Whoever was advising Michael Vick after he was arrested was smart as hell. Rather than fighting the charges in court, Vick’s attorneys offered a surprise guilty plea. That kept the photos and testimony mostly out of the public eye. Vick did his time, came back and proved himself on the field. I’m a dog lover, but I…

I don’t understand your point. The point of the article above is that tossing players out of the league or penalizing them harshly for off the field violence does not help the victims of that violence, nor does it stop the violence and therefor it would be better for the NFL to pursue a policy which shows some grasp…

People love hopping on the send them to counselling train. Except counselling/rehab/treatment isn’t 100% effective. How many times has Johnny Manziel been in rehab? How about Josh Norman? Think they’re cured of what ails them? Maybe you can give him therapy and medication that he can refuse to take one day, the news…

The absolute most dangerous, lethal time for a person in a DV situation is when they attempt to leave. That’s when they are most likely to get killed. If they have no money, and nowhere to go, and especially if they have kids, staying in the relationship for the time being CAN be the safest and smartest decision for…

In a perfect world, the NFL, and any other sports league, would mete discipline in a way that is consistent with the societally accepted norms.

I never said anyone has a right to play in the NFL, so I’m not sure where that comes from.

My father was abusive. He beat my mother multiple times, and my brother and I once each. After he beat me, he told me I couldn’t tell anyone because they’d break up our family, not only taking me and my brother from the house but splitting us up as well. That terrified me, and I know that the fear of being unable to…

It could be, but I don’t recommend anyone hang in there to try and find out.

they aren’t making a rational, smart choice

Excellent article but it’s interesting how all of these nuanced articles come out when the criminal is white. It reminds me of the sudden change in how we view drug addicts now that white northeasterners are dying from overdoses. While sympathy and empathy are good, would be nice to have seen this for some other…

Except, being overly harsh doesn’t actually “break the cycle”.

“In a lot of cases of domestic abuse, the victim doesn’t want the relationship to end, they want the abuse to end”

Yes, that’s always how it starts. People who said that Manziel was an alcoholic got shouted down at first too. This article is the best thing we’ve read on the subject, and I’m really glad to see it because it means we’re finally starting to both understand and address the real issues of violence and how to deal with…

Yeah, but you don’t avoid the physical violence. You just have less resources to protect yourself from it because you’re broke. He’s not going to feel more kindly to you because, as he sees it, you took away his beloved career, friends, and cash flow. It’s just going to be easier for him to hunt you down and make you…

It would be a useful start if it was much less common to exhort players to play better/stronger/harder by yelling at them not to be “pussies” and “little girls”. The culture of misogyny is well established and at least partly explains why they are having such a difficult time figuring out how to deal with issues of…

Its almost like we shouldn’t count on a sports league to solve a major societal problem? Hmm.

I think one hard thing for the league is that it is a command and control organization. Letting all sides involved in domestic abuse become involved in independent treatment programs means that the issue is no longer under the league’s control, and they fear where that could go. If the abuser is on a team with toxic…

Great article. Because the NFL insists on policing players’ off field conduct, I take the small suspensions as slaps in the face that convey a complete indifference to accusations of domestic violence. But I have never been comfortable with any sports league attempting to investigate and punish domestic assault.

You’re right that knee jerk policies won’t help, and one place to start will be the NFL figuring out how to break up the 1890s Pinkerton culture of its investigators. Not likely to happen, but it’s key that the league and teams get away from the sense that they deal with problems with a private security force out to…

Very well done article. I have volunteered as a peer counselor and at women’s protective services and there have been many times something was a one time thing where someone screwed up, badly, but it wasn’t a life long series of abuse. And then on the other hand there were many, many cases where it was a pattern and…