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Over the past couple weeks, many football players and
administrators involved in the National Football League have
been thrown into the spotlight, intensifying issues such as
domestic violence and child abuse. Two relatively recent incidents come to mind: a video of Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice knocking his then fiance unconscious with a single punch and photos of Minnesota Vikings player Adrian Peterson's son with bruises, stirring up allegations of child abuse.
I grew up watching football with my family every Sunday,
stayed up late on Monday nights catching the last couple minutes of a game. As a kid, watching NFL games was something we did as a family, something I enjoyed doing as I cheered for the favored team.
As an adult, I see things a lot differently now. Over the past few years, I've noticed an increase of "bad behavior" in the NFL. It seems every couple months we hear of something horrendous an NFL player has done. Some players have even been accused of murder in recent years.
Although I am too young to remember the "old days" of professional sports, I've talked with my boss, Pat, about these days. A big baseball fan, he told me of the days when professional baseball players went home during the off season, spent time with their families and held "normal" jobs. One player he spoke of worked at a gas station in the off season.
He didn't have a million dollar contract. But I get the feeling he knew of things that were far more important.
Money didn't fuel these athletes of the past. But I strongly
believe it fuels athletes of now, possibly in ways the average person cannot even begin to understand.
And the absurd amount of money given to these players is
held in the hands of the NFL, its administrators and its teams.
Does money affect how a person acts? How a person thinks?
Does it drive people to do terrible things, like hit their girlfriends? Hit a child?
Does a million dollar NFL contract make players think they
can seriously get away with anything?