He's suspended. Now he'll play. Oh, wait a minute, I guess he'll be put on the NFL exemption list. Don't worry, he still gets paid.
In case you haven't followed the seesaw of drama floating out of Winter Park this past week, I'm talking about Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who was indicted by a grand jury last week on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child.
After he was suspended from playing in the team's home opener last weekend, the team announced Monday (after a 30-7 loss to the Patriots) that Peterson would play while the legal process plays out regarding child abuse allegations toward Peterson.
Peterson's out
Wednesday, the Vikings front office changed its mind again. Peterson is now on the exemption list, meaning he won't be a part of team activities until the legal issues are resolved. With this new development, it's quite unlikely that Peterson will play another down of football with the Vikings this season. I also heard a plea agreement is not in the works and the matter will go to a jury trial. Of course, that can always change later.
To see this news unfold over the past few days has been interesting. After Monday's announcement, sponsorship deals fell apart and others, like a huge deal the NFL has with Anheuser-Busch, threatened to end. Radisson Hotels pulled it's sponsorship, making the backdrop for Vikings news conferences look a little different. Other companies in deals with Peterson pulled their money as well.
Then the Vikings announce they wanted to "get it right" and therefore put Peterson on the exemption list. The bigwigs at the news conference were asked if Peterson's performance on the field or the fall outs in sponsorship had anything to do with the decision. The answer was no.
We can guess...
But really, what were they supposed to say? I think all the backlash from the original decision to let him play, combined with his on-the-field talent and then the lost sponsor money all played a part in reversing the decision this week. But the team doesn't want to admit any of that, of course.
I'm glad to see the second decision, that Peterson won't play, even though it's quite interesting how the team arrived at that decision. Whether it's true or not, here's how you can read into it: Peterson is suspended. The Vikings lose big. Now Peterson will play, because the Vikings need his talent. Wait, now the team is losing money and support because of the decision, so I guess we better change our minds and keep him off the field.
Don't be a coward
One other thing to note, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf showed up at Wednesday's news conference, but he didn't take questions. And with all the negative, off-field news surfacing recently in the league, NFL commissioner Roger Goddell has been publicly silent. That's just not right.
The owners and big-shots are sure to take credit where it's due for the good things, like new stadium groundbreakings. But it's even more important to be there when things aren't so good. It's called taking responsibility.
I am in support of the league doing whatever it can to let players know they can't act however they choose just because they can play football. An NFL uniform does not give you permission to be above the law.
No comments:
Post a Comment