Spare The Rod, Spoil The Player
Proverbs 13:24 says, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly”. Now, I’m certainly not what you’d call a religious person but this makes all the sense in the world. If you really love your kids, discipline them quickly or else they’ll get out of control. In this case, Roger Goodell is the father and the NFL players are all his sons.
This week, Ray McDonald was cut by the Bears after getting arrested over a domestic problem. This is already after getting in trouble while a member of the 49ers. And then, he got arrested a second time within the 72 hours of getting arrested and released by Chicago. We always get on Goodell for being judge, jury and executioner but this isn’t the time to do that. He needs to put his foot down and make sure these things stop happening. He needs to protect the NFL shield and he might need to use different methods to do so. Let’s face facts. The majority of the NFL’s African-American players come from tough neighborhoods and even tougher circumstances. Its all been well documented and we’ve seen the stories. Players grew up homeless. Players tried to avoid drugs and gang violence. Players came from broken and abusive households. Even as recently as a few weeks ago, a story came out chronicling Jets rookie linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin’s tough upbringing. I bring all this up to say that we need to remember that a lot of these guys are still really young and don’t know how to handle certain situations. Its one thing to be in your own element and get into an argument with your girlfriend, but it’s a totally different thing when so many people are watching your every move because you make so much money playing professional sports. Had Ray McDonald been almost anyone else, this wouldn’t have been an issue and his livelihood wouldn’t be in jeopardy.
Maybe the answer is some sort of prevention program where players learn how to diffuse a situation like that rather than add fuel to the fire or do something they’ll regret. I’m sure this is gone over at the rookie symposiums every year but its clearly not getting through. Maybe the answer is a 24/7 hotline where guys can call when the situation is getting a little out of hand. The person on the line can talk the player down a little in order to prevent a bad situation. This all seems very pie in the sky but the current method clearly isn’t working. I was a big Goodell apologist for a long time and I still think he’s one of the better commissioners we’ve had in any sport over the last 15 years. The only two criticisms I can say about the guy is that he’s all about the owners and he seems to make up rules and punishments as he goes along. We’ve seen NFL players get away with murder (both literally and figuratively) for years under Paul Tagliabue. Leonard Little and Dante Stallworth got slaps on the wrists for their issues and enjoyed their paychecks after serving what little time they were sentenced. Yet, Tom Brady was never proven guilty of any wrongdoing in Deflategate and he just got suspended for four games. Where’s the consistency? Greg Hardy is suspended for the first 10 games of the season but Ray McDonald wasn’t? Josh Gordon has missed countless games due to suspensions because of marijuana. Shane Ray and Randy Gregory’s draft stock fell tremendously because of their failed drug tests. None of it makes sense. The NFL and Roger Goodell need to come up with a definitive scale of punishment. Major League Baseball, for all its faults, has it right when it comes to PEDs. You’re caught once, 50 games. Twice gets you a season. A third strike puts you out of the game entirely. The NFL needs to come up with a scale that says, “If a player violates these set of rules, said player will receive X punishment” and have one scale in place for drugs, one in place for arrests and so on. Roger Goodell will only make like easier for him by doing that. If the NFL continues to spare the rod, they will only be hurting themselves by in turn spoiling the player.
