Are we hypocrites?

**Andrew Kordula** · 02-04-2015, 11:36 AM

We love to hate on the NFL and it's players for their actions at times (myself included), but doesn't that make us all hypocrites?

http://russellstreetreport.com/2015/...ns-hypocrites/

**GOTA** · 02-04-2015, 11:45 AM

The only hypocrites are those that say they won't watch but still do.

**JAB1985** · 02-04-2015, 11:49 AM

Honestly I do think a good many people that said that, meant it and didnt watch. I know of a few that honestly didnt watch it for the first time in years.

The thing i never understood about those Nielson ratings is how they account for a party? Ive watched the superbowl at a party since i was 6-7 years old. the smallest being 8 people the largest well over 20. so im curious how they can account for those people who are at somebody elses house huddled around 1 tv. I think the number that actually watch is larger and there is a possibility that viewership went down this year by some minute fraction without being seen on those, but i say that fully acknowledging i have no idea how they do it or its accuracy.

i wouldnt call us all hypocrites because not all of us are saying we wont watch it. Do I care that NFL keeps a level playing field? yes. Do I want the players to be respected members of their communities? yes. Does a few speak for the many?... no.

**HoustonRaven** · 02-04-2015, 11:54 AM

Very incoherent line of logic IMO. From your article ....

As fans, it’s our fault. It’s our fault the players get away with nearly everything. It’s our fault that they make millions upon millions of dollars. It’s our fault that Goodell feels no urgency to make decisions. Why? Because at the end of the day, we’ll be there. We’ll come back season after season like we always do.

The NFL is no different from any other business -- some of it's employees are going to get into legal trouble. And as has been posted on these boards numerous times, the NFL does better than the national average per capita on arrests. The idea that we should not support a league / team that has the same legal troubles as any other company (well, less legal troubles actually) is absurd and it's certainly not "our fault".

And let us not forget the last time the league rushed to judge someone. It was a year ago when everyone -- fans, observers, the league -- rushed to judge Ray Rice only to have it blow up in a monumental way.

We’re all hypocrites for coming back.

We support the players who beat their wives/girlfriends and commit a myriad of other crimes. It’s easy to say publicly that we don’t support them and what they do because our conscience tells us that we shouldn’t. In reality, we give the league and its players an enormous amount of slack through our actions.

When the Ray Rice incident occurred, I was asked countless times, “Would you cheer for him again?” My answer was always, “Yes, I would if he played for the Ravens. I don’t cheer for individual players to succeed; I cheer for the Ravens as a whole.”

You might give them a pass but if you go back and read any Ray Rice thread and there were plenty of people done with him when the first video came out, let alone when the second video came out.

Many others said that they could never cheer for him again, but I find that hard to believe. If he had come back to play for the Ravens and played well, I feel like the vast majority of people who said they couldn’t cheer for him, would be right next to me standing and applauding.

I think you're in the minority but lets suppose the highly unlikely thing occurred and Rice came back to Baltimore. People cheering for the team does't equal an endorsement for Rice.

**blah3** · 02-04-2015, 11:56 AM

I wouldn't gauge fan interest dropping based on the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is an event. Heck many people watch just for the commericials. It's in-season when you have to evaluate if people have really lost interest. Is that hard core fan who would never miss a game going to start going to the family events etc that they had passed upon in the past.

**HotInHere** · 02-04-2015, 12:00 PM

The hypocrisy that came out -- on a national level -- was the self-righteous indignation regarding the Ray Rice incident.

Domestic violence has been happening forever. Movie stars, musicians, and yes, football players. And no one cared. No one said boo. Then something shows up on video, and suddenly people were saying "oh my goodness, how horrible! How can the NFL *only* suspend this guy for two games?"

Of course not that long ago, there would have been no league discipline at all. People in other walks of life do similar things with no consequence.

This is not in any way a defense of Ray or anyone else who is guilty of DV. But the fact that there was barely any public reaction at all to prior incidents is hypocrisy in the extreme when people are suddenly outraged with the only difference being that this incident was captured on video.

**ERey** · 02-04-2015, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by HotInHere

The hypocrisy that came out -- on a national level -- was the self-righteous indignation regarding the Ray Rice incident.

