Does the NFL think its better to Kill People than Dogs? Who thinks NFL's Personal Conduct Policy is a joke?

Question

Ray Lewis stabs two men to death outside a bar and still plays. Randy Moss tries to run over a cop becuase he has dope in the car (Dope: Drugs not Randy). Fred Evans beats up two cops and has felony charges against him. And, don't forget O.J. Simpson who still holds his place in Canton, Ohio.

Along comes Vick...kills some dogs...goes to jail (most likely)...and loses 3 years in the NFL if not the rest of his career.

Go ahead...kill all the people you want...but you better not harm a puppy if you ever want to play again!!!!!!!

Ray Lewis stabs two men to death outside a bar and still plays. Randy Moss tries to run over a cop becuase he has dope in the car (Dope: Drugs not Randy). Fred Evans beats up two cops and has felony charges against him. And, don't forget O.J. Simpson who still holds his place in Canton, Ohio.

Along comes Vick...kills some dogs...goes to jail (most likely)...and loses 3 years in the NFL if not the rest of his career.

Go ahead...kill all the people you want...but you better not harm a puppy if you ever want to play again!!!!!!!

In all fairness, Ray Lewis plead guilty to Manslaughter. And, yes, I do not condone killing dogs. I rescued a dog from the pound. I love my dog. The question was put this way to make you ponder!

Great job everyone. There's a lot of insight and passion in the answers. I know...Ray Lewis and OJ were never found guilty. But, I did learn more about the Personal Conduct Policy by reading your answers.

Answer 1

The thing to remember is that the NFL did not have a strict conduct policy until it was implemented this last offseason.

Because of past player incidents (Ray Lewis, Randy Moss, Jamal Lewis, etc.), and presumably the flack the NFL received for not disicpling those players, the new commissioner Rodger Goodell decided to finally install a new "personal conduct policy" in the league just this last winter. It was so important to him, that it was the very first thing he did as commissioner.

Now, finally, there is an actual personal conduct policy written into the NFLPA union contract, which is key. Before there was nothing in the union contracts to allow the commissioner to suspend players for unruly behavior, and because of that, a commissioner could not supsend a player without risk of a lawsuit from the NFLPA.

This new player conduct policy is why only now do you see players being suspended by the league, and it's why players like Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones, and even Michael Vick are receiving suspensions while players involved in previous, and even worse, incidents did not.

It's comparable to MLB not testing for steriods until after 2005, when it was finally worked into the MLBPA contracts after much negative media attention.

Answer 2

The difference is that the new commissioner is cleaning up the league. I would imagine if those things happened now, the players would be facing much more serious suspensions.

Your examples are somewhat weak tho - Ray Lewis did not stab anyone. Moss did not run over a cop, and the witnesses even said that they believed he had no intentions of harming the officer (he was definitely wrong to do it anyway, but it wasn't an attempted murder), and OJ was not found guilty for murder.... Fred Evans is the only one that was legit (although, I believe he pleaded not guilty, but I do not know what happened with it).

All that being said, yes, it is a little unfair and this whole thing is getting way too much publicity because of a boring summer.

Answer 3

I'm not too sure if it's a joke. OJ was not on a team, just movies, commercials, and he was a commentator/sideline journalist. Lewis never harmed anyone, he just wouldn't tell on his hoodlum buddies. Moss didn't try to run someone over - he was an impatient little guy who bumped a cop with his car. The cop was pretty much uninjured. If he tried to run over a cop, don't you think he'd be in jail now?
Vick is in more for killing dogs. I think that the government is more worried about the conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce than him killing dogs. The dog killing is not even in the plea agreement though the sponsoring a dog in dog fighting is.
I'll give you a name: Rae Carruth. He played for the Panthers as a WR. The team actually cut him. What did he do? Back in '99 he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, shooting into and occupied vehicle, and using an instrument to destroy an unborn child.He's currently in year 7 of an 18 - 24 year sentence. Good thing he was cut.

Answer 4

lol thats what I said it goes beyond the NFL why is the media so up in arms about it but nobody covered the ray lewis incident or even the guilty and in prision ray carruth like this. The hipocritical nature of all these people is absolutely unreal to me.

DRug possession and murder is acceptable but if a pit bull is killed the person that did it should die. Its sick and very misguided. There are guys playing in the league that have had drug charges and sat out a game or 2 and came back. It makes me sick. Dogs are suddenly more valuable than people. What a Joke.


Want to know the sickest part about all of this while reading a newspaper here in Chicago I found a little blurb in the middle of the paper that was tucked away that talked about a dog fighting ring found here in the south suburbs of Chicago nobody has heard anything out there have they? thats because dog fighting isn't that big of a deal. It was only because it was vick that it is a issue.

Answer 5

This is without a doubt the most ignorant, uninformed bunch of sh*t that you will EVER read on this site. You clearly have no concept of due process and/or jurisprudence. I don't remember any criminal jury finding Lewis (or even Simpson for that matter) guilty of murder. You want to erase Simpson's records and pretend they didn't happen... fine. I could not possibly care less. But what you are clearly failing to understand is that Vick "The Dick" has apparently admitted to breaking the law. Everything that happens to him from here on out is most likely to be "JUST". There is not too much we can do about the days when Tagliabue let players do whatever the hell they wanted. My hat's off to Goodell for trying to return a little bit of class to the NFL.

Answer 6

First of all, like it or not, Ray Lewis was charged with obstruction of justice and OJ was acquitted, however he managed it, he was not found guilty.

MV didn't just harm a puppy, he had a hand in the killing of alot of dogs, by hanging, drowning, electrocution, basically torturing them to death. And if you ever have seen the training environment and living conditions these poor animals have to survive, only to have that waste of skin to kill them because he wasn't properly entertained.

MV not only lied to the commish, his boss, NFL fans, and the entire world about the dog-fighting, illegal gambling and the killing by extreme inhumane ways multiple animals, but then he fessed up and plead guilty to it. The NFL is concerned mainly about the gambling. He's lucky they didn't stick him with some racketeering charges. The Feds are cracking down on all sorts of illegal animal abuse. I think it is about time.

As far as the other guys you mentioned, an assault charge, attempted vehicular manslaughter(whatever the f*%# that means?). Vick was doing some seriously illegal ****, and its relatively screwed up. Defend him all you want. He admitted he was guilty. I hope he enjoys prison.

Answer 7

I for one do not. Just because the NFL made mistakes in the past with certain players, is no reason to keep on doing it.

Also get your facts straight, Ray Lewis didn't stab anyone and O.J. is not bound by the code of conduct (that would be like getting fired 10 years after you quit)

According to you if I killled somone 5 years ago and got acquitted, I could do it again.

Answer 8

Are you so determined to make your point that you are going to ignore the fact that Godell wasn't commissioner for any of that other stuff? He can't do anything about the rest of it because he wasn't commissioner then. And get the Ray Lewis thing right: He was never even charged with that crime so really what could the NFL do. The only thing he was convicted of was obstruction of justice. Thats not even a felony. Vick pled guilty to a number of felonys. Your point is invalid because of how absurdly oversimplified it was.

Answer 9

Right now it seems that way because the new enforcer of the law(Gooddell) is being extremely strict to show that the NFL will no longer tolerate this stuff. I'm sure if a player goes to court for murder anytime soon, Goodell will treat him the same. You can't compare the old policies with former commishes to this new regime. He's setting the precedents now before we get to a murder case.

Answer 10

The gamers union agreed to the variations interior the habit coverage, the NFL very own habit coverage enables a participant to be suspended for something that harms the recognition of the NFL