Trending
Adrian Peterson out, deactivated because of the child abuse charges filed.
Greg Hardy out, deactivated Sunday morning before Carolina’s game due to his domestic violence conviction.
Ray Rice out, suspended indefinitely because he punched and knocked out his then-fiance, now-wife in February.
Ray McDonald in, played in Sunday night’s game with Chicago because San Francisco is operating under the “due process” umbrella.
Peterson.
The Minnesota Vikings running back was booked into the Montgomery County, Texas, jail around 1 p.m. Saturday and released about 30 minutes later after posting $15,000 bond.
He flew back to Minnesota.
Peterson was charged with reckless or negligent injury to a child, indicted by a grand jury.
This happened in May when the child visited Peterson in Texas. The child, a 4-year-old boy, had allegedly pushed another of Peterson’s children off of a motorbike video game. Peterson grabbed a tree branch, stripped it of its leaves, and used the switch on the child.
Repeatedly.
“When the boy returned to Minnesota, a source confirmed, he was taken to a doctor’s appointment in the Twin Cities,” the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. “Seeing the child’s injuries, the doctor contacted Minnesota authorities, who alerted Houston police. The case eventually was referred to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, which has jurisdiction over the area where Peterson maintains a home, and then to a grand jury.”
Peterson’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, issued a statement that said “Adrian has never hidden from what happened. He has cooperated fully with authorities and voluntarily testified before the grand jury for several hours. Adrian will address the charges with the same respect and responsiveness he has brought to this inquiry from its beginning.
“It is important to remember that Adrian never intended to harm his son and deeply regrets the unintentional injury.”
It is alleged that the beating of the 4-year-old resulted in numerous injuries – defensive wounds to the hands and cuts and bruises to the child’s back, buttocks, ankles, legs and scrotum.
According to Darren Rovell, “the Vikings paid Adrian Peterson $705,882 Sunday. That’s $43,448 more than the Seahawks will pay Russell Wilson for the season.”
Hardy.
He was convicted by a Mecklenburg County, N.C., judge in July after authorities said he choked his then-girlfriend, dragged her by her hair, threw her around and threatened to kill her.
The judge sentenced Hardy to 18 months of probation and a 60-day suspended sentence for the May event.
Hardy claims he is innocent and has appealed the verdict.
Under North Carolina law, he will receive a just trial.
Panthers head coach Ron Rivera said on Friday that Hardy would start.
“We are in a process, as we’ve said, and we are letting the process play out. … We’re not trying to do anything below board, we are trying to go through the process as we understand it. We are going to do the best we can.”
After Sunday’s win, Rivera talked about Hardy’s deactivation.
“We have to go through a very difficult process and he has to go through one, as do other people as well,” Rivera said. “This is a very serious situation and set of circumstances. We are going to work things out and hopefully we get it right.”
Rivera did not put a timetable on Hardy’s return.
According to Andrew Brandt, “deactivation does not affect pay (unless active roster bonuses, none here). Greg Hardy will make $772,000 for (Sunday’s) game.”44
Rice.
This situation is a little different in that the authorities – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the Baltimore Ravens and the district attorney’s office in Atlantic City – did not fully do there due diligence before the two-game suspension was handed down by Goodell.
In addition, the district attorney’s office chose not to file charges and the Ravens did nothing more than what Goodell meted out.
It wasn’t until TMZ obtained and showed Rice’s punch, knowing Janay unconscious, that the public uproar began to get loud.
Rice claims he lied to no one – including Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome and Goodell.
Goodell, through published reports, has claimed otherwise.
Published reports from Pro Football Talk say Rice will appeal his indefinite suspension.
The person who will resolve this appeal will have to determine whether Rice lied to Goodell. Newsome has said that Rice did not lie to him.
The appeal will be handed by the NFLPA and an outside attorney that Rice has retained.
McDonald.
He was arrested about 3 a.m. Aug. 31 and jailed on felony domestic violence charges, accused of hitting his pregnant fiancee. He posted bail later that afternoon.
McDonald was approached that day by a television news reporter and said, “I can’t say too much, not right now, but the truth will come out. Everybody knows the kind of person that I am. I’m a good-hearted person.”
California Lt. Gov. (and former San Francisco Mayor) Gavin Newsome and his wife, Jen Seibel Newsom, thinks McDonald should not have been in uniform Sunday night.
“The city and county of San Francisco and the entire Bay Area has long stood staunchly on the forefront of domestic violence awareness and prevention. That’s why the 49ers’ continued insistence on playing Ray McDonald during his ongoing criminal investigation is a painful affront to every victim of domestic violence and sends a troubling message to our community and especially our children that ‘zero tolerance’ are empty words, not real actions.
“In light of the increased public awareness of this issue in the wake of the horrific Ray Rice assault and today’s decision by the Carolina Panthers to deactivate Greg Hardy, we strongly urge the 49er organization we grew up revering to do the right thing – right now – and bench Ray McDonald, pending the outcome of his felony domestic violence investigation by San Jose law enforcement.”
The NFL is becoming unwatchable for a variety of reasons – good, hard hits flagged; catches overturned; offense getting most every pass interference call, are just a few.
But, the above-mentioned four players are another reason.
Due process is a joke in the NFL.
Due process means nothing.
Due process is for the judicial system.
Due process is not for a corporation.
If I get arrested for felony ‘A’, my employer has every right to not allow me to work for them until due process has worked its way through the courts.
If I get charged for felony A, my employer has every right to end my employment, if they so desire.
If my employer no longer wants me to represent their brand, I’m not sure there is much I can do about it – other than not get arrested and charged for felony A.
You know, stay out of trouble.
Because of the CBA’s in each sport (collective bargaining agreements), there are only certain things professional teams can do when it comes to discipline.
Every NFL contract has a personal-conduct policy in it and these are the reasons three of the four are not playing.
It has been a terrible week for the NFL, but a worse week for women and children.
Professional athletes do not have “a right to play.”
Privilege to play is more like it.
Every sports franchise or corporation has a right to terminate that privilege, whether it be temporarily or permanently.
Perception is reality and the perception of the 49ers is they are allowing a player arrested for domestic violence to play.
Why?
Because he’s good.
Please understand that in professional sports, the more talented you are, the more rope you are given to hang onto your job.
A fringe player is cut before they even post bond.
It’s time for all sports franchises to really show what a zero tolerance policy is.
(Mathison, a Weirton resident, is the sports editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times and can be contacted at mmathison@heraldstaronline.com, followed on Twitter at @MathisonMike and is on the radio weekday mornings from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. with Joey Klepack on WEIR-AM)