After being charged with child abuse late last week, star running back Adrian Peterson was informed by the Minnesota Vikings Monday afternoon that he would be allowed to return to team activities for Sunday’s game against the Saints.
Peterson of course has become just the most recent name added to a long list of NFL players who have entangled themselves in legal investigations in the past few years. He was charged last Friday with child abuse committed by allegedly spanking his son with a tree branch. After the charge was made, it was revealed that an investigation had been ongoing for months.
When the news broke, initiating its own media storm, Peterson had since assembled a team of lawyers to deal with any press releases, interviews or actual judicial proceedings in relation to the allegations. That team quickly threw their own statement into the mass of social media Friday but stood pat as Peterson was deactivated from Sunday's game against the Patriots.
At the time, the move was applauded by a subset of NFL followers who were clamoring for a kind of reaction from the league in cases like these. The Vikings had deactivated their best player, the face of their franchise. They did the right thing.
Monday afternoon however, they did not. The Vikings were blown out by the Patriots in Week Two managing less than 100 yards on the ground for the first time in over a year and failing to reach double digits on the scoreboard in the most embarrassing of ways. The Vikings were downright awful Sunday and as with any game in which the final result is so decidedly against a team, that team needs to make changes. Their big grand change was the lazy one.
Peterson was reactivated Monday--for obvious reasons. To keep Peterson out any longer would be to suspend him. A suspension would likely destroy the Vikings hopes of even placing in their division let alone making the playoffs; and as they proved Monday, that is not an option.
The actions of the Minnesota Vikings have dictated that football is more important than the lives and general happiness of people.
That is wrong and though the Vikings and well, everybody with any actual power in the NFL cannot see that, at least some people can see. This was shown early Tuesday morning when one of the most groundbreaking attacks on the NFL's handling of these cases.
In a public letter to the NFL, Anheuser-Bush -- the producer of Budweiser beer and also one of its biggest sponsors -- said, "We are disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season. We are not yet satisfied with the league's handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code. We have shared our concerns and expectations with the league."
Minnesota governor Mark Dayton also joined the chorus today saying that as a fan of the Vikings, even he believes that Peterson should be suspended.
"It is an awful situation, said Minnesota governor Mark Dayton to the Associated Press today. "Yes, Mr. Peterson is entitled to due process and should be 'innocent until proven guilty.' However, he is a public figure; and his actions, as described, are a public embarrassment to the Vikings organization and the state of Minnesota. Whipping a child to the extent of visible wounds, as has been alleged, should not be tolerated in our state. Therefore, I believe the team should suspend Mr. Peterson, until the accusations of child abuse have been resolved by the criminal justice system."
What is happening right now is a terrible prof that the NFL is purely incapable of acting as the cultural entity that it has become. Rather, the National Football League is a business no better than the bad banks that destroyed the global economy a few years ago. It is all money for Rodger Goodell and his posse of suit bearing executives. That is disgusting given that nearly everyone in America hears the name of the NFL each and every day.
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