Change Our Culture and the NFL Will Follow

Much has been written and talked about in the media regarding the troubling culture of the NFL. The commissioner doesn't take domestic violence seriously; player behavior is out of control; and owners care more about profits than the character of the players. On top of this, a new report indicates one-third of all NFL players will leave the game with some level of brain damage leaving us to question whether or not the game is safe to play at any level.

Still, fans follow the game at a record rate. They participate in fantasy football leagues as well as follow their favorite teams. They bet millions of dollars every weekend on the outcome of games while also purchasing NFL merchandise in a variety of forms. Clearly, Americans love and want the game despite recent polls showing their desire to see improved player conduct and stiffer penalties for law breakers.

Unfortunately, as a society, we are more concerned over the conduct of fewer than two thousand professional football players than we are over society as a whole. I keep hearing people say, “It is a privilege and not a right to play the game.” In reality, it is neither. Being a professional football player is nothing more than a brutal job.

Can you name any other profession that is allowed to thrive while causing one-third of its work force brain damage? Americans should be demanding OSHA step in and shut the game down rather than helping it achieve record annual profits. However, if that were to happen, what would we do on Sunday afternoons or Monday and Thursday evenings?

If you use the “It's not a right, it's a privilege” argument and apply it to all jobs in the United States, we would have to hold ourselves accountable to the same standards as the NFL. How many of us are willing to undergo random drug testing knowing it could cost us our career and reputation? Are we willing to have our work performance posted in newspapers and on web sites while dissected by talking heads on television and radio? Are we comfortable knowing we can be canned from our jobs and not owed a dime despite having a signed contract? Do we want to have to look for a new career because someone tells us at the age of thirty or thirty-five we are over the hill?

If we want the culture of the NFL to change, we must first change the culture of the nation that created it. We also have to stop embracing the violence and win at all cost mentality behind the game.

At least half of our nation has been raised in a time in which we embraced violent video games starting at an early age. What type of adult behavior do we expect to churn out when parents allow their kids to play games centered around making quick and violent decisions in order to advance to a higher level? It should not surprise us that during this video age we have also seen a huge rise in school violence, mass shootings, and domestic violence.

When we promote the sale and use of alcohol and link it to the enjoyment of our football viewing experience, it only makes sense we see a rise in domestic violence calls on Sundays in cities where the home team loses. It is also why we see an increase in DUIs as drunken fans try to drive home, sometimes with tragic results.

As a culture, perhaps we would be better served if we corrected and eliminated the behavior of local gangs, drug dealers, and other violent criminals so our Sundays can once again be spent enjoying life outdoors rather than living vicariously through professional football players. Maybe if we eliminated, rather than celebrated, reality TV shows that glorify drinking, degradation, loud confrontations, and narcissistic behavior, we might see an improvement in not just football player behavior, but also the behavior of fans and society in general.

If we are going to see significant change in player behavior in the NFL it will require us to demand better from ourselves. It will mean confronting problems on a national level and not just a National Football League level. It will also require us to be better doctors, teachers, trash collectors, and most of all, citizens.

If playing in the NFL is a privilege then so should being a citizen of this nation. Our best leaders lead by example and not by the, “Do as I say and not as I do,” philosophy too many of us live by. We all need a wake up call when it comes to individual conduct before placing higher expectations on the NFL. By demanding more from ourselves, we all lead by example and that will, in time, show in how the NFL commissioner, its players, and owners conduct themselves.

Dear Roger,

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your handling of the Ray Rice matter. It's people like you that allow me a breather from the media. We both know they can be relentless in their pursuit of the truth.

Had you not botched up the Ray Rice investigation, his punishment, and by the looks of things, your most recent apology, I would still be getting grilled over my handling of ISIS. Clearly, I was wrong to think of them as the JV team just as you were wrong to think you could allow players like Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, Ray McDonald, Adrian Peterson, Ben Roethlisberger, and countless others to slip under the radar.

I have a huge favor to ask of you and know it comes at a challenging time. Could you in some way either keep this mess on the front burner for another month and a half or create a new controversy that will keep the media focus on you? You see, I still do not have a clear plan in place on how to deal with ISIS and have to find a way to keep voters distracted until the November elections take place.

