NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for six games this week, a result of what was, apparently, alcohol-fueled misbehaviour in a bar in Georgia this winter.
Most American sports pundits believe the punishment fits the crime, even though there was no crime. In the mainstream media, however, crime and misbehaviour are one and the same because as the court of public opinion, media bloviators get to be district attorney, judge and jury.
Goodell has decided that a He-said/She-said bit of nastiness between a 28-year-old male and 20-year-old female in a bar is deserving of a six-game suspension and, sure, maybe it is. But remember this, Michael Vick, who spent 18 months in prison after being convicted for his role in a dog-fighting (read: dog-killing) ring, also got six games. And that six-game suspension was shortened to two games.
Now, frankly, I had no argument with Vick’s suspension being shortened by four games. He did his time, he paid his debt to polite society and he deserved every opportunity to return to his old job. But the Roethlisberger suspension is a message that killing defenceless animals and drinking, carousing and acting like an idiot is on exactly the same level of horrendous behaviour. That’s really, really wrong.
The commissioner needs to do what the commissioner needs to do but when killing animals and acting like a dick results in the same penalty, something is amiss.
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