As things go rapidly from bad to worse for the NFL (or, perhaps more accurately the National Felons League) as teams find out that a surprising number of their violent and aggressive players are just as violent and aggressive off the field as on, it strikes me as somewhat peculiar that the general public seems outraged by these events.
Let me explain; it's not just that the game they play itself is based on aggressive possession of someone else's territory, or that it is by design a male-dominated activity whereby women are solely seen as jiggling eye-candy on the sidelines at the games, but these multi-million dollar thugs have always been this abusive, and they have almost never had to face responsibility for their actions.
It starts out in high school where, in some parts of the country, 'Friday Night Lights' isn't just a sporting event, but a religious experience. The successful boys on the team get preferential treatment at the schools, and blind-eyes are turned by Johnny Law when they "act out" or engage in "typical boys just being boys" pranks like raping unconscious girls at under-age drinking parties.
They behave in a criminal manner, but, for the most part, it is swept under the carpet and they get back to the business of being star high-school athletes.
End result - no culpability for their actions.
Then they go to college. Here, where the booze is at least legal, the "boys will be boys" pranks tend to escalate to more grown-up crimes like, assault, DUI, aggravated rape so on and so on. These too are swept under the rug, as are the failing grades which get excused, or changed, or in some cases, have someone else take the exams for you, so that they can get back to the business of being star college athletes.
End result - no culpability for their actions.
Then they go to the NFL. The game is even faster, even more brutal, but the rewards are astronomically higher. This is being done in an arena where hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, and where franchises are worth billions. Here the crimes move to the highest level, assault with deadly weapons, vehicular manslaughter, obstructing justice, spousal abuse, child abuse, murder, and murder-for-hire.
End result - the general public is outraged that these players would behave this way, because it's not as though they've played to a different set of rules than the rest of us since the first time their athletic prowess was discovered.
Oh wait....
Never mind...
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