Perhaps you could get grilled over just how little money raised from NFL pink merchandise sales goes to actual breast cancer research. If the American public knew only eight percent of the money goes to research while about one and a half times that goes to the NFL, fans and the media might rake you over the coals and forget that my current coalition to fight ISIS looks about as scary as the Dallas Cowboys defense.

Then again, maybe more could be made about how almost one third of all NFL players will end up with brain damage. This might make Americans forget about the PTSD problems our men and women in the armed forces face. You and I both know brain damage is just a small price to pay for keeping America strong internationally and great on the gridiron.

Perhaps you could ask owners of teams coached by blacks to fire their head coach and create another race controversy. We both saw how well a race controversy worked in Ferguson this past summer. I am certain there is not enough time or media talking heads to cover this kind of story while still questioning my leadership skills.

Finally, if none of this works, maybe we could do each other a favor. If we were to just switch jobs, that in itself might get the media off our backs. I could offer the NFL the same kind of hope I offered the United States when I was first elected in 2008 and you could bring the kind of open and decisive leadership to the oval office that you have brought to the NFL.

Please know I am in your corner and one of your biggest supporters. Thanks to your leadership skills, I can concentrate on my golf swing while figuring out how someone jumped the white house fence and got to within a few feet of my front door.

Your Friend,

Barack Obama

NFL: No Fan League

NFL owners are often accused of running a good old boys club with its commissioner, Roger Goodell, their hand picked mouth piece. Under Goodell's reign, NFL owners enjoy record profits annually and they in turn rewarded Goodell to the tune of $44 million dollars last year. Despite continued high profile police cases involving players arrested for domestic violence, child abuse, DUI, assault, rape, and drug dealing, the league continues to grow in popularity making Roger Goodell, Roger Good Sell.

However, with his recent botched handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case and the outcry over it, it would seem the NFL stands to face serious fallout. The media has yet to let up over the potential cover up by Good Sell or Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and yet viewership is at an all time high.

While a few of the NFL's sponsors have voiced concern over how serious the league is at combating domestic violence or cleaning up player behavior, the reality is for every sponsor who might decide to drop their account with the NFL, there are probably ten others waiting in line to hop on board the league's money train. Besides, fans will continue to watch the games no matter who sponsors them.

Look at Baltimore Ravens fans. Their owner, Steve Bisciotti, team president, Dick Cass, and general manager, Ozzie Newsome, all knew the content of the infamous elevator video showing Ray Rice knocking out his then fiancee, Janay Palmer, with one punch. They may or may not have decided to not watch the video but they received both a verbal and written description of it. Worse, when the team's head coach, John Harbaugh, asked them to cut Rice immediately from the team, they all over ruled him and went to great lengths to minimize how long Rice would be suspended.

Ravens team leaders went to great lengths to downplay the incident as much as possible. Bisciotti probably lied at worst, or with held information at best, when questioned by his subordinate, Roger Good Sell. Bisciotti, and his top team executives then put undue pressure on Janay Palmer to downplay what happened when they attended her meeting with the commissioner. Bisciotti then goes on to basically bribe Rice by assuring him of a job with the team to ensure he sticks to the company line. Finally, he tosses the only sane person in this fiasco, his head coach, under the bus by making him the face of the organization when answering to the press in which he also sticks to the company line.

It is no wonder scores of female Ravens fans were seen wearing Ray Rice jerseys at the team's season opener. It's also no wonder why fantasy football players are angered over the extended suspension of Rice. And if the Ravens fall short of the playoffs this year, their fans will scream it is because of the unfair treatment of Ray Rice.

Whether it is Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Ray McDonald, or any of the scores of other NFL players who screw up while off the field this season, the fans don't care. They continue to follow their favorite teams because they provide a wonderful distraction to their own mundane lives. They will continue to purchase the numerous products pitched to them during commercial breaks while wearing their favorite player jerseys whether the player is a convicted felon or not.

Until the NFL becomes the No Fan League, we are only fooling ourselves if we think the league, its owners, team executives, and commissioner are committed to cleaning up player behavior.

