Beat a Woman? Play On! Beat a Dog? You're Gone
By Sandra Kobrin, Women's eNews
National Football League superstar Michael Vick is in trouble, serious
trouble. Federal prosecutors charged the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback
with animal
abuse for his role as the alleged leader of a dog-fighting ring and, after
denying it for months, Vick pleaded guilty on Monday. He faces stiff sentencing.
He's in big trouble with the NFL too, which has said he might never play
professionally again. According to Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL's
Player Association, "the practice of dog-fighting is offensive and completely
unacceptable."
I just wish the NFL had the same outrage toward spousal abuse and other forms
of domestic violence. But they don't. Not by a long shot.
Scores of NFL players as well as players from the National Basketball
Association and Major League Baseball have been convicted of domestic
abuse, yet they
play on with no fear of losing their careers. Most pay small fines, if that,
and are back on the field immediately.
The message is clear. Beat a woman? Play on. Beat a dog? You're gone.
What could possibly account for this bizarre situation?
Part of it is that it's the dog days of August -- the notoriously silly
season for news -- so the Vick story has attracted tremendous press
attention. But
it's been all over TV as well during the past four months, since Vick's
indictment in April.
Animal Lobby Attacks
The anti-animal abuse lobby, meanwhile, is going after Vick with all four
paws.
PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which received almost $30
million in contributions last year, according to its Web site, and other
animal rights organizations are demanding a boycott of companies that
continue to
sponsor Vick and are bombarding the NFL with letters demanding a no-tolerance
policy when it comes to cruelty to animals by football players.
On blogs, the outrage continues on sackvick.net and other sites, with
comments like "lets give #7, 7 to life," or "lets make Michael Vick
into dog food."
A cottage industry of anti-Vick merchandise is out there. You can buy a chew
toy for your dog in with a likeness of Vick, a "hang Vick" hat or even an
eye-for-eye justice T-shirt that says "Stick Vick in the Pit."
Vick has already lost most of his sponsorship deals worth millions of dollars
and he deserves to lose a whole lot more.
But the disproportionate punishment of Vick -- while athletes who commit
violence against women are let off the hook -- has to be wondered at.
Might it be that domestic violence and spousal abuse is so pervasive in
sports that it's simply too costly for leagues to suspend so many men?
What would
happen after all if those poor dear teams couldn't fill their rosters?
Numbers Are Astounding
The number of athletes arrested for domestic violence or spousal abuse is
astounding.
A three-year study published in 1995 by researchers at Northwestern
University found that while male student-athletes are 3 percent of the
population, they
represent 19 percent of sexual assault perpetrators and 35 percent of
domestic violence perpetrators.
There are even Web site chronicles that treat the steady stream of offenders
as if it were a joke. Check out badjocks.com or playersbehavingbadly.com.
Maybe then again, don't. It's enough to make you sick.
Roger Goodell, the new NFL commissioner, has made it his mandate to crack
down on athletes who misbehave.
In April Goodell introduced a new conduct policy that stiffens penalties and
holds franchises responsible when their players get into trouble.
Just recently Goodell suspended the Tennessee Titans' troubled player Adam
"Pacman" Jones for the 2007 season.
Jones had been arrested five times since he was drafted by the NFL in 2005
and has been involved in 11 separate police investigations. Most recently,
during what amounted to a brawl at a strip club, he grabbed a stripper
and banged
her head into the ground. He will not be paid during his suspension and must
apply for reinstatement.
Spousal Abuse Gets a Pass
But no one has been suspended in the NFL for spouse abuse or domestic
violence, even though they've been arrested and convicted.
The NFL Players Association's Upshaw said in a statement: "We believe the
criminal conduct to which Mr. Vick has pled guilty today cannot be
condoned under
any circumstances."
I say the NFL's indifference to the acts of domestic violence by other
players cannot be condoned under any circumstances.
Major League Baseball, meanwhile, isn't any better in punishing spousal
abusers.
Last summer Philadelphia Phillies' pitcher Brett Myers assaulted his wife on
a public Boston street and was charged with assault and battery. Major League
Baseball did not penalize him, shrugging it off as an off-field incident. Are
they saying a player needs to abuse his spouse during a game to get
sanctioned? If so, just how does that work?
Don't expect anything better from the National Basketball Association.
Jason Kidd of the NBA's New Jersey Nets pleaded guilty to spousal abuse in
2001.
Was he punished by the NBA? No.
The Sacramento Kings' Ron Artest was suspended last season for 72 games for
fighting in the stands. In March he was arrested for domestic violence. For
that he got what amounted to a hand slap; an immediate two-game suspension and a
$600 fine for a player who makes several million a year.
Artest pled no contest to the domestic violence charge and was sentenced 100
hours of community service, a 10-day work project and mandated extensive
counseling. The NBA did nothing here too. Maybe if he had committed the
transgression on national TV -- as with the fan brawl -- more would
have happened.
Maybe if he'd hurt a dog he would have been benched for the season.
Sandra Kobrin is a Los Angeles based writer and columnist.
(c) 2007 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/60488/
--
Noemi "hermana, resist" Martinez
http://www.hermanaresist.com
Writing saved me from the sin and inconvenience of violence-
Alice Walker
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