The Double Standard In Sports Is Really Getting Old
Posted
Roger Grossman, Lake City Radio-
I noticed something yesterday that has bugged me for a while and I am just now getting to the point where I need to write about it. Part of the concept of "sport" is that two or more individuals compete in a spirit of fairness and equality to find out who's better. And while perfect fairness is not always possible, we have some things going on in sports that scream out "WHOA! Hold on a minute!" We have seen in the last month (and rightly so) outrage and anger over the complete mishandling of a couple of high-profile cases of bad behavior by people in the sports realm. You know what I am talk about right? Ray Rice punched his wife in an elevator and knocked her out, Greg Hardy of the Carolina Panthers was convicted of a domestic violence charge but played in Week 1 because his appeal led to a new trial – we don't need to go through it all again, right? So we have all piled onto NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for being reactive instead of proactive, for only moving on domestic violence because of public pressure. We've heard from The National Organization of Women and domestic violence groups whose reaction has ranged from disappointment to calling for the commish to step down. You know who we have NOT heard from? The NFL Players Association. Their leader, Demaurice Smith, has been stunningly silent throughout this debate on how the league has dealt with, or not dealt with, the domestic violence issue with its rank and file. Why? Why have they not come out in strong opposition to their players behavior against women and children? I mean, we hear from him every collective bargaining cycle about how hard they are fighting for the families of the players, right? Is it possible that the wives and children of NFL players are only a bargain chip for the NFLPA? More likely Smith has laid low because he doesn't want anyone to notice and put him next to Goodell in the hot spotlight. I would suggest that Smith has bungled this as much as Goodell. But that's not all. Notre Dame's suspension of players who are accused of academic violations is interesting. Before the season started, five players were accused of turning in school work that was done by someone else. They have been waiting for more than a month to have a hearing on their cases by a special panel that was just formed at the end of last week. The announcement of those suspensions came August 15th. It's Sept. 24th, and we are still waiting. So are the students and parents of those students. Contrast that with what happened last week at Florida State. Last year's college football player of the year Jameis Winston got in trouble (again) – this time for jumping up on a table and screaming an obscene phrase demeaning to women. His penalty from Florida State was to sit out a half of last Saturday's game again Clemson. A half. Two quarters. Really? Then, in what could be a stroke of consciousness but was more likely cracking under public pressure, Winston's suspension grew to a full game in the middle of the night Saturday morning. Please, we're not that dumb. And then there is what is happening at Texas. The Longhorns parted ways with longtime successful coach Mack Brown at the end of last season, then hired Charlie Strong to come in and revive their program. It's important to note that when breathing, bad goes out THEN fresh air comes in. Strong set a standard at Texas he expects his players to follow, and as of Monday nine of those players have failed to do that and have been dismissed. Nine is a lot, but a house isn't clean until it's all-the-way clean. So, Strong is being lauded today for his stance on doing things right...right? Uh, no. Two of my brethren at ESPN have questioned Strong's tactics, wondering if he was "losing the lockeroom" or "how long the fan base would put up with this". Well that same fan base was screaming for new blood last November, and they are getting it. It's been three games, and the 'Horns are 1-2 and there are whispers. So which is it Texas fans: Clean it up or get comfortable in the muck? It's a double standard. It's unfair and unrealistic. It's a mixed message. Which ironically is what we were screaming at others for in the first place.
