Degrees of villainy in Adrian Peterson vs. NFL
The NFL suspended Adrian Peterson for the remainder of the regular season without pay Friday, citing "aggravating circumstances" as its rationale for imposing such a harsh punishment.
The ruling means Peterson will miss 15 games this season (nine with pay and six without), a much harsher punishment than many expected. He can apply for reinstatement in April.
The announcement sent football fans into a tizzy of hot takes, most of them focused on the NFL's seemingly arbitrary policies of player discipline and commissioner Roger Goodell's blatantly unjust status as the league's judge, jury, and executioner.
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith accused the league of making the rules up as it goes along. It's difficult to see it any other way. The Ray Rice fiasco was the clearest example to date of the NFL's cluelessness and lack of consistency on matters of discipline, but the problem has existed throughout Goodell's entire tenure as commissioner. The commissioner selectively enforces rules and invents new ones as it suits him.
Goodell's done it again this time, and there's very little Peterson can do about it.
The NFLPA will reportedly appeal Peterson's suspension on his behalf, alleging the NFL reneged on a commitment to apply Peterson's time on the Commissioner's Exempt list to his discipline as time served. It's an appeal the union can't win.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter if the league backed out of a deal to mitigate Peterson's punishment with time served. The new player conduct policy introduced in August stipulates that a first offender guilty of a violent offense will be suspended for a mandatory six games, but, more importantly, it reserves the right for the league to impose further discipline "when circumstances warrant."
Goodell reserved a hammer for himself and now he's swinging it. It isn't difficult to find "aggravating circumstances" when you need them. When the crime in question involves a child, as Peterson's does, the league has carte blanche to impose whatever discipline it sees fit.
Sound unfair? It certainly is. As Smith alleges, the league truly is making things up as it goes. Goodell's arbitrary and limitless powers are damaging the sport. Players and fans alike deserve a league that's transparent and consistent in how it governs. Instead, we get a tyrannical dictator.
Let's not lose sight of the more heinous villain here, though.
It's not the man running the show, however unjust his disciplinary policies are. It's the 6-foot-1, 217-pound NFL star who repeatedly whipped his four-year-old son with a wooden stick, causing multiple cuts and bruises to the child's legs, back, and scrotum. It's the man who said after drawing blood from a helpless child that he would do it again.
The NFL got this one right, even if its process was all wrong. Peterson doesn't deserve to play football this year. He must complete an extensive counseling program and he must show remorse for what he did. Above all, he must convince not only the NFL but the public that he will not abuse his children in the future. Until he meets those conditions, he has no place in the NFL.
Goodell's unchecked power must be challenged, but the case of a child abuser, however fun he is to watch on Sundays, isn't the right one on which the anti-Goodell movement should plant its flag.