Stop Me When I Start Lyin: AP is not Ray Rice

Despite the other involved factors in the Ray Rice situation becoming such a big debacle (the commissioners' continually hypocritical stance changes, the Ravens' possible cover up attempt, the phantom security footage sent/not sent to the NFL office, etc.), no one can deny Ray Rice was wrong in both aspects of his transgression: the action itself, and the severity. The severity of punching your woman so hard it knocks her unconscious is horrific. But even if she weren't knocked unconscious, the action of punching your wife is wrong, especially being that the video shows she wasn't imminently pressing the action. No matter what happened before to lead up to it, when you're in the position Ray's in (career with high visibility, very high salary, short career span, etc.), you have to handle it better than he did. Hell, they were the only two in the elevator, had he not dragged her out and dropped her on her face, suspicion wouldn't have been heightened. But the die has been cast for Rice, and he'd have to get lucky to have a second chance in the NFL during his prime.

Adrian Peterson is not Ray Rice. Peterson is in hot water because his 4 year old child was taken to the hospital with lots of welts from AP whipping him with a switch. Once again, I like at 1) the action, and 2) the severity. The action itself of whipping your child is not alarming at all to me; I was a bad kid once and my parents kept me in line this way. As for the whip, Adrien Peterson is from Palestine, TX. I've never been but it strikes me as an old school country place. Although I was raised in more of a city (I got punched in the face instead), I have country cousins, country friends, city friends who spent time with their country family members, etc. EVERYBODY got beaten with a switch, it virtually ALWAYS leaves welts. AP was likely no different as a kid, it's what he knows. So my issue with the switch wasn't its use alone, that's where severity comes in. The kid is 4, which I believe is too young for the switch to be used. He should still be getting open hand-to-butt whooping over clothes I believe. Plus AP is a professional athlete and workout addict, if you were using a switch (which I don't condone), it should be getting a very very dialed back swing instead of any full swings; and probably 3-4 swings instead of 15 or whatever it was. AP has several kids by several women, meaning he likely rarely spends one on one time with some of these kids. Could the kid have been disobeying out of unfamiliarity which contributed? I don't know. But AP went overboard which how he punished his child this particular time. He may need to be suspended for a short while, sent to some time of parenting counseling, learn a lesson to make himself a better parent, and move on. I don't think this should be treated like Rice's situation. I don't think he should be cut, banned from the league, or anything else. He's a parent who did the wrong thing for the right reason (presumably). I assume every parent probably had moments where they went overboard to make a point, learned from it and never did it again. Just because he's a pro athlete doesn't mean we can remove his opportunity to learn on the job as a parent. Let's keep this in context. Stop Me When I Start Lying...