Suh Suspension Brings to Light NFL Hypocricy

Ndamukong Suh is the poster child of what is wrong with the NFL and sports in general. His actions go well beyond bad sportsmanship and range somewhere between an aggressive spoiled brat and a psychopath. And, yes I said psychopath, because that is the definition of someone who intentionally tries to harm another individual for no reason at all. His despicable behavior is not done out of frustration or anger but, instead, seem to come from a lack of a conscience. After all, he had been suspended for two games in 2011 for intentionally stepping on the arm of Green Bay Packer's offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith and his 2012 groin shot to Matt Schaub during a Thanksgiving Game brought about a hefty fine.

On this one instance the NFL needs to be applauded for the suspension of Suh but in hindsight should they even allow this guy to play football at all. He makes no bones about relishing the role of the bad guy as he is even on record saying to New York Times reporter Judy Battista "It’s how Tom Brady is the pretty boy of the league, I’m maybe the villain of the league. It used to boggle my mind: How do you get this reputation? I look at James Harrison’s situation last year. I’m him this year." His mindset is dangerous and if someone gets hurt from an on the field incident they should have the right to not only sue him but, also, the NFL for damages. Some might disagree with that assessment as the NFL is a rough sport and injuries are commonplace. However, these incidents are not because of an accidental injury on the field, but, instead, is a cold, calculated decision with the intent to harm.

Sadly, the NFL has a terrible record on strict discipline of players, especially popular ones. Michael Vick who pleaded guilty to partaking in an illegal dog fighting ring where cruel and inhumane torture was done to dogs in 2007 was reinstated once his one year prison sentence was up. Those in the media jumped for joy when he returned to the field and even President Obama congratulated him on his recovery from being a brutal caretaker of the canine kind to working in kennels and pretending to care about dogs when the cameras were on.

In 2002, Ray Lewis with a group of friends at a Super Bowl after party was involved in an altercation outside a bar in Atlanta, Georgia with another group of individuals. The scuffle resulted in the deaths of two men who were brutally stabbed to death. The blood of one of the men who were murdered that night was found in Lewis's limousine and the white suit he had been wearing that night mysteriously vanished. Lewis was placed on trial along with two of his companions that night but charges were dropped in exchange for testimony against the other two men. Lewis was fined $250,000 by the NFL but was not suspended for the upcoming year. The following year after the trial, Lewis was named Super Bowl MVP and now works on NFL Network as an analyst.

From 2009-2011 the New Orleans Saints were accused and found guilty of paying out "bounties" for injuring opposing players. In 2012, four Saint's coaches and four Saint's players were suspended, including their head coach, Sean Payton for allowing such a reprehensible practice to take place. While the team was penalized and fined by the NFL none of them were barred for life. Instead, every one of them were back on the sidelines by the next year.

in 2014, star Raven's running back Ray Rice was indicted by a grand jury on third-degree- aggravated assault when he punched his then girlfriend in an Atlantic City, New Jersey elevator. Rice was initially suspended by the NFL for two games but upon further video evidence of the assault, the NFL suspended him indefinitely. He was later reinstated by the NFL after he won an appeal of his suspension the same year.

These are but a few cases of the NFL being too lenient. Leadership needs to be shown by the NFL and examples need to be made of anyone who commits heinous crimes, whether they are on or off the football field. Rid the league of this sickness which has plagued it for far too long. In the end, players and coaches will shape up or be shipped out. It is the only way the NFL can regain a shred of credibility among its fans.