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…
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