No one should ever question that Joe Mixon should have turned the other cheek and walked away. It didn’t matter what was said to him or that she put her hands on him. His life wasn’t in danger, she couldn’t hurt him, so as a man you have to just walk away.
He made a horrible mistake, he reacted and he can never take that moment back. There is nothing he can do or say that will erase the visual of what he did.
This is simply are you the type of person that is going to hold what someone did in the heat of the moment when they were 18 years old against them for the rest of their life or are you going to give the young man a chance at redemption.
Some of you will be in the former category and if you are that is fine as long as you aren’t rooting for Tyreek Hill, Ben Roethlisberger, Frank Clark, Dez Bryant and more NFL players that will be in the playoffs who have abused or sexually assaulted women in the past. As long as you aren’t being a hypocrite then you can say you hope Joe Mixon never plays a down of football again. But, if you are being selective in your outrage then you are indeed a hypocrite of the highest kind.
I know especially in my profession I have cover these athletes fairly and if I were to say that Joe Mixon doesn’t deserve a second chance, that I couldn’t in good conscience report on a Ben Roethlisberger or Tyreek Hill.
So, I am willing to give Joe Mixon that chance similar to others. I will never forget the act, but if the future actions show a willingness to change and help others I am all for that. Mixon only has one shot at this, he is either going to prove a lot of people wrong or a lot of people right, hopefully for those who are willing to give him a second chance he won’t disappoint them.
Joe Mixon statement following his declaring for the NFL Draft pic.twitter.com/DV2vx36q9u
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 6, 2017