 

Excellent work, Mr. Good Sell.

Blacks Can't Have It Both Ways

When I hear Charles Barkley profess Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson only did to his child what every black parent in the south does, it only helps further drive home a view point many whites like me in this country have when we feel there is a segment of the black community who want life both ways. By that I mean they want to be allowed to live by a set of rules that not only go against the norms of society as a whole, but also goes against what the bulk of black America believes.

Many within the black community still believe they are not treated equally by society and by whites as a whole. They feel they are signaled out because of their skin color and not because of their actions. When Michael Brown was shot it was because of his skin color and for nothing else. To mention the convenience store robbery he committed a few minutes prior to his death or to suggest the white officer feared for his life is only an attempt to smear Michael's reputation. The reality is, white police officers account for only 0.2 percent of the gun deaths of black males in this country while black males account for the shooting deaths of 90 percent of black shooting victims. If it is wrong for a white to shoot and kill a black then where are the protests for the scores of blacks killing blacks?

This same segment of the black population demands “justice” when a white person uses the N-word but has no problem using it hundreds of times a day when conversing with other blacks. When did Martin Luther King Jr. urge blacks to use words with such a vile history behind them as part of friendly day to day banter? He urged blacks to lead by example and not by contradiction if they were going to succeed in changing the mind set of the white establishment.

The arrest and prison rates of blacks is far greater than it is among whites despite blacks making up a mere thirteen percent of the national population. It is often claimed by black leaders as another example of just how tough blacks, males especially, have it in this nation. Their drop out rates are also much higher as are their unemployment rates. However, when an articulate black like Charles Barkley claims it is normal for blacks to punish their children by whipping them or taking a tree branch to them and call it parenting, they add to the challenges blacks face in our society. To call it parenting is to fail to see how it only adds to the mounting anger found in many black males today. And when Adrian Peterson claims it was this kind of parenting that helped instill the discipline in him to become a great football player, he fails to see or accept the contradiction it has with the history blacks fought so hard to put an end to in the 1960's.

It is one thing to reject the white American culture because you do not want to lose your own in the process. Many minority groups throughout our nation's history have had to face this challenge while raising children. Irish, Italians, Jews, and Asians have had to do the same while raising families in America. However, to incorporate the very ugly components of the past white culture your predecessors fought and gave up their lives to do away with is only doing more to harm your peoples advancement than it is adding to your culture. It is not only hypocritical, it also shows a clear lack of understanding of the growth and changes made by the white culture in their attempt to learn and grow from their past. It is time for all blacks to do the same and realize they just can't have it both ways as part of a better life.

Five Questions We Deserve Answers To

As the hours draw closer to President Obama's speech to the nation that will most likely result in us going to war again, there are many Americans who want and deserve answers to questions that are rarely answered. These are questions that politicians know are on the minds of citizens but they go to great lengths to avoid answering them. It is time these questions are finally addressed in an open and honest manner before we jump into another war.

