On the "integrity of the game"

For the past few years, I’ve been looking forward to the annual occurrence of the Super Bowl, but not for the usual reasons - which team is the superior one, how will the quarterbacks perform against each other, how wide will the point spread be?  Rather, I now await the Super Bowl to see what fresh scandal will hit the NFL and to what degree will it manage the aftermath with more or less competence than the prior year? Last year, at this point, you may remember, Seahawks Cornerback Richard Sherman was in the news because of a tantrum he pitched in front of the cameras at the conclusion of their successful contest against the 49ers. Back then, I commented on the disproportionate and negative reaction of the news media to an incident that lasted exactly 34 seconds and which led to an Internet feeding frenzy (see my Blog entry at: http://lasallehs.blogspot.com/2014/02/why-we-need-black-history-month.html). Now, we have the question of who deflated eleven of the twelve footballs supplied by the Patriots for their 45-7 victory over the Colts in the AFC Championship game. The NFL, always quick to overreact and slow to anticipate the inevitable consequences of its own myopia (see Matthew Kory on Forbes’ Blog: Deflate-gate Is The Dumbest Sports Controversy Ever in which he reminds football fans that, ironically, it was the Patriots’ Tom Brady and the Colts’ Peyton Manning who encouraged the NFL to modify its requirement that the league maintain possession of all footballs used during the season), launched an investigation.

 Really? This, from an NFL that can’t police the behavior of its bad-boy players and their often corrupt owners?  To wit:

Ø     2007  - Patriots Spygate incident

Ø     2007 -  Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick's dog fighting ring

Ø     2009 -  New Orleans Saints bounty scheme

Ø     2013 - Patriots Tight end Aaron Hernandez murder case

Ø     2013 - Dolphins Offensive linemen Ritchie Incognito bullying teammate  Jonathan Martin

Ø     2014 - Ravens Running back Ray Rice dragging his, then, fiancée, from an elevator

Ø     2014 - Vikings running back Adrian Peterson whipping his child

 

I have to ask: what is the significance of a deflated football in a game - which concluded with a lopsided score - when viewed against the context of horrendous player (and team) behavior on and off the field? Where are the NFL’s priorities?

 Please don’t get me wrong; as an educator, I abhor cheating of any kind. Yet, I wonder how the NFL can assume such a high-profile presence regarding a minor violation of its game-day rules and continue to fail to establish and enforce policies governing player-behavior on and off the field - especially when it leads to an arrest?  NFL Vice-President Troy Vincent said the league is serious about the deflated football allegations because the integrity of the game is at stake.

Really? Then, is the integrity of the game not at stake when bad boy players beat up their future wives, or abuse dogs, or murder another football player? Where are the league’s priorities? If we accept the notion that, because of their popularity, major league athletes - like it or not - present themselves as role models to young people, then shouldn’t the NFL - which happily accepts the revenue generated by fans - young and old - pay at least as much attention­ - to the performance of its players off the field as it does on? What happens to athletes between the halcyon days of JV football and the world Michael Vick occupies?  

I don’t have answers to these questions; but I do know they form the context within which the La Salle family seeks to inculcate in the students entrusted to our care a righteous understanding of what it means to protect the “integrity of the game,” and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t look like what the NFL sees as its responsibility.

 

I guess I’ll just have to wait until next year…