In light of the recent Ray Rice fiasco and the discussion involving domestic violence which has been so publicly played out over the last couple of weeks, should we as a society start to examine if there is a much larger issue at play with all of this? The issue is there may be a deeper sociological reason to why so many athletes are prone to such violent outbursts off the field. While some athletes can separate their jobs from their personal lives, it seems as if some may not be able to hit that switch from “on” to “off” in their everyday lives.
Think about it. Many of the people we see on TV over the course of the year have been taught their entire lives to do whatever it takes to become victorious. The average National Football League player’s job in a nutshell is to hit people, over and over again until they either get hurt or the game ends. If they fail to do their job adequately, then they get covered with “boos” from thousands of fans and labeled as being too soft.
Taking a step back for a second, it is fair to say the NFL has a problem with domestic abuse. According to fivethirtyeight.com, who work primarily with applying statistics to sport, they found that the NFL has a 55.4 percent arrest rate for domestic violence, relative to the national average. That percentage is by far the worst for any crime being committed by NFL players when compared to the national public at large. In fact, it was a whole 10 percent higher than the next worst offense, that being nonviolent gun-related charges.
While many will focus in on Rice’s situation and how the NFL seemingly botched that entire process, let’s not fail to look elsewhere.
On week one of the NFL season, two players who currently find themselves in ongoing domestic abuse cases, Ray Mcdonald of the 49er’s and Greg Hardy of the Carolina Panthers, actually played the entire game for their respective teams. It was only after the huge uproar that came from the public that the Panther’s decided to place Hardy on the NFL’s exempt list.
Two other cases involving violence from NFL players were also highlighted this past week. First, Arizona Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer was arrested for domestic violence, and it was reported that he head butted his wife and later he threw a shoe at their one-year-old son. Next, Adrian Peterson was arrested for charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child and has since been placed on the exempt list. Peterson stands out as one of the most recognizable players in the entire league, and this will certainly make the NFL question its own reputation (which we know they care a lot about).
I highlight all of these acts, not to harp, but rather to show that the violence problem with NFL players may be getting out of control. Is it that far-fetched to question whether or not some NFL players, who are used to being in control on the field and in some cases even feared by their opponents, want to be viewed in a similar light when they are away from the game? This divide between real life and the one that takes place between the hash marks is so incomprehensible that it’s hard to find a good comparison for what the average NFL player must be feeling when he is on that field. The only thing that comes to mind would be the gladiators that fought in the Roman Coliseum. Both risk their lives to virtually bring entertainment to large amounts of spectators. It’s probably safe to say that would phase you or me as well, right?
Lastly, I think to make real progress in helping solve the off-the-field violence problem facing the NFL, we should start with a change in culture. I believe there exists a culture in the NFL (and maybe in football at all levels) currently centered around a couple of principles may be warping the way these athletes live their lives away from the game. The NFL would be wise to take a hard look at various ways it can help their players deviate away from such mindsets, at all levels of competition, before things get even worse than they currently are.