1. What will the United States military do differently this time that will help create a lasting peace in the Middle East? There's really no point in waging another military campaign to rid the area of a dangerous terrorist threat if it ends up like the last couple we fought. Billions of dollars spent, a crashed economy, thousands of lives lost and more left with permanent injuries is not a victory to be proud of. In fact, given the current state of life in Iraq and Syria, one could easily argue it was a defeat since we find ourselves back to square one.
   Whether or not this means no boots on the ground, more boots on the ground, a long lasting U.S. Military presence in the region, or the use of greater and more destructive weaponry on our part are some of the considerations that the American public deserves answers on. To simply repeat the tactics of ten years ago because it worked for a short while is no longer good enough. Americans deserve to know what will be different this time around.
2. What will we see differently from nations like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and Kuwait that will convince Americans they will actively support a lasting peace in the region? Lets face it, the leaders of the nations I just mentioned rarely look at life beyond their palaces. So long as they are able to maintain peace within their borders, they really have not done much to ensure a lasting peace in the Middle East. Our government has armed many of these nations quite handsomely only to see them fail to actively step up and fight for the peaceful existence of all Muslims and non Muslims in the region. Until they actively take part in flushing out terrorist groups and use their military as part of a large coalition force to guarantee peace, they have to be viewed as part of the area's problem and not the solution.
3. Is it wise to continue arming moderate factions who end up becoming our enemy in another five to ten years or should we be more hands on in the post war nation building process? We have to admit, while we made a huge effort toward allowing the Iraqis to build a democracy this last time around, it didn't take hold. It's tough to expect a region to embrace freedom when they have only known repression and war. Post cold war Russia and her satellite nations are still finding this difficult 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. While it may seem nice, clean, and simple to hand the keys of a new government over to a group who helped us fight ISIS, they are likely to be ill equipped to not let their new power go to their heads. For this reason, anyone we arm to help fight ISIS will need to know we will be sticking around the region a lot longer this time. While this can be expensive to do, it is not nearly as costly as having to come back a decade later to fight yet another war.
4. How will the cost of this war hurt the American economy now that it is just starting to show signs of life after our post 9/11 wars? Too many middle class Americans lost jobs in part as a result of the high cost of fighting a war last time around. Too many young college graduates are still unable to find work as a result of the post 9/11 economic crash. We deserve to know what to expect this time around. Fighting a war requires sacrifices on the parts of all American citizens and not just those who serve in the military. Can we expect tax increases? Will there be wage freezes or mass layoffs? What type of services can we expect to see cut here at home while more money is geared toward the military? Without addressing these issues, there will not be much long term support, both at home or within a coalition, for an extended war.
5. Why should U.S. Military personnel and their families believe their post war medical needs will be taken care of? War doesn't just mean the loss of life. It also means seeing veterans returning home with amputated limbs, post traumatic stress, and financial challenges. Unfortunately, the VA has done a horrible job in meeting the medical and psychological needs of returning veterans and not enough employers stepped up to provide jobs for returning service men and women. Too many lost their houses, had their credit ruined, and were left in worse shape after serving their country than they would have been if they never served. This war has the great likelihood of needing far more service personnel for a much longer period of time to help bring about a lasting peace in the Middle East. Where are they going to come from if we fail to help meet their unique needs upon returning home? 
   

President Obama, along with members of the intelligence community, congress, as well as economic leaders, need to show us we have learned from the mistakes we made following our post 9/11 military efforts. They can not simply ask us to support them with a blank check and do as we have done in the past and expect to support another war on terrorism.

The truth is, we need a plan that will not only help defeat ISIS but lays the foundation for a continuous war against future terrorist groups. The reality is, we can never let up against this fight. However, there are things we can do, and need to do, differently to ensure the entire burden of peace does not fall on just our shoulders militarily and economically. There needs to be a real and lasting coalition of nations working together. It's time everyone's actions speak louder than their words. However, tonight, we all deserve to hear the words of our president and determine whether or not he is going to answer the questions we all deserve answers to before giving him our full support to go to war.

Hold Your Applause

For those who want to congratulate Roger Goodell, the Baltimore Ravens, and the NFL as a whole for extending the suspension of Ray Rice after TMZ released footage of the star running back looking more like a young George Foreman flattening Joe Frazier, hold your applause. They have done far more harm than good throughout this process. 

Commissioner Goodell is fortunate to have increased the money owners swim in. He should be looking for a new job but because he has done a terrific job of increasing revenue across the league, he will survive this public relations storm. There is no excuse for him to have passed judgment on Rice if his claims of not having seen the video are true. How do you hand out a punishment when you know you do not have all the facts? To claim the casino or police would not hand over the tape doesn't fly. He could have, and should have, forced Rice's hand by simply telling him he will be suspended indefinitely until he has seen all of the evidence. Furthermore, why would he interview Rice's victim, his then fiancee and now wife, with Ray sitting next to her? Anyone who has seen an episode of Law and Order knows this just doesn't lead to the truth. Goodell more than fumbled the ball with his investigation, he tried to pull one over the public and it has come back to bite him.

