Roger Goodell Leads the New Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight

Welp, it appears that Roger Goodell, the NFL, and the "New York Football Giants" are auditioning for a remake of The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight with their handling of (soon to be former) Giants kicker Josh Brown. Brown had been arrested in Seattle in May 2015 for domestic violence and served a one game suspension at the start of the current season. After I wrote this post Wednesday, news broke that Brown admitted:

...to domestic violence in letters, emails and a journal, according to police documents.

The documents were part of Brown's final case file by the King County (Washington) Sheriff's Office stemming from a May 22, 2015, arrest following an incident with his wife, Molly Brown. The sheriff's office and prosecutor's office initially decided to postpone the filing of charges, pending further investigation, with the sheriff's office recommending that the prosecutor's office file charges of two counts of fourth-degree domestic assault. As of September 2016, charges had not been filed.

In one of Brown's journal entries obtained as part of the investigation, he writes: "I have abused my wife."

Of course, the NFL is blaming the King County Sheriff's Office for not providing them information, a charge the Sheriff is refuting:

The NFL said its investigators had repeatedly attempted to obtain more information on Brown but were denied by the King County Sheriff John Urquhart's office.

Urquhart told Seattle radio station KIRO on Thursday that the investigator never identified himself as being part of the league.

"NFL, National Football League,' he could have [said] any of that," Urquhart said. "Robert Agnew, Comcast.net, post office box in Woodinville. We had no idea who this yokel is."

Now, the NFL's 'Domestic Violence Policy' calls for a six game suspension for a "first offense" (could it really be a first offense for an abuser by the time he is in the NFL?). Brown's initial suspension makes a mockery of that policy, especially when John Mara, co-owner of the Giants:

...told New York radio station WFAN that he was aware of the abuse but after speaking with Brown, decided to re-sign the kicker to a two-year, $4 million contract.

Just as with the Ray Rice case from two years ago, now that news has broken about how abusive Brown actually was, Goodell and his minions are attempting to spin things and pretend to "take it seriously":

“We take this issue incredibly seriously,” Goodell said. “This is something we've been working on with policy changes, to educating our players to make sure they understand how they deal with issues with their family, give them resources to be able to deal with this. But when it happens, we’re not going to tolerate it. So we have some new information here, we’ll evaluate that in the context of our policy, and we’ll take it from there.”

Asked if he’s disappointed in the Giants and an investigatory process that didn’t uncover more details, Goodell told the BBC: “That’s why we’d like to speak to the people involved, whether it’s the victim or the people involved that may have information, including law enforcement. But we understand that in certain cases, they may not be permitted to talk to us or want to talk to us, and we don’t make judgments on people where they do that. What we want to do is get the facts, and when we get the facts, we’re going to aggressively pursue that, and we’ll apply our policy.”

Uh huh.

From the New York Times:

Advocates for domestic violence victims said the league could have taken a harder line earlier in the case.

“If the mitigating factors were that his ex-wife didn’t cooperate, we know that many victims don’t want to cooperate,” said Judy Harris Kluger, the executive director of Sanctuary for Families, an organization based in Manhattan that helps victims of domestic violence. “That should not have precluded the N.F.L. from acting. They should have learned that by now.”

...snip...

Critics question whether the efforts the N.F.L. took to address domestic violence were tough enough, as the league weighs the removal of key players from the field against satisfying victims’ advocates who urge no tolerance for any abuse.

“Goodell can say, ‘This is our standard, and we look at each case individually,’” said Mark Conrad, the director of the sports business program at Fordham University. “But if the range of penalties is that high, it calls into question how tough the policy is.”

The case has in particular stung the Giants, a team that had been seen at the forefront of raising awareness of the domestic violence problem.

At this point, I'm not sure if there is anything at all that Goodell and the NFL can do to gain credibility about Domestic Violence. This article from Yahoo Sports lists at least three other domestic violence incidents (besides Brown's) in the two years since Ray Rice. At this point, Goodell and the NFL need to quit with the pink spectacle PR and concentrate on the internal problem of abusive players or Jovan Belcher will be the norm.

October Is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Although October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we have actually (I hope) gotten quite a bit more aware of domestic violence these past few months. We never know what action or incident is going to be a tipping point for an issue and cause it to dominate the news cycle. For domestic violence, apparently seeing Ray Rice carry his unconscious fiancée from an elevator in Atlantic City, then seeing the NFL's original, minimal punishment before the video from the elevator itself showing Rice knocking her out was leaked, became the catalyst for this issue.

I have written about this issue in previous years (2009, 2012 on Domestic Violence alone and in 2010 and 2013 I combined Domestic Violence with Breast Cancer Awareness.) As I have stated previously, I do not know why this issue is one I feel so strongly about but it is.

The web site DomesticViolenceStatistics.org offers some very sobering statistics:

Every 9 seconds in the US a woman is assaulted or beaten.

Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Most often, the abuser is a member of her own family.

Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women—more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined.

Studies suggest that up to 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence annually.

Nearly 1 in 5 teenage girls who have been in a relationship said a boyfriend threatened violence or self-harm if presented with a breakup.

These are just a few of the Domestic Violence statistics and SafeHorizons.org has some more sobering facts.

Most of the time when people talk about Domestic Violence, it is meant as adult on adult violence but the reality is, child abuse is also a form of domestic violence. Wiki offers definitions for Intimate Partner Violence, Domestic Violence, and Family Abuse (including child and elder abuse.)

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence offers some history:

Domestic Violence Awareness Month evolved from the first Day of Unity observed in October, 1981 by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The intent was to connect battered women’s advocates across the nation who were working to end violence against women and their children. The Day of Unity soon became a special week when a range of activities were conducted at the local, state, and national levels.

As I noted above, the NFL seems to have helped the awareness efforts these last few months, albeit I'm sure it was not intentional. While the Ray Rice case has garnered the most attention, USA today had this article yesterday covering their not-so-good history with domestic violence:

Since September 2006, law enforcement authorities have pursued 50 domestic violence cases against NFL players, including one for murder and at least five allegations of assaulting or choking pregnant women.

...snip...

Three trends emerged:

--A brief suspension: In at least 14 cases, the league or the team suspended or deactivated the players, mostly for just one game. Only one of those was suspended more than two games prior to the league's recent controversy involving then-Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was suspended indefinitely after video surfaced that showed he punched his now-wife in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino.

--No suspension: In 16 cases, the league did not suspend the player, often in accordance with how prosecutors viewed those cases. Seven of those cases resulted in legal charges being dropped, plus one acquittal. Six others entered diversion programs to avoid prosecution.

--Grandstand justice: In 15 cases, players were released or not re-signed by their teams soon after their arrest and then never played another NFL game. These players often had marginal talent, but teams could make a show of their release by appearing to have a zero-tolerance policy toward domestic violence

While the NFL has gotten the lion's share of publicity recently, the NBA and Major League Baseball are not immune from the problems. Sports Illustrated did this article about the NBA Domestic Violence policy a couple of days ago. It looks like Major League Baseball has started making some attempts at updating their policy as well, going from this article in July decrying their efforts to this from a couple of weeks ago on Joe Torre's efforts to formulate a new policy for MLB.

We do not know how many of our friends and family have been victims (or perpetrators) of domestic violence. A few years ago I might have claimed no or very limited knowledge of this amongst my family and friends yet now I know that I have both family and friends who have been victims of this. These last two or three years, I have been getting to know a number of my second cousins. We have not been close since my maternal grandparents were divorced when my mother was two years old. I have one cousin I will never be allowed to know as she was killed by her husband nearly forty years ago.

I have no solutions but I will do all that I may to highlight this issue. All I can say is "Do not hit spouses, parents, children."

Domestic Violence Awareness

Well, here we are in October once again. There are two big "awareness" campaigns in October, Breast Cancer Awareness and Domestic Violence Awareness. I have written of both in previous years (here and here) but as I did in '09, I am going to concentrate this year on Domestic Violence Awareness. As personal as Breast Cancer Awareness is to me because of my sister, the 'pink ribbon' stories are fairly ubiquitous this time of year while it seems the purple ribbon of Domestic Violence Awareness is rarely seen.

I'm not sure why Domestic Violence bothers me so much. It, along with child abuse (especially sexual abuse) and rape, are the crimes that upset me more than just about anything. It may be because in each crime, the victim is often not believed or is blamed for some how "letting" these things happen. We as a society are supposed to believe that crimes do not happen where the perpetrator and the victim are within the same family or are neighbors.

I have in the past few years been slowly getting to know a bunch of cousins from my mother's side of the family where I have been told of one who was killed by her husband in 1975. I actually have memories of meeting this cousin at her grandmother's funeral when I was 13 and I think she was 16. After her death, her parent's adopted her son and daughter and raised them. But far too frequently, this type of violence is only spoken of in soft tones after the fact.

Connecticut and Maryland each had revisions to their Domestic Violence laws take effect yesterday (October 1, 2012). Florida and NY State have each also strengthened their Domestic Violence laws this year while in New Jersey, the courts have strengthened in ways but weakened in other ways.

On a federal level, The Violence Against Women Act has not been renewed. The House and Senate have each passed versions but not the same. It appears the House is balking at Senate provisions that extended coverage under the act to:

...women who are undocumented immigrants, Native Americans, LGBT, or students on campuses.

If you or someone you know is a victim of Domestic Violence:

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

NCADV Domestic Violence Fact Sheet (pdf)

National Criminal Justice Referral System, Domestic Violence

Office for Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crimes (Domestic and Family Violence)

National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)