Some may applaud the league for showing a great commitment to protecting women by changing its policy to a two-strike system that results in a lifetime ban. Others rave over how admirable the Baltimore Ravens are for cutting Ray Rice after the video leaked of him assaulting his wife Janay Rice.
I don’t want to downplay the abuse of any woman by comparing injuries, but why wasn’t the 2012 murder of 22-year old Kasandra Perkins enough to instigate change? Why wasn’t the shooting death of eight-months pregnant Cherica Adams enough to establish change? Or why didn’t any of these other seven occurrences of domestic assault by NFL players from 2005-2010 result in any more than a tap on the wrist? It’s because the National Football League has NEVER prioritized the concerns of women, and they’ve always been more interested in brushing their players’ bad behavior under the rug.
On March 12, 2011, when the NFL owners decided to stage a lockout of the NFL players over the collective bargaining agreement, the league and its players were given an unprecendented opportunity to sit across from each other in a boardroom and hammer out a new deal that would encompass new standards in compensation as well as punishment. After 18 weeks and 4 days of constant back-and-forth negotiating, they reached a consensus on a new agreement that identified major issues such as the salary cap, revenue sharing, rookie salaries and even player health and safety. They also established rules around punishing players who violated the leagues substance abuse policy. But there was nothing collectively agreed upon about punishment for domestic violence.
Allow a moment for that to really sink in. Women have been violently and viciously attacked since the inception of the league and they found absolutely no time to hammer out the details of punishing players for beating women. Yet, they did find time to explore specific fines and suspensions for players who got high or got drunk. Josh Gordon’s punishment was decided long before his recent troubles, because it was a collectively bargained punishment. But no one thought it significant enough to institute rules against domestic violence?
So when we see tough suspensions for the use of performance enchanting drugs, or smoking weed, it’s natural to wonder how someone can get suspended for an entire season for lighting up a blunt, and only two games for lighting up his wife. The easy answer is that we need to blame Roger Goddell for having his head up his ass, but the real answer is far worse than that. In fact, the real answer is what should really piss you off about the Ray Rice incident, the Greg Hardy incident and the Daryl Washington incident as well. Although nearly half of all arrests for violent crimes amongst NFL athletes is for domestic abuse, no one – not the commissioner, not the NFLPA, nor the player reps or other officials associated with the game – thought it was important enough to specifically address. Although every year there is a huge domestic violence scandal, no one in the league deemed violence against women important enough to institute tougher policies on players.
So to the Seth Rogen’s of the world, please stop believing it’s the commissioner alone who has prioritized substance abuse over domestic abuse, and understand that it’s the entire league – from Goodell to the NFLPA – who decided that it’s more important to settle on fines for players who come to camp overweight (article 42. Section 1. i), than it is to create penalties for players, coaches and executives who beat the shit out of their wives.
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Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.