Greg Hardy: A Defense

Greg Hardy: A Defense

In my eternal quest to always at least try to defend the indefensible, I am going to try and offer some arguments that counter the drumbeat from the talking heads on ESPN that Dallas Cowboy defensive player Greg Hardy should either be suspended for a very long time or banished from the league.  The reason for the strum und drag is the release of photos that document the nature of the injuries inflicted on his then-girlfriend.

I suppose the most obvious defense is the same one I offered for Ray Rice, whose punishment was extended after video was released of him clocking his then-girlfriend; he was duly punished, and the release of photographic evidence of what he did changes nothing.  All the photos do is inflame the emotional reaction of virtually all who see them, but they don’t by themselves provide an additional basis for doling out further punishment.

As if further punishment was possible.  Hardy was on the Commissioner’s “exempt list” (the football equivalent of Animal House’s “double secret probation”) all of last season.  Those who claim that is a paid vacation overlook the fact that, to an athlete, losing a season in your physical prime is an irreversible loss.  To you or me a year off with pay would be great, but to an athlete with maybe a ten-year window on his career, it isn’t so sweet a deal.

The Commissioner attempted to suspend him for ten games, but since the Commissioner’s judiciary system is so messed up an arbitrator held that a four game suspension was the maximum allowed.  You can be angry at the Player’s Union for doing their job and appealing, or at the arbitrator for his decision (based on the Commissioner’s past decisions), but that’s not on Greg Hardy.

It’s hardly fair to condemn the NFL’s justice system when the government’s system has been even weaker.  Hardy was found guilty of domestic violence by a judge, asked for a jury trial, then apparently reached a cash settlement with the victim and the charges were dropped.  This past week the court officially “expunged” his record, meaning that as far as the US legal system is concerned, Hardy never did anything wrong.

Reportedly when Hardy was arrested the complainant said, “Nothing’s going to happen to him.”  The complainant subsequently refused to cooperate with prosecutors, making her statement a self-fulfilling prophecy and not a cynical yet accurate condemnation of the legal system.  The ex-girlfriend was supposedly compensated for her refusal to cooperate, which sounds like the old joke that ends “We’ve established what you are, now we’re negotiating price.”  Hopefully she was well compensated. 

Lastly, just who appointed the NFL as the arbiters of morality and decency?  To all those who say that Greg Hardy should be stripped of his livelihood because of these accusations (that have now been expunged by a court), since when did purity of character become a prerequisite for participation in a game?  Ty Cobb once beat a handicapped man senseless; should he have been banned from baseball?  Lots of professional athletes have treated women poorly in ways that did not rise to abuse; abandonment, infidelity, non-support.  Should every man who ever mistreated a woman be banned from earning a living for life?  If you do a job and you do it well, why should you be disqualified from doing so because of a character flaw that does not affect your job performance (and probably enhances it)?

Greg Hardy deserves to earn a living.  Everyone deserves to earn a living.  Just as child molesters shouldn't work around children, Hardy should probably find a job where he doesn't have any female co-workers.  Hey, last time I checked the NFL wasn't co-ed!  What better workplace for him than one that excludes women.

None of this is to minimize the significance of Greg Hardy’s actions or his complete lack of contrition afterwards.  He has dutifully tweeted out vague denials about being sorry about mistakes in the past, all the while making comments about Tom Brady’s wife and saying he was coming out “guns blazing” (one allegation was that he threw his then-girlfriend on to a futon covered with semi-automatic weapons).  He is a despicable human being, and calling him a human being is giving him the benefit of the doubt.

But he is a very good football player, and as such he will be very well paid as he helps the Cowboys not make the playoffs again this year.  Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner, complimented Greg Hardy as a “passionate” team leader after he physically assaulted an assistant coach during a game.  Maybe this is one reason why the Dallas Cowboys haven’t been a threat to win anything for more than twenty years.