Knocking out your wife vs. Smoking Weed.
One is obviously worse than the other. You ask 100 people on the street which should be punished more severely 100 people will say the assault.
It makes sense right? One is a violent act against a woman, the other is a recreational drug that soon maybe legal in all states, so when Ray Rice was suspended for two games for uppercutting his now wife, it was easy to say that the suspension was BS.
Josh Gordon is being suspended for a year? Robert Mathis was suspended for a fertility drug (more likely PEDs)? But Ray Rice only got two games?
That isn’t logical? But the reason that it isn’t goes deeper than Gordon smoking weed or Rice committing assault. There is a fundamental problem with how the NFL doles out punishment.
Here are the rules for the NFL Drug and PEDs policy.
The first positive test for a “substance of abuse” results in the player formally entering an enhanced testing/treatment program, where the player is tested more frequently.
A second positive test results in the player entering the “stages of intervention” outlined in the policy.
In Stage 2, players are subject to unannounced testing up to 10 times a month. A positive test while in Stage 2 or failure to comply with the treatment program results in a fine equal to four game checks and a four-game suspension.
Players move to Stage 3 if they have two positive tests when in Stage 2 or one positive test to go with one instance when the player failed to comply with the program.
Players who are placed into Stage 3 remain in Stage 3 for the remainder of their careers.
The minimum suspension for a violation in Stage 3 is a calendar year.
Pretty cut and dry, the rules are set in stone. While there is an appeal process, if that fails the suspensions are set, no wiggle room around them.
Now, here is the NFL Code of Conduct policy.
Engaging in violent and/or criminal activity is unacceptable and constitutes conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League. Such conduct alienates the fans on whom the success of the League depends and has negative and sometimes tragic consequences for both the victim and the perpetrator.
The League is committed to promoting and encouraging lawful conduct and to providing a safe and professional workplace for its employees.
Prohibited conduct:
It will be considered conduct detrimental for Covered Persons to engage in (or to aid, abet or conspire to engage in or to incite) violent and/or criminal activity. Examples of such Prohibited Conduct include, without limitation: any crime involving the use or threat of physical violence to a person or persons; the use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a crime; possession or distribution of a weapon in violation of state or federal law; involvement in “hate crimes” or crimes of domestic violence; theft, larceny or other property crimes; sex offenses; racketeering; money laundering; obstruction of justice; resisting arrest; fraud; and violent or threatening conduct. Additionally, Covered Persons shall not by their words or conduct suggest that criminal activity is acceptable or condoned within the NFL.
Persons charged with criminal activity:
Any Covered Person arrested for or charged with conduct prohibited by this policy will be required to undergo a consultation and additional counseling as directed. Failure to comply with the consultation and counseling (including being arrested for or charged with additional criminal activity during the evaluation and counseling period) shall itself be conduct detrimental to the National Football League and shall be punishable by fine or suspension at the discretion of the Commissioner.
The last part is the important one. Criminal activity is at the SOLE discretion of the commissioner and that is the centralized problem with the entire process.
When you have rigid rules, no matter your personal feelings the punishment is what it is. We might not think smoking weed should get you suspended for four games for a second offense or a year for the third offense, but those are the rules.
When you have subjective punishment that is when human emotions take over. Everyone agrees you shouldn’t knock out a woman, so now the question begs what is the punishment? We have no set rule and only one person’s opinion matters.
Roger Goodell
He decided Rice’s crime was not equal to a two-time drug offender. Many disagree with that, I am one of those, but specifically what can we do about? The NFLPA agreed to these rules in the latest collective bargaining agreement. Instead of rigid rules, for various crimes they let the commissioner pick and choose what he felt was best. He is judge, jury and executioner.
That is a serious problem, but one that doesn’t have an easy solution currently. Until the CBA is amended and clarity brought to the punishments that aren’t drug related offenses these debates will rage on.
The NFL shouldn’t be a place where violence isn’t punishment as harshly if not more than drug abuse, but sadly for now it is.