More on the NFL

So, I've really been troubled by my relationship with the NFL, and I thought that I could get my thoughts out in the previous post, but it didn't seem that satisfying. Which is pretty much a summary about how I feel about what's happening in the NFL right now.

I was delighted to see that the Vikings took a stance last week by deactivating Adrian Peterson. By the end of Sunday evening, they had decided to reinstate him. They claimed that they had reviewed the case and studied all of the information. No new information came to light about the case for which he was indicted, but there were apparently allegations of his involvement about abuse with another of his children. So, apparently, if you beat one kid, you get deactivated. If you beat them all, you can play. Oh, they're also insisting that it wasn't because they got slammed by the Patriots on the day that their star running back was out of the game.

The Vikings are claiming that they're going to let due process take effect. There is no reason that sitting Peterson will interfere with said due process, but it will send a message to players in that organization: don't beat up your children.

Unfortunately, we don't have a video of Peterson beating his child. We don't have a video of him causing head injuries to another child while "getting a whoopin' in the car." So we can't all be outraged and do the right thing. We have to use the pictures of the child's bruised and cut legs (which they absolutely should not have released, in order to protect the privacy of the child, not the abuser).

Again, the more I see (or, more accurately, don't see) in terms of leadership from the NFL on these fronts (Greg Hardy has already been convicted of assaulting his girlfriend and threatening to kill her), the more sick to my stomach I become over the game I once loved, the game that gave me so much connection to my dad.

At this stage, I've been waffling about dropping my NFL Sunday Ticket subscription. I admit it, straight up, that I'm weak about this. Destroying memorabilia that I already own won't get me my money back from the league. But stopping my subscription, refusing to watch, that is voting with my dollars. Am I really ready to put such a huge gap in my September through February? We're talking no more NFL on 3 days a week, no more ESPN radio discussing football, no more using NFL sponsors when possible. It would literally be a shift in my entire paradigm to take that step. Maybe I'm not ready to give up. Again, I don't have a good answer. It may still take me a while to make that decision and get my money back from DTV. I wish I were more full of resolve and less disappointing to myself. I understand that implied hypocrisy.

Pink gloves and socks aren't going to be enough this time, NFL, to make us believe you care about women or our dollars. Bring us something meaningful and true.