Society is wrought with an appetite for scandal, and for a reason yet inexplicable to me, an avenue designed to give society a release from the daily amalgamation of stress and fatigue — sports — continues to contribute to the problem rather than help alleviate it.
To that end, despite its proliferation in all walks of media for the past 12-plus hours — and, indeed, the past seven months — there is no mention of scandal, the National Football League, the New England Patriots, Tom Brady or the proper size and pressure per square inch of a football, save for this sentence, on the front page of our sports section.
Because this is not news.
It is a talking point. And yes, there is a difference.
In the click-hungry world into which the media have evolved at a cheetah’s pace, many news outlets are caring less and less about news, and more and more about click bait, visit-grabbing headlines and hot takes.
The “news” from Tuesday’s scripted announcement is that the commissioner of the league, acting as an arbitrator of a decision he himself made, upheld his own findings.
Gee, didn’t see that coming.
The only thing this “ruling” served to do was bring back to the fore a discussion that has simmered quietly for a while — perhaps too long for the league’s public relations arm, which timed the release on a nondescript day when only regular-season baseball games dotted the sports landscape, ensuring its place among the day’s top stories across all platforms.
Except this one.
So what’s next for the league, its seemingly model franchise that it continues to treat worse than Ray Rice treated his wife, the “Golden Child” quarterback and their over-inflated egos?
Another lull, and then another announcement. Which should be plenty to keep the sheep who continue to support this whole charade coming back to the trough for more slop.
The threat of a lawsuit looms. The quarterback will sue. Of course he’s going to sue. And he is (likely) going to win. This isn’t about whether he did it anymore. It’s about the process the league used to determine the outcome.
It’s fascinating.
How did it decide that Rice initially got two games for beating the crap out of his wife, but Brady got four for this infraction? And then, on the same day the suspension was upheld by an “arbitrator,” who is the same person who decided on the original suspension, the league also reduced a suspension of a drug abuser suspected of OUI.
Sounds logical.
The team issued a statement in the evening, in which it predictably acted horror-stricken by the process, which has served only to cast the team into the spotlight intermittently throughout an extended offseason:
“We are extremely disappointed in today’s ruling,” the statement begins.
No kidding.
“We cannot comprehend the league’s position in this matter.”
Money. And you are complacent.
“Most would agree that the penalties levied originally were excessive and unprecedented, especially in light of the fact that the league has no hard evidence of wrongdoing.”
This rings true. But there was a reason for it.
“We also believe that the laws of science continue to underscore the folly of this entire ordeal.”
Science? Facts? In the Court of Public Opinion, who need them?
“Given all of this, it is incomprehensible as to why the league is attempting to destroy the reputation of one of its greatest players and representatives.”
Therein lies the ultimate question. What threat does the quarterback pose to the league? And what is the greater agenda?
If the answer to the latter question is “publicity,” congratulations to the league.
But at what cost?
Should this all go to court — to which it appears destined — something otherwise slated for the court’s docket, such as prosecuting criminal activity, and righting actual injustice — will have to be set aside, at least momentarily. Is that really what everyone wants to happen? Over a battle of egos?
The league mishandled the situation from the outset, and continues to fumble the proverbial rock at every turn.
And the real stink about the whole situation is, thanks to the growing polarity of the world at large — a world full of people who have turned sports from an escape into hard news — the league itself will somehow gain from its terrible handling of an otherwise innocuous situation.
That, in all of this, is the direction in which the outrage should be directed.
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