Last Friday New York Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson was arrested in Florida. Anderson was reported to have been driving erratically, have run two red lights and attempted to elude police during a high speed chase. When eventually pulled over Anderson refused to comply with instructions from police officers. After being handcuffed and placed in a police vehicle, during the drive to jail Anderson made repeated threats to the effect that when released he would find the arresting officer’s wife and sexually assault her. In the interest of decorum I will avoid repeating the precise, crude nature of Anderson’s remarks. You can find them elsewhere on the Internet if you are so inclined.
The arresting officer, to his eternal credit, did not do what most husbands would have done under the circumstance, namely pull over, yank Anderson from the vehicle and knock his head off. He simply completed the transport and put Anderson behind bars.
Anderson now faces nine separate charges in Florida based on the incident. This is the second time in less than a year that he has been arrested.
If there is a better poster child for the dumpster fire that the National Football League (NFL) has become, I do not know of him. All the spin doctors in the world can try to convince us that the decline in NFL ratings and viewership is due to causes other than player behavior. It is not. Domestic violence, drug use and the misguided anthem protests have taken what was once America’s favorite sport and put it on the road to what may be irreversible decline.
American football began in the 19th century in games played among predominately Ivy League schools. It was not a gentle sport. In fact, deaths and serious injury were far more common in the early years of the game than they are today. Still, it was a game played for the love of it by teams composed of men who were pursuing academic studies and going on to be productive members of society.
From colleges football spread to the industrial heartland of America and morphed into a professional sport. It was no longer the exclusive province of college campuses. Still, it was played in front of crowds of hardworking, earnest, working class men and women, and the players were largely products of the same background. Fans cheered for players who came from the same neighborhoods they did and truly represented the cities for which they played.
No more. Top tier college teams are now farm organizations for the pros, and the players on their teams are in no way true college students. In fact only fifty percent of the college players who make it to the NFL actually graduate and earn college degrees.
Top college players are cultivated from an early age to do one thing, play football, and in the pursuit of that they are shielded by coaches and school administrations from the consequences of their actions. Long before they reach the NFL, if they ever do, these young men learn that as long as they can run, catch and throw the rules do not apply to them. Drug use, acts of violence, and sexual assault are all swept under the rug.
The NFL feeds relentlessly off this stream of thugs, turning a blind eye to repeated arrests for acts of violence and the use of controlled substances; even when entire teams, like the Cincinnati Bengals, are characterized by repeated acts of criminal behavior the league does nothing of consequence. In this context open disrespect for the American flag should come as no surprise. Increasingly, the players on NFL squads don’t respect anything.
Like many Americans I used to spend Sunday afternoons in the fall on my couch cheering for the home team and watching football. To this day family get togethers at our home feature backyard football scrimmages, which I am proud to say are every bit as bruising as the early game I referenced earlier. I still love football, but I have not watched a minute of play this year, and I won’t watch the Super Bowl.
If the NFL wants me and fans like me back, then they need to regain our respect, enforce some standards of behavior and stop putting man children who think they are above the law on the field. They can make a good start in that direction by telling Mr. Anderson that his services are no longer required and that he is banned from play for life.
Charles "Sam" Faddis is a Veteran, retired CIA operations officer, senior partner with Artemis, LLC and published author. With degrees from The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Law School, he is a contributor to sofrep.com, Newsmax, and The Hill among others. He regularly appears on many networks and radio programs as a national security and counter-terrorism expert. Sam is the author of "Beyond Repair: The Decline And Fall Of The CIA" and "Willful Neglect: The Dangerous Illusion Of Homeland Security." To read more of his reports, Click Here Now.
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