Why Last Week Ruined the NFL Season

As you, the reader, read this, I imagine that you’re sitting in a recliner looking for some sports content to read.

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The Seahawks are playing again on Sunday, and you’re in a good mood.

But I have a question: can you really be in a good mood after witnessing all that has happened off the field in the NFL this past week?

I’m just going to be blunt. It’s going to be real hard for me to watch the 2014-15 NFL season.

I cringe as I write this, because I am such a sports fanatic. Soccer, football, baseball, lacrosse, basketball, volleyball; you name the sport, I probably enjoy watching it.

But football season is the clear cut favorite for me. It’s the one thing that I can hold on to when I begrudgingly go to school in August.

On Fridays, I laugh and have fun while I cover high school football with two close friends. On Saturdays, I dress in cardinal and gold to support the USC Trojans (who just suffered a horrific loss to Boston College, by the way). And finally, on Sundays, I can go crazy in the confines of my house when Jamaal Charles scores five touchdowns in a half to pull my fantasy team to relevance.

But this year will be different. This NFL season has already separated itself from the rest, but for all the wrong reasons.

First Ray Rice, who got caught on video pulling his unconscious wife (then fiancée) out of a hotel elevator.

Then Greg Hardy committed domestic violence of his own.

Then it was Ray McDonald.

Then the whole video of the events in the elevator with Ray and Janay Rice was released, revealing a horrific sequence of events in which Rice punched and proceeded to spit on his unconscious wife.

There’s an inept commissioner, who should be tried for criminal negligence.

And now, it’s Adrian Peterson, who harmed a child who isn’t even his own.

Really? What the hell is going on?

Ray Rice: gone. AP: gone. McDonald: will be tried soon. Hardy: will also probably face some sort of suspension.

Three of those four players (Rice, Peterson and Hardy) are some of the top players in the NFL. This week alone has ruined the NFL season for me.

Out of principle, it’s going to be extremely difficult for me to watch any NFL games. And yes, it will be hard for me to watch the Seattle Seahawks.

“I can’t fully support a league whose players abuse women and children. I’m sorry, it’s just the truth.” -Thomas Oide

I can’t fully support a league whose players abuse women and children. I’m sorry, it’s just the truth.

It’s sad how cynical I have become: who is really a “nice guy”? Does _____ hurt their wives and children at home?

I shouldn’t have to ask silent questions like that. In reality, nobody really should. Ethical questions like those should never have to be uttered or even thought, especially when it comes to sports.

And how can I, and how can the public, support an NFL who has internal moral and ethical problems?

That’s not a rhetorical question: I can’t support a league run like that. It goes against my moral compass; it goes against everything I’m about.

I don’t care who wins the NFC. I don’t care who wins the AFC. Hell, I don’t even care who wins the Super Bowl.

Because 30 years down the road, nobody will remember or care about the wins or the losses.

They will remember Ray McDonald leaving bruises on his pregnant wife’s arms and neck.

They will remember Adrian Peterson turning himself in for child abuse.

And they will surely remember Ray Rice delivering a left hook to his wife’s face and spitting on her.

That’s what will be remembered about the 2014-15 NFL season.

And that is so, so sad.

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NFL News: Why Last Week Ruined the NFL Season

By Thomas Oide | Sep 15, 2014