Some breaking sports news tonight: Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings will not play on Sunday. A jury has indicted him on child abuse charges. Not a lot of details, but it’s related to using a switch on his child. It caps off a week where reactions from the NFL, and individual teams, are under heavy public scrutiny. And some wonder what the real motives are.
The NFL is trying to project the image that it cares, especially about women. In fact, in just a couple of weeks, you’re going to see the NFL putting on a massive presentation that does bring awareness to a very good cause. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and teams across the board will be putting on pink, wearing ribbons, and doing outreach, all as part of a push to be more inclusive towards women. It’s a good image, but not much more than dressing.
We’re talking about the same group that had planned to use Rihanna for some pre-show entertainment during Thursday Night Football. You know, the Rihanna who got beat up by her boyfriend Chris Brown. Luckily, at the last minute, somebody figured that was a bad idea.
And that speaks to the NFL being “tone deaf” to the Ray Rice situation. Or flat-out unconcerned at a core level. Recently, several bloggers and columnists have converged on a central theme: the NFL doesn’t care about women.
On Jezebel, Erin Gloria Ryan posted this: “Most people recognized the NFL’s appallingly tone deaf punishment, and its meat head defense of said punishment. The league is made up of, governed by, and boosted by people who very publicly think very little of women.”
At CBS Chicago, Mason Johnson wrote: “One in three women have experienced physical violence by a partner, and the NFL doesn’t care. Why would they? It doesn’t hurt their stream of money. If the NFL did care, it would be actively fighting against domestic abuse even when it’s not in the news cycle.”
But it’s definitely in the news cycle now. Which means the question is still valid. Our Man on the Edge, Robert Wilder, hit the streets asking: does the NFL care about women?
