My first +Minnesota Vikings memory comes from the 1987/88 NFC Championship Game against the +Washington Professional Football Team. I can still remember laying on the floor crying after the ball slipped through Darrin Nelson's hands on 4th down and my dad just patting me on the back and then taking me outside to throw the football around.
There would be many more trying moments over the next couple decades both on (multiple NFC Championship Games) and off (Love Boat, Original Whizzinator) the field but I can honestly say that not once did I ever stop supporting the team, even though there was clearly a knuckle head or two employed by then over the years. Then came the news this Friday and I can honestly say for the first time, I stopped and thought about how this was going to change how I felt about supporting the team going forward. I own and Adrian Peterson jersey and on Saturday, I started to think about how wearing that to watch the game this coming Sunday would make me feel.
Two years ago, I wouldn't have given it a second of thought but I have a son now, and as anyone who has kids can tell you, your perspective on life is forever altered. I thought about how I would feel wearing the jersey of someone who felt the need to do what he did (yes did, not is accused of doing. Statements from his lawyer confirm the fact that Peterson has admitted to doing what he is accused of.) I can not ever fathom doing something like this to my son and I have so much trouble accepting the fact that there are people in this world who find this type of behavior acceptable.
I truly wish that the +Minnesota Vikings would have the courage to stand up and say that this type of behavior is not acceptable. I wish they would have the guts to suspend Peterson but since they would much rather step back and pass the buck to the +NFL, they won't. They (the league AND the Vikings) will stand behind Peterson until it is a bad business move to support him, in much the same way that the +Baltimore Ravens did with Ray Rice. It makes me sick and at the same time sad that not one person in a leadership position will step up and stand for something besides money.
I'll just close with this. Peterson is admitting to actually doing this, and there are actually people jumping to his defense left and right because "this is how things are done where he is from and what he is used to." Well folks guess what; there are plenty of types of behavior and actions that were acceptable in the past that we look at today and can't imagine a time and place were society condoned them. I would have thought that in 2014, we could all agree that beating a child with a tree branch was one of those things, but I guess not.
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