Pardon me, guys,
(I tried to leave the salutation “Dear NFL” and just couldn’t.)
I keep trying to watch a game, really I do. I keep waiting for y’all to address the cases of alleged abuse by your players in a way that indicates you’re actually concerned about more than your bottom line.
I’m a huge fan of the Texans (is there any better ambassador of the sport than J. J. Watt? I don’t think so), but even J. J. and the gang can’t ease the knot in my gut that has gotten worse with every new detail released about how y’all are handling this opened can of worms that is the ever-increasing amount of cases of abusive behavior allegedly committed by NFL players.
I watched the Week 2 Thursday night game between the Ravens and the Steelers, because I could say that the other players didn’t deserve to be demonized for Ray Rice’s disgusting behavior. Then this article came out, and the knot in my stomach grew some more.
“The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.” -Abigail VanBuren
The commissioner, a career politician if there ever was one, provided this limp apology for the league’s disturbing response. All I could think when I saw this was, “This guy’s just trying to do budgetary damage control. There’s no genuine sorrow here at all.” Mr. Goodell, you never even apologized to the actual victims. Apparently, the folks in the back office have run the numbers, and y’all think you can financially weather this little storm without actually having to do anything of substance.
I love the game. I’m a rabid football fan (ask my roommates: the eye-roll will reveal all). But I am a woman first. I simply can’t stomach the game when its players’ union and its commissioner choose damage control over decency. Truth be told, I don’t think I watched one down last week, and, honestly, though I love my NFL Sundays, it’s not going to be a hard habit to change.
The terrible thought that keeps haunting me is this: how many unreported cases of domestic abuse exist in the NFL? If the cruel, flagrant, and obvious abuse of women and possibly even children (alleged in all but the horrific Ray Rice case, where the video evidence is absolutely damning) is dealt with in this flippant wait-it-out-and-it’ll-blow-over sort of way, then it’s not too much of a leap to think there may be a few more women and children in dangerous domestic situations. In case that reads a bit melodramatic, allow me to direct your attention to this article from AP. Apparently Jerry Jones has some ‘splainin’ to do too.
I know this is probably irrelevent to you: I don’t represent enough money to keep a volunteer ball-boy paid, but for the sake of the victims in these cases, I, as a woman and a mother, won’t watch your games on television. I won’t go to your games. I won’t buy your licensed merchandise. I won’t give you people one thin dime.
Make this right. And do so with more than pink socks and a few bucks tossed in the general direction of breast cancer research in October.
Sadly,
rodalena