Greg Hardy Suspension

[tmwiese55]

Just got another 10 games from the NFL after being suspended all last year.

 

Don't get me wrong, I know this guy is a POS and almost assuredly did what he's accused of here, but a 26 game suspension when there's dozens of people floating around the NFL lower profile that never got any suspension for similar crimes? So 26 game suspensions are now the standard for being accused of woman hitting without being convicted of anything. I know he paid her off but wow that is a big suspension. If this was enforced fairly to all offenders most teams would struggle to field a team most weeks.

 

I know this wall come off as apologetic to people like him, but I'm sure the NFLPA is going to be up in arms about this and just overall how the NFL is allowed to just willy nilly pick and choose who to do this to without any standards. They're going to make a big fuss at the next negotiations to get a system in place that has some kind of standards and procedures that make sense. I guess it's their fault for agreeing to a system that just gives Goodell freedom to do whatever he wants.

[superfly]

It's as big of a joke as the Adrian Peterson debacle. Absolutely both of them did terrible things, but for crying out loud just move on.

[Patrick425]

Make better choices in life and you won't have to worry about whether or not you being treated fairly for stupid things you decided to do.

[craigharmann]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! As a Cowboy hater living in Texas, I can't wait to hear the crying over this one!

[nodakfan17]

Make better choices in life and you won't have to worry about whether or not you being treated fairly for stupid things you decided to do.

It's not my intent to make excuses for these players. This is a pretty morbid debate. However, it's the total lack of uniformity that puzzles and occasionally upsets fans. Dante Stallworth was guilty of DUI manslaughter and was suspended for 16 games. Greg Hardy was charged with a less severe crime and his case was eventually dismissed - yet he sits 25 games?

 

A more uniform set of corrective actions was issued last August when the commissioner announced that a player's first domestic violence offense would be met with a mandatory 6-game suspension and a subsequent offense would result in a lifetime ban from the NFL. However, just days later, the commissioner suspended Ray Rice for a full season (deviating from the 6-game standard he had just established).

[tmwiese55]

Exactly. It's the lack of uniformity and just hammering guys that the media obsesses over while ignoring the others. In real world terms, say you work a normal job and you show up 15 minutes late some day and the repercussion is to tell you to go home for the whole day and lose pay for the day. A week later the guy next to you comes in 15 minutes late and he doesn't get any repercussion.

 

The biggest thing that's bothered me in all this is the media. Their agenda here is to come off as big time women's rights advocates, which is fine. But how did they really help Rice's wife. They replayed her getting socked in the face thousands of times per day, which had to be embarrassing as heck to her and constantly talked about her in order to get ratings over something she preferred to be a private matter. This all resulted in her husband not being allowed to work again, probably for the rest of his life and costing them tens of millions of dollars.

[Patrick425]

Exactly. It's the lack of uniformity and just hammering guys that the media obsesses over while ignoring the others. In real world terms, say you work a normal job and you show up 15 minutes late some day and the repercussion is to tell you to go home for the whole day and lose pay for the day. A week later the guy next to you comes in 15 minutes late and he doesn't get any repercussion.

 

Easy solution. Don't show up 15 minutes late for work. I'm more concerned about people who make good decisions and don't get treated fairly than I am about people who make poor decisions.

[tmwiese55]

Right...you'd be ok with that. People all around you are consistently coming in late with no repercussion. Then one day your car won't start or there's an accident on your route and you get fired for it, yea I'm sure you'd be to totally ok with it and say yup, I deserved it. Yes, I realize this analogy is different as those things aren't your fault whereas Greg Hardy is totally at fault here, I'm just making the point about lack of uniformity and picking certain players to hammer while ignoring others.

[Patrick425]

Well in reality, under your scenario, the truth probably is that there are other mitigating circumstances such as this is not the first time you were late or there are other issues you had with your work. Either that, or your Boss is a total psycho. Either way, I would be very very careful not to be late for work.

 

I'm also glad that you realize that the analogy is completely different when you do everything right (set your alarm, leave your house on time, etc) and because of circumstances outside of your control, you are unfairly penalized. Under your original analogy, I assumed that you were late because of your own actions (similar to Greg Hardy situation).

