I prefer the ugly truth over the pretty lie, even if I don’t agree with the person. Adrian Peterson and his father don’t think beating your kids is wrong. They haven’t been shy about saying that. I totally disagree with that (I outline why Peterson is a dangerous abuser here), but at least they aren’t lying about how they feel.
As a follow-up to the SI story on Peterson rationalizing his abuse, his father Nelson answered a question on why Ray Rice punching his wife made it more difficult for Peterson to get a fair shake in the NFL.
The 15 games [suspension] was something Roger Goodell was doing just to please the people. When you look at the overall picture, Adrian didn’t make the rules. I felt like the NFL knew they were wrong on how they handled Adrian’s situation. Trying to please the women’s organizations and different support groups. Take a stand. Show that we don’t condone this or whatever.
Here is where you need to understand the complexity of the issue. His statement is 100% correct in my mind. Without question the NFL found itself in a PR situation where domestic violence was happening often and they felt the need to punish people more harshly than they had in the past. Public pressure from fans, media and organizations forced that to happen.
The problem is while AP’s dad thinks Peterson got a raw deal, if you really think about it, in comparison to what happened to Ray Rice, Peterson got off light.
Ray Rice was initially suspended for two games for accurately telling Roger Goodell what happened in that elevator, but once the video came out he was banned and will never play in NFL again (he won his appeal but no team will touch him).
Adrian Peterson was paid during his suspension then got a raise in the offseason, so while his premise is right, Peterson considering what he did to his child he or his father shouldn’t be complaining.
But, because they don’t think he did anything wrong, they feel they were railroaded.