Williams: NFL fans enabled miscreants

Those of us addicted to football are indirectly responsible for the monster the National Football League has become.

Whether we’re buying tickets or jerseys or ugly sweaters (check out ShopNFL.com), we’ve turned the NFL into a $9 billion-a-year industry that’s out of control.

We’re responsible. Talented athletes are told at an early age that they are special. By the time they reach high school, some start believing that society’s rules don’t apply.

We give the best-of-the-best full-ride scholarships to top universities, writing stories and televising their signing ceremonies. Local television devotes and promotes segments about college scouting services highlighting the area’s best high school players and their prospects. Brilliant students who earn scholarships for academics receive much less acclaim.

Things can get worse in college. Exhibit A is the 2011 Ohio State football tattoo scandal that turned Jim Tressel into a college president.

This week, we’ve seen what happens when a professional football player reveals his true colors and his team’s executives fumble.

We’re enablers because we can’t look away not matter how much we should be offended. Exhibit B: Female Ravens fans who were wearing Ray Rice’s jersey at Thursday’s game in Baltimore. Pete Townshend said it best: “I Can’t Explain.”

For decades, the NFL has been America’s most successful professional league. Major League Baseball essentially threw in the towel when owners and their commissioner were shocked that the home runs sailing out of ballparks after the 1994-95 strike were juiced.

The NFL and college football were doing very well before the economy collapsed six years ago this month. Did any industry (besides Wall Street) come out of that recession in better shape than football? As our pensions and investments disappeared in the “Too Big to Fail” collapse, people stayed home and football ratings for big games took off.

Saturday nights had become a wasteland for the television networks. Today, NBC, FOX and ABC regularly schedule college games in the fall. Things are going so well for the NFL that this season they expanded their Thursday night NFL Network package to include CBS for half of the season.

When it comes to marketing, nobody does it better than the NFL. Which is why it’s so puzzling that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has botched the Rice domestic violence case.

Exhibit C: An “independent” investigation of whether NFL executives had seen the inside-the-elevator footage before Monday? Independent? Please.

For years, the NFL has had a domestic violence problem. The Rice video finally put a face on it. But do the owners really want stronger penalties for this disease? Do they want to see a franchise quarterback or elite cornerback banned?

Only if corporate sponsors who pay for loges and buy advertising on telecasts say so. The current evidence suggests NFL owners don’t want to see players suspended. They are too valuable.

The Steelers and 49ers offer Exhibits D and E.

Someday (or some season), Steelers running backs Le’Veon Bell and LaGarrette Blount will be suspended for last month’s marijuana arrests. And Niners defensive end Ray MacDonald is probably going to feel the NFL Commissioner’s wrath for his domestic violence incident two weeks ago.

But they won’t face penalties any time soon as their lawyers delay their criminal cases. Certainly, the NFL won’t take action, not with playoff berths at stake.

Teams still could make a huge statement by deactivating players who have embarrassed franchises. But they won’t — there’s too much at stake financially in doing the right thing.

And we’re the enablers who are watching and contributing our dollars.

Tom Williams is a sportswriter at The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Williams_Vindy.