As for the Baltimore Ravens, they are only terminating Rice's contract because they fear the public's wrath more than they will miss Rice's tough running. If Baltimore had any sense of decency, Rice's contract would have been terminated last spring. However, they had more important matters to contend with like what might happen if Rice received just a two game suspension and then signed with division rivals Pittsburgh or Cincinnati? By releasing him now, that is no longer a fear because no organization short of an Al Davis run Oakland would sign this guy.

Worst of all is the NFL as a group. What other profession goes so far to find ways to hang on to young men whose conduct is criminal? Whether it is domestic violence, DUI, assault, multiple failed drug tests, or making joke bomb threats at an airport, the NFL rewards far too many of its players with big money contracts when they really should send them packing. This goes back decades. I remember Bill Parcells cutting a player who missed a team meeting. When the rarely used player pointed out that Lawrence Taylor also missed the meeting, Parcells is reported to have told the young man if he played as well as Taylor played he would still have a job.

The NFL Players Association has to quit fighting the suspensions of the criminal component in the league and start insisting ownership and the league begin taking a harder stance on players who belong behind bars and not on the gridiron. Only when the league office, ownership, and the NFL Players Association agree to rid the league of these players will we begin to see significant improvement in the off field behavior of its players. Commissioner Goodell and the owners have to view Ray Rice as more than a sacrificial lamb who will hopefully get fans and the media off their backs. They have to view Rice as the start of a new era in the NFL in which players are no longer rewarded with nice contracts while being allowed to live by a set of rules that the rest of us do not get to live by. Only time will tell if today is the beginning of such a new era or just another attempt by the NFL to present an image that just isn't real.

The Middle East Conundrum: Two Real Solutions

It is time to end the charade of politics being played out in the Middle East. In my 56 years on this planet, there has yet to be true peace in the region where political, religious, and ethnic respect have been promoted. Regional wars, oil embargoes, and the growth of terrorism have dragged the United States into far too many wars, international crisis', and concern for our own well being. It is time for this to end.

The problem is leaders in this country, both past and present, have failed to clearly lay out our real options when dealing with problems in the Middle East. By continually being dragged into the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, allowing powers like Saudi Arabia to dictate oil prices while doing nothing in return to policing the region, or by failing to rid ourselves of our dependency on the region's oil, the United States is as much to blame as anyone for the current unrest in the Middle East.

Diplomacy has failed to accomplish anything of significance. When called to step in with our military, we are unable to secure any real regional support from nations like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, or Qatar when trying to build a coalition. These nations would clearly prefer to stay out of the unrest found in places like Iraq, Syria, or Libya because they know if they get involved and support our efforts they will become the next targets of Islamic Jihadists. Instead, they sit in their palaces and watch while we rely on countries like England, France, and Australia for support.

Our diplomatic goals have relied far too heavily on keeping the flow of oil coming to our country which ends up benefiting major oil companies more than the average American. Furthermore, we have refused to ween ourselves from our Middle Eastern addiction which, if done, would allow the money we spend on military efforts abroad to be used toward developing cheaper and abundant energy sources at home.

Where has this gotten us? Our “Redneck” mentality of using our military to topple Saddam Hussein resulted in greater political turmoil in Iraq while allowing for the rise of ISIS, the most barbaric and militarily challenging terrorist group our country has faced. And now that our president has stated he does not want to see American boots on the ground as part of the process of destroying ISIS, the situation there has been greatly complicated. While our nation is rightly tired of the years of post 9/11 war, and since congress is facing mid term elections in two months, we seem to be dragging our feet while the Middle East grows increasingly unstable.

It is time to rethink our strategy in the Middle East and to start calling out our real enemies. While ISIS has made it clear they are our enemy, so are the filthy rich leaders of do nothing nations in the region. When nations like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and others refuse to do their part to keep peace in the region, they must be viewed as our enemy as well. If they are not an active part of the solution then they are part of the problem. It is not simply enough to be assured by them they will not hide, train, or finance terrorist groups inside their borders. It is time for these leaders to step up and place their boots on the soil of Iraq, Syria, and Libya and rid the region of its extremism.