[tmwiese55]

you're missing the point about being different repercussions. In the work scenario no one really knows who's telling the truth, everyone says its not their fault when they're late. Bunch of times it is their fault, other times stuff happens outside of your control. The boss doesn't know who's telling the truth, if the manager were to drop the bomb on one person while ignoring it on others it would be BS. And for making sure to be really careful to not be late, why would you be careful if everyone else is coming in late and it's not a big deal. I would never rush myself then.

 

Relative to Hardy, people all over the league are doing this, why would he think it's a big deal and that he'll get 25 games. Going forward from here though, all players know so no excuses, I guess that's maybe the purpose of all this to make an example. Or more importantly to do it in a low profile way and not on video so espn doesn't go nuts.

[Patrick425]

And for making sure to be really careful to not be late, why would you be careful if everyone else is coming in late and it's not a big deal. I would never rush myself then.

 

How about for personal pride and self accountability? This is the point I'm trying to make. If you base your decision making process on what others get away with when they make bad decisions, then I have trouble feeling sorry for you when that plan backfires.

[FVBrewerFan]

You can't compare Stallworth to Hardy. One is pre- Rice/Peterson, one is after. NFL has been consistent ever since they realized it was getting out of control last year.

[bani1717]

You can't compare Stallworth to Hardy. One is pre- Rice/Peterson, one is after. NFL has consistently concerned themselves with the PR side of player discipline over and above all else ever since they realized the whole world had seen the Ray Rice video last year.

 

Fixed that for you.

[tmwiese55]

How about for personal pride and self accountability? This is the point I'm trying to make. If you base your decision making process on what others get away with when they make bad decisions, then I have trouble feeling sorry for you when that plan backfires.

 

I can't believe you're being so obtuse about this, it's not that hard to understand. As this whole scenario started, you do have pride/accountability but something happens like a flat tire etc. and you get the hammer dropped on you while others are let slide. That isn't equal treatment and any normal person would be ticked off. Apparently you would just say yup, I deserve it, Joe Schmo over there comes in late twice a week and you don't do anything to him but that is perfectly fine with me, I deserve it.

[Patrick425]

How about for personal pride and self accountability? This is the point I'm trying to make. If you base your decision making process on what others get away with when they make bad decisions, then I have trouble feeling sorry for you when that plan backfires.

 

I can't believe you're being so obtuse about this, it's not that hard to understand. As this whole scenario started, you do have pride/accountability but something happens like a flat tire etc. and you get the hammer dropped on you while others are let slide. That isn't equal treatment and any normal person would be ticked off. Apparently you would just say yup, I deserve it, Joe Schmo over there comes in late twice a week and you don't do anything to him but that is perfectly fine with me, I deserve it.

 

Again, you said this:

 

And for making sure to be really careful to not be late, why would you be careful if everyone else is coming in late and it's not a big deal. I would never rush myself then

 

That's not a "flat tire". That's just saying..everyone else is doing it and getting away with it, so I'm going to do it too and expect to get away with it. I don't agree with that philosophy.

 

As I stated in a previous post and you acknowledged that your analogy was not quite apples to apples, Greg Hardy made bad choices which is not the same as your car not starting or getting stuck in an unusual traffic jam.

[tmwiese55]

That's not a "flat tire". That's just saying..everyone else is doing it and getting away with it, so I'm going to do it too and expect to get away with it. I don't agree with that philosophy.

That wasn't the original premise of this whole thing though. The original was just to be late for whatever reason. You then said its your fault for being late and I said sometimes it's not your fault and you wouldn't have any reason to be concerned if something like that happened since everyone around you is late all the time.

 

Regardless, we're not talking about the offense, we're talking about the enforcement/repercussions.

[FVBrewerFan]

You can't compare Stallworth to Hardy. One is pre- Rice/Peterson, one is after. NFL has consistently concerned themselves with the PR side of player discipline over and above all else ever since they realized the whole world had seen the Ray Rice video last year.

