Without them there would be no National Football League. But along with all the fans comes plenty of opposition to it. Though it is the NFLs responsibility to properly punish athletes who break the law, many believe that they do not do a sufficient job doing so. For example; Ray Rice was initially suspended for two games when it was reported that he had punched his wife in the face, though it was eventually changed to an indefinite suspension when a video of the altercation was released, Tom Brady got an initial suspension of 4 games for possibly deflating some footballs. Brady received double the amount of games suspended for a case that had an end result of “more probable than not” than a man who it was known for sure had beaten his wife. That is just one of many cases of the NFL and its string of incompetent commissioners not punishing its athletes fairly. Due to this notion of unfair punishment it is often said the only way for this crime problem to stop is through the fans. There are many that call to boycott the NFL, asking questions like: “Are you a decent person?” or “Do you regard yourself as having a moral compass?”. They do this in order to make fans feel guilty for enjoying watching these criminal athletes play even though they presumably know what the person they are rooting for did. These calls for boycott do not seem to have a very significant effect on the league due to its popularity continuing to increase every year. So why don’t more fans take action? Why do they continue to condone the domestic violence? The robbery? And in some cases, the murder? NFL fans are no strangers to scandal, it seems to rip through at least a few franchises every year and it seems that by now they are numb to it and see no need to take action. Crime is a continuously debated topic in the sports world, if one was to google “should professional athletes who break the law be banned from their sport” you will find hundreds of
Without them there would be no National Football League. But along with all the fans comes plenty of opposition to it. Though it is the NFLs responsibility to properly punish athletes who break the law, many believe that they do not do a sufficient job doing so. For example; Ray Rice was initially suspended for two games when it was reported that he had punched his wife in the face, though it was eventually changed to an indefinite suspension when a video of the altercation was released, Tom Brady got an initial suspension of 4 games for possibly deflating some footballs. Brady received double the amount of games suspended for a case that had an end result of “more probable than not” than a man who it was known for sure had beaten his wife. That is just one of many cases of the NFL and its string of incompetent commissioners not punishing its athletes fairly. Due to this notion of unfair punishment it is often said the only way for this crime problem to stop is through the fans. There are many that call to boycott the NFL, asking questions like: “Are you a decent person?” or “Do you regard yourself as having a moral compass?”. They do this in order to make fans feel guilty for enjoying watching these criminal athletes play even though they presumably know what the person they are rooting for did. These calls for boycott do not seem to have a very significant effect on the league due to its popularity continuing to increase every year. So why don’t more fans take action? Why do they continue to condone the domestic violence? The robbery? And in some cases, the murder? NFL fans are no strangers to scandal, it seems to rip through at least a few franchises every year and it seems that by now they are numb to it and see no need to take action. Crime is a continuously debated topic in the sports world, if one was to google “should professional athletes who break the law be banned from their sport” you will find hundreds of