I’m a self-admitted football addict. I played in high school and college. Now, at the age of 42, I enjoy the game from the comfort of my couch.
Over the past few years I have become disenchanted with the National Football League. It seems like this $14 billion industry’s moral compass is twisted. In the recent draft, several players were drafted with criminal records for assaulting women.
Riley Cooper of the Philadelphia Eagles kept his job after a racist epilogue at a Kenny Chesney concert surfaced in 2013. In 2015 Ben Roethlisberger signed a record-breaking four-year contract as the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise quarterback despite being accused of rape in 2009 and 2010. The NFL suspended him for six games and later reduced it to four.
Statistically, Colin Kaepernick is the best free-agent quarterback available but no team will touch him. He peacefully and constitutionally knelt for justice and equality during the National Anthem before his games. His actions sparked a needed national conversation.
His activities outside of football continue to show a compassionate big-hearted humanitarian. In March, President Trump -- a self-admitted woman assaulter himself -- took responsibility for Kaepernick not getting a job. He suggested NFL teams wouldn’t hire Kaepernick for fear of receiving a nasty tweet from the president.
What message does this send women in America? Abusing them is OK, but kneeling for righteousness isn’t? I think this moral decline demonstrated by the NFL is just a microcosm of what’s happening in our society as a whole.
I’m Joe Mitchell, and this is my perspective.