Failure, or refusal, on their part needs to result in cutting them off from our military sales which are only used to keep their citizens from rising up against their poor leadership. It also means requiring our oil companies to pull out of the region, destroying the infrastructure we have put into place, and severing all business ties to the region. It should result in a blockade of the Suez Canal and major ports making it impossible for these oil rich nations to export petroleum anywhere in the world.

If this does not end the do nothing approach of oil rich leaders, then we are left with two simple choices, each of which require a great sacrifice on all our part. The first will be to continue suffocating the region economically and sit back and watch their cannibalistic leaders devour one another while they lay the region ruined before then stepping in to clean up the mess. However, this will result in drastically higher fuel prices at home. We can also expect to see more Islamic meddling toward Israel along with much greater middle eastern state support for terrorist groups who want to see our demise.

The second option would call for us to step in and use our military in a way the world has never seen and reassert our domination in the process. It is pointless to continue to fight costly wars aimed at destroying an enemy while trying not to punish the innocent. Wars like this have little long term benefit and at best only serve as a costly band aide. The wounds inevitably get reinfected and require greater and more costly measures on our part. Unless we are willing to cut off an arm or a leg, we will continue to be dragged into one costly and pointless war after another with nothing to show for it.

To have a great military like ours at our disposal and not to fully use it in a decisive manner is no different than than not having a great military. Rather than trying to bomb specific sites with minimal fallout, we should consider leveling entire cities. We can not concern ourselves with who gets killed because all too often the survivors resent us for being there and end up working against us in the peace building process.

Does this mean using nuclear weapons? I would hope not. However, we have plenty of other weapons in our arsenal at our disposal and I think it is time we consider using them rather than past methods which have failed. There is no such thing as a humane war so if we are going to rely on war as a solution to the problems in the Middle East, we owe it to our citizens to do what we can to make it the last war in the region. If our future is at stake, then we can not concern ourselves with the loss of life in the Middle East as a result of war. This may seem hawkish but in reality it is just facing the the truth. Wars should only be fought to ensure long lasting peace and not to just buy more time before something worse happens. Do we really want to continue with our band aide approach and see an enemy worse than ISIS down the road?

My guess is, millennials are better prepared to handle the economic hardship of a Middle East boycott. They are more willing to do away with our oil dependency and question why our government does not do more toward developing cleaner energy sources. Public transportation is no big deal since many have been left with so much debt they can not afford to buy a car. They have no desire to continue to fight wars that yield nothing of significance in their eyes and all too often prevents them from getting a head start into the work force. They do not understand the concept of military sacrifice because too many have not been taught about the sacrifices made by those who fought in wars like World War II.

On the other hand, the old guard, baby boomers, of which I am one, are less likely to want to pay the much higher bills at the gas pump that would come from an economic boycott. We remember the gas lines of the 70's and do not want a repeat of having to remember whether or not it is an odd or even day to fill up at the pump. We like our cars and are not interested in relying on public transportation to get around. In fact, many, myself included, never had to serve in the military. We also lack a true understanding of what war is like and only know wars like Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan which can not be viewed as major successes. Besides, we are more concerned about our financial portfolios and whether or not we will have enough money to enjoy retirement.

The big challenge will be convincing both groups to cease the problem solving methods we have been using for decades and to come together in a comprehensive agreement and demand our leaders approach the Middle East in a different and unified way. While the problems in the Middle East are often portrayed as cultural, here, in the United States, they are more generational. One thing both young and old can agree on is what we have been doing for the last half century has not worked.

Perhaps when the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia sees what total economic or military defeat will do to them, they might be convinced to wake up and actively join our fight for regional stability if for nothing more than their own self preservation. However, that will not happen until we at home are willing to be bothered by either economic hardship or the idea of seeing just how much damage our military can do to bring an end to what takes place in the Middle East.

If we are tired of war and no longer want to see American boots on the ground then we have to decide between economically suffocating the oil rich Middle East, which will cause us our own economic hardships, or a radically different military solution. If it is a military course, then it needs to result in the full use of our military might. We have to disregard the desires of oil rich leaders who have refused to help us bring stability to the region and if necessary, result in the rebuilding of a new Middle East, much like we did with post World War II Europe.