Domestic violence is where line must be drawn

Art Briles. I still can’t believe it. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats actually tried to hire Art Briles.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Art Briles is the former coach at Baylor University. While he was successful on the field, Briles was fired because he helped cover up sexual assaults by his players, who were later convicted of them.

He has been toxic and untouchable since 2016, when the scandal broke. Even in the win-at-all-costs NCAA, schools avoid him like the plague. Yet here we were last week with news that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hired him, then — on the advice of the league — fired him hours later.

Then, a day later it came out that former NFL quarterback bust Johnny Manziel worked out for the same Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Manziel has his own history with domestic violence.

It had to be a long week for the Tiger-Cats public relations staff.

This matters here because it shows how flippantly sports in particular sees domestic violence versus how they see winning. This is really dangerous in the CFL because most teams, including the Saskatchewan Roughriders, are dependent on the public purse for stadiums.

The owners who come hat in hand are the same ones across the league bringing in players like the late Lawrence Phillips, who while in college dragged a woman out of a teammate’s apartment by the hair and down three flights of stairs before smashing her head into a mailbox. He wasn’t even kicked off his team. He later went on to be drafted by the NFL and played for two teams in the CFL. Why? Teams thought he could help them win games and that was all that mattered.

The Riders last year brought up Greg Hardy. His domestic violence situation was just as disturbing and, while it is unclear if it was the team or the league that vetoed the signing, Hardy was close to being a part of the Green and White despite showing no hint of remorse for what he has done.

Maybe I am wrong; maybe all fans care about is beating Edmonton or having their photo with the Grey Cup while they drink overpriced stadium Pilsners. But when sports franchises act like domestic violence doesn’t matter as much as winning does, is that a line we want to cross?

If owners can’t control themselves and their executives, should governments who provide their new arenas not step in? If we are going to spend $100 million-plus on stadiums for them to play in, can we not expect a code of conduct that has zero tolerance for violence against women?

Former San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh used to tell his team he would stand behind them at all times unless they hit a woman. If a coach can decide that, why can’t an owner? If a league can’t do it, why can’t a provincial government say there are values we won’t compromise and domestic violence is one of them?

Maybe it’s time to get tough with society’s largest flouters of domestic violence: our sports franchises. If they can’t or won’t get behind the values of our greater society, perhaps it is time to cut them loose. Why are we putting public money into facilities only to give a platform to those that minimize domestic violence and sexual assault of any kind?

Sports is all about second chances, but it can also be about lines that must never be crossed. If the leagues won’t stop it, maybe it’s time for our local governments to step in and do it.