Prairie Girl

This week, Jem & the Holograms is matched-up with Angry Monkeys in the office league. Angry Monkeys has a player on their team that I had looked at pre-draft but he was eliminated due to my social responsibility clause. 

I will not draft no-goods to my fantasy football list. I will not draft criminals who have not seemed to “get the message” from the justice system. Example: Cedric Benson - who shows up in the San Diego Tribune’s arrest database that can be found here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/nfl/arrests-database/

However, just because they are in the arrest database doesn’t mean that they will stay on the no-good list. I will look at the details, the interviews the player has given. I think that the point of a criminal justice system that hands out jail time is that people should be given a second chance. While many have chosen to not give Mike Vick a second chance - I have. I agree with the point of view in this commentary by David Fleming for ESPN Magazine. I think it is telling how far our society has NOT come that the outrage against Mike Vick has been louder and longer than the outrage of the multiple instances of abuse by Ben Roethlisberger. 

Ben Roethlisberger brings up a 3rd category. There are non-profits in every city in this country that provide services to victims of abuse whose offenders never show up in an arrest database. I have worked with a number of these organizations in my town. Until Roethlisberger publicly apologizes for his past behavior and accepts responsibility - he will be on my no-good list. Last season, he played the victim like he was the one who had been hurt. It was in contrast to the behavior of Mike Vick, who went on the record as often as he could and sincerely and genuinely apologized for his past behaviors. He didn’t say he had been wronged - he said he was wrong. Big difference.

The most disappointing offenses by NFL players are DUI arrests - especially when in multiples. The NFL has established the Player Protection Program which allows any NFL player to call a number for a free ride home, in a luxury vehicle. There aren’t numbers on how many use them and I don’t care if one of my favorite players, Adrian Peterson, was on the list of someone who used it. I care about the ones that show up on the arrests list, that made a CHOICE to NOT use it.

In the end, I didn’t choose Mike Vick as a QB for any of my fantasy football teams because I think his style does put him at risk for injuries and last week that is exactly what happened. But, I didn’t make that choice because I hate him for his past of which he served his time in prison as mandated by the justice system and has continued to do all he can off the field to make things right.