 

Fixed that for you.

 

I don't mind the fix, wouldn't disagree with your additions. Point remains the same, regardless of their motivation they have been consistent since the whole Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson thing.

 

And guys, please, enough already with the "late for work" debate. It's not even a good analogy.

[tmwiese55]

Yea I can't believe it came to that for something so simple.

 

I don't think it's been consistent at all. didn't the 49ers have two guys playings last year with major incidents going on? Mcdonald who I don't think got suspended, but eventually got another incident and was cut. and I think the other was Aldon Smith who got 9 games, 9 and 25 are greatly different. A quick google found a no name guy named Jefferson from MN who got cut from the Vikings when he got arrested and given a 4 game suspension. He got convicted and 90 days in jail in the offseason but his suspension was lifted and he got signed by Seattle going into last year. Not sure what happened from there as I don't want to spend anymore time. or what about Brandon Marshall's like 8 offenses for what a 2 games suspension, why isn't he getting punished like this guy.

 

I realize it's a tough problem to solve, but over one and a half seasons? Just seems to me they're way over compensating at this point after years of looking the other way and really just pandering to what espn blows up. Probably the best solution would be to have a 3 or 5 person panel to handle this stuff instead of one czar like Goodel

[Patrick425]

And guys, please, enough already with the "late for work" debate. It's not even a good analogy.

 

I completely agree!!

[FVBrewerFan]

Tmw, Alcon smith incident happened before Ray Rice. I'm trying to explain there's consistency ever since the Ray rice and Adrian Peterson media circus.

 

Also, I don't care if it's not exactly the same suspension. You do something wrong, you pay the penalty. If I get pulled over for speeding I may get a warning, I may get a ticket. I accept the consequences, regardless of how many people may only get a warning.

[nodakfan17]

You can't compare Stallworth to Hardy. One is pre- Rice/Peterson, one is after. NFL has been consistent ever since they realized it was getting out of control last year.

That's a fair point about the Dante Stallworth suspension (even though it also occurred during Goodell's tenure); however, even in the past year, Goodell has remained an inconsistent disciplinarian. After the backlash from Ray Rice's initial 2-game suspension, Goodell held a press conference and proclaimed that a player's first domestic violence offense would be met with a mandatory 6-game suspension and a subsequent offense would result in a lifetime ban from the NFL. He then walked back on that policy days later and suspended Ray Rice for the season.

 

Link to ESPN Article on New NFL Discipline Policy - August 2014

 

The Commissioner's discipline policy has not been shaped by values or even the legal system, but rather public opinion.

[lcbj68c]

I guess LambeauLeap is dead?

[tmwiese55]

Yes I don't think it's consistent as there is still plenty of people getting nothing if the media doesn't obsess over them, its straight PR based on what ESPN hypes. Behind closed doors the union has to be fired up about the commish being allowed to ban people from working for full seasons with no checks/balances. One thing I have heard since bringing this up is that Hardy still got paid last year so I guess I see why they wanted to give him something more. Maybe a big fine and just a couple games this year would've been better. I guess it's better they're dropping the hammer on these guys than not, most people I talk to or work with all were surprised by it and think it's all getting out of hand as it's all based on espn driven pr.

[FVBrewerFan]

No, ESPN isn't driving it. They are reporting it, which is their job. What's driving Hardy's suspension if the fact that he abused a woman. Whatever punishment he gets, he deserves, no matter if it's consistent or not. Plus, we don't know all the facts in any of these cases. Whether someone is a serial offender, if they've done other things besides what the media knows, etc. Either way, I don't feel bad at all Hardy got a bigger suspension than player B or player C.

[Patrick425]

No, ESPN isn't driving it. They are reporting it, which is their job. What's driving Hardy's suspension if the fact that he abused a woman. Whatever punishment he gets, he deserves, no matter if it's consistent or not. Plus, we don't know all the facts in any of these cases. Whether someone is a serial offender, if they've done other things besides what the media knows, etc. Either way, I don't feel bad at all Hardy got a bigger suspension than player B or player C.

 

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