Sports is a very hot topic in our country. These men and women are looked at as heroes. But when you're viewed as a hero, you need to act like one. That's the issue that has been a reoccurring trend in the NFL. These superstars aren't looking like heroes. To be quite frank, it's disgusting.
Ray Rice, Super Bowl winning running back with the Baltimore Ravens. He beat his fiance in an elevator then the whole world saw the video. Adrian Peterson, one of the best running backs ever to live beat his son. Greg Hardy, a great defensive lineman beat his girlfriend. Sheldon Richardson, another amazing defensive lineman was caught speeding at over 140 miles per hour with a child in the car. You see the trend right?
Issues such as these, and there are a lot more than the ones I listed, are making the headlines week in and week out all year-round. It's an absolute disgrace and something must be done. Now the NFL is led by a commissioner that seems to never be able to make up his mind. He suspended Ray Rice for only two games initially, but then goes ahead and suspends Josh Gordon for a year due to weed. He suspended Tom Brady for four games for the allegations of deflating footballs. He suspended Hardy for four games for beating his girlfriend. There is an inconsistency with the commissioner's office, and it is giving the NFL a bad name.
So what can be done? The very first thing should be to fire Roger Goodell. The second thing that should be done is whoever replaces Goodell should map out a document that clearly states all the types of suspensions a player will receive when it comes to domestic assault. There really is no clear cut punishment for these domestic assault cases due to all the various different suspensions that have been handed out over the past couple years.
With that being said the minimal punishment for every single domestic case should be a year suspension and placed into a program such as anger management or something that will help change the player's mindset. The player should stay suspended until he completes the program and proves that he is worth to come back into the NFL. Kids look up to these players. The NFL needs to start a new trend and show that this crap is not okay. If the NFL starts actually cracking down hard on this stuff it will set a new tone in our society, and it will rub off well on others.
