Media and court of public opinion: guilty until proven innocent (and then still lingering doubts about innocence)
I understand it is the offseason and we run out of stuff to talk about until camp starts... but the top 4 of 5 non-pinned topics are Zeke in trouble, Bell in trouble, Crowell in trouble, Gordon in trouble. I understand that in fantasy football there may be suspensions and repercussions due to player actions.
But ever since the Iverson and Moss era there has been this massive cry to police the behavior of [NFL] athletes. The amount of ink given to these events, regardless of which player it is, vastly precedes and outlives any legal proceedings. It is as if the event of spectating and calling for the head of NFL players has become its own fantasy football event.
I think we are far from the worst here on the forums, and the casual football fan with their anger that these players are rich (and often subconscious racial bias against them being rich) fuels this more than anything. The media just proceeds to cater to this mindset that professional sports leagues should police and punish people for off-field conduct, but nowhere do they exert this influence greater than the NFL.
I think as dynasty owners and forum participators (and in being so, an inherent type of somewhat obsessed super-fan), we can help to influence the culture, if just a little bit, in not playing into vilifying these players for our entertainment and as a punching bag for our other gripes with society.
Some stats to consider:
http://www.utdallas.edu/news/2015/8/25- ... nterColumn
For every year between 2000 and 2013, the total arrest rate for the general population was significantly higher than the total arrest rate for NFL players. For example, the total arrest rate for the general population was 4,889 arrests per 100,000 people in 2013; the total arrest rate for NFL players was 3,740. For most years, the total arrest rate for the general population was one and a half to two times as high as the total rate for NFL players.
“The data show that the perception that NFL players are overly criminal compared to the U.S. population is false,” Piquero said. “In fact, when you look at the forest and not the trees, the trends over the 14-year period show that the general population has higher arrest rates than NFL players do.”