All day anymore I hear about bad behavior by
NFL athletes. It is becoming over the top anymore. Do football players just play football anymore or are they too busy beating their wives or children, getting busted for
drugs and guns,
DUIs,
possible sexual assault, and who knows what else?
I guess they have finally pushed me to the edge with the
Adrian Peterson ongoing stories of child abuse. Below is my
opinion piece for the
Dallas Morning News which makes my points. It is getting ridiculous anymore and I am shocked and dismayed by the league's impotence on these issues.
Four
children will die. They will die today, like they did yesterday and like they
will tomorrow.
The
children are not dying of cancer or heart disease; they are dying at the hands
of loved ones who are abusing them. You guessed it. I am talking about the
Adrian Peterson abuse situation.
Adrian
Peterson tells us he is just raising his children like his parents raised him.
Wrong. He isn’t raising children at all. He tells us he is just disciplining
his kids. He isn’t.
Study
after study tells us he is slowing the cognitive development of his own
children. That’s right. Peterson is increasing the likelihood of anxiety,
depression and antisocial behavior. Another worrying statistic: Children who
get “whooped” — Peterson’s description — are nine times more likely to become
involved in criminal activity.
Adrian
Peterson said he hit his child with a tree branch “10 to 15” times. However, he
said, he doesn’t “ever count how many pops I give my kids.” Look at his son’s
leg. It has at least that many marks where the switch caught his thigh. Use
your senses and let’s consider this 4-year-old — a 4-year-old who was beaten by
a man who is 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds.
The
police report notes defensive wounds to the hands. I wonder how able this child
was to defend himself against a guy who rushes through 300-pound giants.
I
won’t attack the game, but we need to realize that if the players cannot
control their impulses at home, they need to find a new line of work. I hate to
interrupt this young man’s ability to carry a ball down the field just to save
the life of his child, but let’s consider his child for a second.
Take
a look at the pictures of his child. If you can stomach it, take a look. Take a
second and let the images sink in. Now, what would you do if you sent your
child to a friend’s house and he came back with those injuries? Would it be
acceptable for your neighbor to “whoop” your child like that if he got out of
line? Peterson did that to his own son.
Listen
to his son. He didn’t want to talk to the police because he was “afraid of
Daddy Peterson.” Forget the statistics for a moment about learning
difficulties. Forget about long- term psychological issues. This child is
afraid of his own father.
Yes,
I am silly enough to think the National Football League should clean up its
act. They should suspend Mr. Peterson for a year and make him complete a
parenting program. Yes, I am silly enough to think that the NFL should keep
this man from his profession.
Of
course, for now, things appear headed in the opposite direction for Peterson.
The Minnesota Vikings reinstated him on Monday, a day after they lost 30-7 to
the New England Patriots without their star back.
“I
understand that this is a very difficult thing to handle,” said Rick Spielman,
the general manager. “Whether it’s an abusive situation or not, or whether he
went too far disciplining, we feel very strongly that that is the court’s
decision to make.”
Right
now, the league is lost. It’s lost like a child afraid of his or her own
parent, and that should scare every fan and every family.
Maybe
we should stop playing games until we learn how to deal with abuse.
Four
children will die today, just as four died yesterday. Let’s make it the last
day.
As always, I look forward to thoughtful comments and I hope I am not offending.
