Cowboys DE Greg Hardy's domestic violence case is back in the news after pictures of the incident were posted on Deadspin.com, and while the NFL initially suspended Hardy 10 games, arbitrator Harold Henderson "reduced the penalty to four games," something that is "on Henderson and the players association," according to NBC's Bob Costas. Henderson and the NFLPA "saw the pictures, they knew the severity of the offense and they fought for a reduction nonetheless." Costas noted NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over the past couple of years "has received a good deal of criticism" for his handling of player discipline. But after "initially faltering in the Ray Rice case, Goodell vowed to get it right going forward." Goodell with the Hardy case "definitely tried to make good on that promise." Costas noted the NFL as part of its own investigation "gained access to the photos the public is just now seeing, and Goodell suspended Hardy for 10 games." Costas: "You can shake your head at the perceived flaws of the judicial system ... but here's what you can't do this time. You can't blame Roger Goodell and you can't deny this cold truth about big-time sports. No matter what kind of guy he is, if a guy can play, there will always be a market somewhere for his services" ("Football Night In America," NBC, 11/8). CBS' Bill Cowher said he hoped NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith "would have seen the pictures" before trying to reduce the initial suspension. Cowher: "Even if he didn’t see the pictures, I think he had the opportunity to pull Greg Hardy in and say ‘You know what Greg, we don't condone these types of actions and 10 games is fair.’ But no, he decided to go and make an appeal because he says his duty is to protect, to fight both the penalty and the process. What about holding your members accountable?" CBS' Tony Gonzalez said, "This whole situation from top to bottom, DeMaurice, the Cowboys organization, everything has been handled poorly, and it's not good for the NFL" ("The NFL Today," CBS, 11/8).
LETTER OF THE LAW: PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio noted the NFLPA, like any union, "has an obligation under federal law to protect all members of the union." NFLPA Assistant Exec Dir of External Affairs George Atallah wrote in an email, "We have a duty of fair representation to all of our members. The role of our union is to defend player rights within the parameters of the Collective Bargaining Agreement." Florio noted the union in exercising that duty "must separate the conduct from the CBA." No matter what a player "has allegedly done, he has rights -- just as he would have rights in a court of law." To disregard those rights in cases where the charges are unsavory "would be wrong, and also would be a violation of the duty of fair representation imposed by federal law" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 11/8). Bengals OT and NFLPA President Eric Winston said, "From a union standpoint, obviously we have a legal responsibility to represent our members. But that doesn't mean we condone violence ... and we're OK with our members breaking the law or doing other things, any acts of violence, really anything out of bounds, so to speak" ("Sunday NFL Countdown," ESPN, 11/8). ESPN's Chris Mortensen said, "I've heard the criticism, 'Hey, well, the union should be disgraced, they should be ashamed they defended this guy.' By law, they had to defend him" ("NFL Insiders: Sunday Edition," ESPN, 11/8). But USA TODAY's Christine Brennan wrote, "Something is very wrong when sports officials such as the leaders of the NFL players' union look at pictures of a battered and bruised woman and think it's a good idea to lessen the perpetrator's punishment" (USATODAY.com, 11/8).
DOING WHAT'S RIGHT: CBS' James Brown said, "I get what the NFLPA's job is, but there comes a time when standing on the side of right is what they and we need to be about, not reducing the penalty so as to get the player back on the field and paid" (“The NFL Today,” CBS, 11/8). NBC's Cris Collinsworth asked, "Wouldn’t it feel good, just for once, to have the NFL players on this critical issue ... come out front and say, ‘We want stricter, not lesser punishments, for our players that are involved in domestic violence issues.’" Collinsworth: "To me, that is the only possibility of moving this forward” ("FNIA," NBC, 11/8). NFL Network's Michael Robinson, who played eight seasons in the league, said, "It's hard being a former player. ... We're grouped in with this guy." He added, "He's part of out brethren to a certain degree, but yet he does things like that, and people look at all football players as being this type of man" ("NFL GameDay First," NFL Network, 11/8).
LEAGUE, UNION NEED TO WORK TOGETHER: ESPNW's Jane McManus wrote the "void the NFL and union need to jointly walk into" is to "keep rare players like Hardy and owners like [the Cowboys' Jerry] Jones from distracting from a game played by a lot of actual good guys." Jones last night again expressed support for Hardy, but McManus wrote Hardy "is a distraction, because owners like Jones keep cheering him on" (ESPNW.com, 11/7). The N.Y. Daily News' Manish Mehta said, "It is a sad reflection of what the NFL is, which is a bottom-line cold business that values production on the field over anything else" ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN2, 11/8).
ALREADY SERVED HIS TIME: THE MMQB's Peter King writes what Hardy has "done and said in the past 18 months repulses me," but Hardy "has the right to play football." The criminal justice system "is finished" with him. After Hardy "appealed his conviction," Nicole Holder "refused to cooperate in the case and the charges were dismissed, and, last week, expunged from his record." King: "The Hardy case stinks. We can all smell it. But the American justice system has released him into society" (MMQB.SI.com, 11/9). In DC, Kevin Blackistone notes if the NFL "were to suspend Hardy due to the photos made public Friday, that essentially would be a second punishment for the same crime, and a crime for which Hardy technically was acquitted." The U.S. government, via the Fifth Amendment, "frowns upon such action." The NFL "isn’t a governing body, of course, but that very American tenet can’t be ignored" (WASHINGTON POST, 11/9). NBC's Costas said, "Emotion aside, no matter how you may feel about him, he had the right to play again. And a team, if it was willing to take on the baggage, had the right to sign him” (“FNIA,” NBC, 11/8).
