America's Worst Behavior

I was in elementary school when every television showed the World Trade Center towers being taken down. It was the first time I saw almost every teachers’ face lose color and leave the room with a somber face. My mind couldn’t comprehend everything that was being said to me until I made it home that afternoon. I remember my heart dropping when I saw people jumping to their inevitable deaths. Every year when a channel shows those same people choosing to fly for one last time I can’t bring myself to watch it. Even though I am no longer a child, I can’t seem to shake the fear from my stomach when September 11th comes around. Being in New York around the people who were directly impacted dissolves my fear. I keep seeing all these people with hopeful expressions. It makes me breathe easier.

I have always been a fan of throwing the pigskin around in my downtime. I haven’t been a fan of the insane loyalty to the game that some people have. That loyalty leads some people to overlook important issues with the players. Former Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice has been under fire for leaked footage of him hitting and dragging his then fiancee out of an elevator. Instead of addressing this serious issue of domestic violence quickly, the NFL decided to sit on the footage and lie about knowing it existed. Their first action was to suspend Rice for two games for his actions. However when the footage was leaked, they suspended him indefinitely and then fired him. The problem I have with the NFL as an organization is the lack of concern and action toward this situation. They could have spoken out first condemning domestic violence. Then they could have informed the public of what they were planning to do to rectify the problem. The sheer fact that nothing was done shows that the NFL didn’t want to act at all.