Domestic violence has been happening forever. Movie stars, musicians, and yes, football players. And no one cared. No one said boo. Then something shows up on video, and suddenly people were saying "oh my goodness, how horrible! How can the NFL *only* suspend this guy for two games?"

Of course not that long ago, there would have been no league discipline at all. People in other walks of life do similar things with no consequence.

This is not in any way a defense of Ray or anyone else who is guilty of DV. But the fact that there was barely any public reaction at all to prior incidents is hypocrisy in the extreme when people are suddenly outraged with the only difference being that this incident was captured on video.

SPOT ON!!! The Ray Rice incident brought out the real hypocrisy.

If I see one more "NO MORE" commercial with people crying I'm going to puke. Not because it's not a good message, but because I need to ask where were all these people before a popular running back got caught on video? "Help us start the conversation"? THERE is your HYPOCRISY.

**Stone** · 02-04-2015, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by Andrew Kordula

We love to hate on the NFL and it's players for their actions at times (myself included), but doesn't that make us all hypocrites?

http://russellstreetreport.com/2015/...ns-hypocrites/

Everybody has contradicted themselves (been a hypocrite) at one point or another. I always try and watch what I say to avoid that very thing as I can't stand blatant hypocrisy.

Of course many people just say things without thinking (calling Ray Lewis a Murderer is one example) without gauging all the facts and that pisses me off more than anything.

The OP has a good point about Ray Rice. Earlier in the season (especially after our second game against Pitt) James Harrison was getting a bunch of positive press about his level of play (for his age) and even HOF talk, yet some of those stories were linked right next to Ray Rice stories which is downright ridiculous. When that happened in 08, imagine if their had been a video of what he did while the Steeler's were making their run? So from that perspective? Absolutely!

Another perspective is that dating back many years in the NFL there were many incidents that didn't even get reported involving god knows what?! Just like many of the politicians who got away with shit until that stuff started becoming "big news" in the late twentieth century. All these people who say "Ravens are a team full of thugs and wife beaters" are full of shit because there is no way a team in this league hasn't been guilty of that at some point. Hell, I hear that from Steelers fans all the time (well used to until I started avoiding certain boards/sites.)

Many people are just naive, stupid and ignorant. And although we can all be guilty of these things at times and none of us are perfect) its the way we approach these issues which makes the difference. Some people just don't care to. It will ever change.

For the record many of us can agree this has been a bad year for our team with regards to the legal issues. i do hope they do a better job of handling these incidents in the future.

**Andrew Kordula** · 02-04-2015, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by JAB1985

Honestly I do think a good many people that said that, meant it and didnt watch. I know of a few that honestly didnt watch it for the first time in years.

The thing i never understood about those Nielson ratings is how they account for a party? Ive watched the superbowl at a party since i was 6-7 years old. the smallest being 8 people the largest well over 20. so im curious how they can account for those people who are at somebody elses house huddled around 1 tv. I think the number that actually watch is larger and there is a possibility that viewership went down this year by some minute fraction without being seen on those, but i say that fully acknowledging i have no idea how they do it or its accuracy.

i wouldnt call us all hypocrites because not all of us are saying we wont watch it. Do I care that NFL keeps a level playing field? yes. Do I want the players to be respected members of their communities? yes. Does a few speak for the many?... no.

As far as i'm aware, the Nielsen ratings do not account for parties/bars. It's just TVs tuned in, but I could be wrong about that.

**Andrew Kordula** · 02-04-2015, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by HoustonRaven

The NFL is no different from any other business -- some of it's employees are going to get into legal trouble. And as has been posted on these boards numerous times, the NFL does better than the national average per capita on arrests. The idea that we should not support a league / team that has the same legal troubles as any other company (well, less legal troubles actually) is absurd and it's certainly not "our fault".

I agree that the NFL is no different than any other business, but the NFL is only as successful as we, the fans, make it. If we stop going, the NFL ceases to exist. I'm not saying you shouldn't support the league or any team (hell, I have season tickets so I support them), i'm just saying it's hypocritical to condemn these players and then go out and support them.

Originally Posted by HoustonRaven

I think you're in the minority but lets suppose the highly unlikely thing occurred and Rice came back to Baltimore. People cheering for the team does't equal an endorsement for Rice.

You're right, cheering for him isn't an endorsement. My point was more that, indirectly, you're supporting him by even showing up to the game because we're putting money in their pockets.