pretty clear, but does anyone think that any of them will be better off he can’t play football after this case is settled one way or the other? Of course he has yet to have his day in court and if I were his lawyer I would strongly advise him to not make any public statements. The more he tries to explain and justify his child abuse, the worse he looks. That however is his problem, not mine. These are very emotionally laden issues, but that doesn't mean that people should react with emotion and not with their brains.

All of which makes me glad that I have absolutely no interest in sports and can live my life trying to respect the world I inhabit and those who share it with me.