is this moral compass supposed to point south?

Roughly 60% of American watches the NFL.  Football is the most popular sport in America with an average attendance of over 67,000 fans a game--a $9 billion a year juggernaut that spans a wide range of demographics.  I used to know a very funny, kind transient man who loved the Broncs.  Would talk about them for hours if you gave him an audience.  Know who else loves the broncs? A HUGE percentage of the very successful, Denver based law firm I work for.

Football holds many of the same tenets as American Society--a meritocracy where hard work, talent and dedication can, at the very least, allow you to provide a comfortable life for yourself.  Brotherhood and camaraderie are key--Football is a team sport and no matter what Die Hard Tebow-ies say, one man can't make a game.  In fact, Tim would be the first person to lay that truth down. Loyalty is important, as is a certain amount of selflessness and sacrifice on behalf of the brothers you suit up with. Competition, drama, pageantry...all VERY American.  It's also exceptionally generous--many of the players have their own charitable organizations that do everything from buy school supplies to build homes. The NFL, as an organization, is a snapshot of what American civilization strives to be.

And NFL Fans live EVERYWHERE...I LOVED this map I found that shows what the divide of fan bases are supposed to be based on distances from the stadiums...but then click the team logo and take a look at where that fan base actually IS.  I found the Cowboys particularly interesting...

All of this, though, made the recent scandals the NFL has faced next level interesting for me.  I survived Domestic Abuse.  I should have been the first person who would be ready to walk out the door with all of my money in hand rather than spend a single cent on a League that would harbor such people.

I wasn't.  I hated myself for it but I knew, if I was being honest, I'd be writing angry letters to NFL players and owners, calling for Goodell's job and demanding substantive and sweeping Personal Conduct Policy changes immediately.....

.....while on my laptop watching every single snap I could get my pigskin hungry eyeballs on.  The NFL would have lost nothing, despite my vitriol and hands shaped like claws after so much typing.

Consumerism is one of the few voices we, as normal humans who aren't backed by SuperPacs, have.  If we don't agree with a company's stance, we don't have to give that store our patronage.  This is not a new concept...you effect the bottom line of a major corporation, you effect change.

But you can only effect that bottom line if you walk away and take your money with you.  And one of the hardest things to handle about the Week the World Fell In was that moment when I looked in the mirror and realized I KNEW about most of the cases that were "brought to light" after the Ray Rice video.  These are public figures...ESPN has likely covered every personal conduct policy violation up to that point thus year.  I hadn't really thought twice about the fact that those men continued to play and faced marginal consequences from the League or their Teams.

I knew and I condoned it because I was too concerned with making sure my Eliminator Pick streak was still undefeated (it is, btw...I'm CRUSHING it...).  Football is a short season...every week has its own special stakes...they all matter.  This creates a firestorm of chaotic attention...a story is really only a story from late Sunday Night to kick off on Thursday, most times.  And way before the Ray Rice video, way back when I started WATCHING football..I should have held the NFL accountable by watching the way they handled these situations and taking them to task when they were wrong. I didn't.  It wasn't convenient to do so.

See..that's what really gets me.  The NFL is a snapshot of American Character to some extent...and they covered up all of these issues but...who ALLOWED them to do that?  Who built them up to the point where they genuinely believed that they could cover this up and get away with it because all fans care about are wins.  Pretty sure that's our bad...you know...as fans and all.

I had to listen, often, to people groaning about how they wanted to talk about ANYTHING else that week.  And I get why...I spent a good portion of that week utterly disillusioned, yearning for normalcy and tired of conversation. But I also feel like this is how we GOT here...football wins/conversations/strategy being more important than anything.

Being a good person...that doesn't take a day off.  And what is right and fair doesn't become murky or grey simply because the person in question rushed for a whole bunch of yards after knee surgery. Playing for the NFL doesn't become any less of a privilege and more of an entitlement because you can sac a QB or crush a fellow lineman. Had we, as fans, made it clear that we felt that way, they would have policies in place that reflected that for fear of losing our money and the sponsorship of other corporations who pay so highly for access to us.

I have a quote on my wall at work that delights the Audrey Hepburn/Grace Kelly portion of my heart.  It reads "if more women were ladies, I wonder if more men would feel compelled to be gentlemen"  Sometimes, we have to set the bar and simply demand it be met.

WE are the moral compass for the NFL...and the NFL's lack of moral guidance in some of these issues is more disturbing than just a giant corporation that doesn't care and has harbored violence for the sake of stats...trading the life and well being of women and children for another TD or 100 yard game.

It speaks to a society that does the same thing.