DÍAZ
New York Giants released the abuser, kicker Josh Brown.
It’s the same old story, same old act for the NFL and its teams across America. It’s a heinous crime to deflate a football or dance exuberantly in the end zone. There will be serious consequences.
Even infamous dog abuser Michael Vick was treated with much more contempt and scorn by the league. Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely without pay in 2007 for violating its player conduct policy.
Kill a dog = bad. Beat on a woman = eh, nothing to see here.
From Ray Rice to Greg Hardy to Brown, the NFL has left a systemic path of callousness and careless disregard. Always reactive, never proactive, and only then, bowing down to common sense and pressure from the media and domestic violence advocates.
Let’s review: The Giants originally suspended Brown for one game at the start of the season for his issues with domestic violence. But the NFL’s policy calls for a six-game suspension, provisions that were put in place in 2014 after the league’s PR fiasco involving the Rice case.
Previously, and blissfully unaware, the Giants signed Brown to a two-year, $4 million contract in April.
And then last week, after public documents chronicled a lengthy investigation into Brown’s arrest in 2015 for domestic violence in Washington state, the league suspended Brown with pay as the team traveled to play in London.
Incredible. Incredibly tone deaf.
Finally, the Giants shut down the circus by cutting Brown on Tuesday. And it took pressure from the media and other forces for league officials to get it right.
“I think we’ve made tremendous progress,” Goodell said, addressing the complexities of rights and privacy issues. And after that, his nose grew two inches.
There are always going to be gray areas involving due process. Speaking of, the NFL never did its due diligence in the first place. Documents involving Brown were first published by Deadspin.com. TMZ.com outed Rice by releasing a videotape of his rough encounter with his then fiance in a hotel elevator.
The NFL spent 10 months investigating Brown, never obtaining the public document. Perhaps Inspector Clouseau was on the case. Newsy and celebrity websites 2, NFL 0.
If only this were a fictional, comical farce.
In those documents, Molly Brown told police that her husband had been physically violent with her more than 20 times during the past several years. As the couple was trying to work out their problems, Brown invited his wife and her children to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii in January. They stayed in separate rooms.
But at some point, Brown showed up on Molly’s door drunk, wanting to be let into the room. Molly Brown refused, and called NFL officials and hotel security. Molly and the kids were moved to a different — and undisclosed — hotel room.
Brown’s punishment was that one-game suspension to start the season.
How insulting, appalling and absurd. Not only to women, but to every fan who has decency and a common sense filter.
The league of denial is at it again. Obviously Goodell and his buddies must be concussed when it comes to dealing with players who have issues mistreating women.