the NFL : pretty much like the rest of America

   Ray Rice. Adrian Peterson. Greg Hardy. Ray McDonald. Names in the news. Fists on videotape. Pictures of cuts and bruises. There are no excuses for these things and there is a need to punish and hopefully bring about an ending of physical, emotional and psychological spousal & child abuse / domestic violence.
   Who is going to argue these things? No one.
   But who is saying that suspensions and firings and the continual showing of these events on tv & the internet is ok? Not everyone.
   These things are complicated (still wrong, yes, but complicated). Ray Rice's now wife didn't press charges. She has gone to the media and asked them to stop showing the video (and how and why is it legal for that video to be shown?) Her husband is now fired and probably blacklisted from his limited career path (and certainly won't get hired by the media to cover his former sport; if he's lucky he'll get a low-level coaching gig to provide money for his family and put bread on his table).
   In the meantime two of his co-workers have been arrested with fairly solid evidence (one - Greg Hardy - actually convicted already before a judge, now just awaiting a trial before jury) and continued to play (before Hardy was suspended again by his team the other day, but he still played the opener with all this over his head) football. Which means - if they're wise (at this time) - they can save their paychecks before (if?) they get fired.
   Adrian Peterson spanked his child excessively and used a switch. I, personally, do not agree with this method. I think he went way too far. I don't like it, but I also wonder where he learned it. And, I assume, he received these lessons growing up, himself. And this is why I think his story is complicated: the history of America, the history of the world & families very much includes stories of parents spanking and punishing their children.
   I saw one tv show clip in which all 4 reporters raised their hands to say they had been spanked as children. One adamantly exclaimed at the end, "But we don't do it to ours!" Which is great. Except, on tv, at this moment, is anyone going to publicly admit that they spank their child or do they fear they too might get arrested shortly after?

   This mess is complicated. I hope and believe the legal system will resolve the issue. Teams should be able to suspend with or with partial pay their employees who have been arrested. Teams should be able to fire without consequence their employees convicted of crimes by the legal court system. IF teams feel pressure (from fans, from the other owners (which means from sponsors), or from their own concerns about the player performing up to their abilities) they should be able to keep the player inactive until that trial.

   Innocent until proven guilty. If the police arrest someone they should be in and remain in jail until bail is posted or charges are dropped. All colors, all races, all genders, the right to due process. I think this is important, and firmly have no doubt that this goes unfollowed continually. I think and know this by past evidence of countless players who have been accused/arrested for domestic violence in the past, and many have gone on to play out their careers.

   The NFL has human beings playing for them, people who are pretty much like the rest of America. There are lots of good guys: I hope more of those stories get exposed. The bad guys get the press. I understand why, but it seems there could be simple rules for what happens when an employee gets in trouble. The commissioner, Roger Goodell (and therefore the owners), need to get this done for the future. For their sake, and for the sake of the league's image, and because it's the right thing to do.

   And, I pray, that all this media exposure about domestic violence won't just teach people that it's important not to get caught, but that it's important to not hit/hurt the ones you say you love.

   For a great article about more recent history of domestic violence and more in the NFL, please read Louisa Thomas', "Together We Make Football" from September 17, 2014.

http://grantland.com/features/nfl-football-domestic-violence-ray-rice/

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1 Corinthians 13 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 butwhen the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.