THE NFL KILLING FIELDS: Too Rich and Too Violent

UPDATE: On Saturday, December 9, 2012, another NFL player died. Dallas Cowboys linebacker Jerry Brown, Jr., 25, died after a car driven Dallas Cowboy defensive tackle Josh Brent, 25, hit a curb and flipped.  Brent was arrested, charged with "intoxicated manslaughter." He was later released from custody after posting $500,000 bond. (Original post follows)
 I humbly admit that before this month I had never heard the name Jovan Belcher. I’m not an avid football fan, I don’t know much about the Kansas City Chiefs, and right now while the U.S. is teetering on the “fiscal cliff,” and while the Middle East is on fire, the last thing on my mind, and on the minds of many others, was Jovan Belcher.

Still, when the headlines shouted “NFL Suicide,” I paid attention. Then the details started to emerge. It is reported that Belcher, 25, spent the night at the home of another woman prior to coming home to murder his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, the mother of their three-month-old daughter, Zoey. It is further reported that before Belcher entered the home of the other woman, police had to wake him up as he was sleeping in his Bentley. Additionally, more recent reports reveal that following a November 18 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Belcher exhibited short term memory loss.

 Let’s review what is relevant: First, Belcher (above) has been playing football for a long time. He played various positions for his West Babylon High School team inWest Babylon, NY. He then played for the University of Maine Black Bears Football Team. Then, in 2009, he was drafted by the Chiefs. So, if we do the math, Jovan Belcher was in football for about 12 years, or roughly half his life. Additionally, it is reported that Belcher, who drove a 2007 Bentley Continental (originally priced at approximately $189,000), was due to earn roughly $2 million in 2013. To break this down, let’s take note of the fact that 12 years of football equals many, many rough plays and knocks in the head. And let’s remember that the man being paid this exorbitant salary was only 25.

This matters for two reasons. First, it is now widely known that the NFL is finally acknowledging it has a concussion problem, league wide. The problem is historic, not new. And it is culturally clear that paying a guy who is only in his 20’s a multi-million salary is a recipe for some kind of disaster. If we dig deeper into Belcher’s past, it has already been reported that he had a history of domestic violence which was first reported in 2006 when he was a college student. Reportedly, Belcher had an argument with a woman and punched out a window. You may say that doesn’t rise to the unfortunate standard of domestic violence, but the fact is that rational, mature individuals do not punch out windows when they get mad at their girlfriends.

 Belcher appears to have been a time bomb. Some say he was experiencing the pressures of having a newborn child, but it should be noted he was not really caring for the child. The child was in the care of his girlfriend, and at the time of his murder/suicide, his mother was also staying with the child. She now has temporary custody. So the newborn child explanation flies out the window. It is more likely that he is the latest in a string of NFL players who were given too much too soon, and who had no frame of reference for being an instant millionaire. It is also possible he is the latest in a string of NFL players who have experienced what is called “chronic traumatic encephalopathy,” (CTE) which is the medical term for a brain injury that has been experienced by many, many football players. It is too early to declare that Belcher had that condition, but the autopsy is likely to reveal the truth. Watch: The same condition was found in Junior Seau, the former San Diego Charger who killed himself in October with a single gunshot to the chest. Another player who killed himself with a single gunshot to the chest was Dave Duerson of the Phoenix Cardinals. Remarkably, Duerson left a note asking that his brain be used for research at the Boston University School of Medicine, which is conducting research into CTE caused by playing professional football. And there have been four other NFL players who committed suicide in the past two years. Coincidence? Not likely.

Professional football is a big part of the American culture, and probably always will be. That’s a good thing. But when the players are given astronomical amounts of money when they are barely out of college, and then subjected to intense violence on the football field with little acknowledgement

of the CTE problem from the league, the sport is no longer just a game. It is instead a countdown to tragedy. All kinds of tragedy. It is a Carolina Panther Rae Carruth,(right) found guilty in 1999 of conspiracy to commit murder after his pregnant girlfriend was shot four times through the window of her car. He is currently serving a sentence of 18 – 24 years in prison. It is a Donte Stallworth, charged with DUI manslaughter in 2009 after killing a pedestrian with his Bentley Coupe in Miami. Or a Seattle Seahawk Jarriel King, who at age 24 was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct after an incident at his home in in which he and another man allegedly raped a 25-year-old woman. And the list goes on….Koa Misi, Caleb King, Kiante Tripp, Plaxico Burress, and more.

The NFL has become an out-of-control culture of excess. Why isn’t Commissioner Roger Goodell working toward solving these lethal problems, rather than focusing on trivia like the New Orleans Saints “Bountygate?” There are possible solutions. First, as antiquated as it may sound, perhaps NFL contracts need a more stringent morals clause – something like a domestic violence “one strike you’re out” stipulation. According to attorney Brian R. Socolow, in a report titled “What Every Player Should Know About Morals Clauses,” although such clauses are routine in NFL contracts, they are all highly arbitrary and negotiable. Even worse is the fact that sometimes the clause is not enforced if the higher ups determine the player is too valuable to the team.

Second, instead of throwing millions of dollars at a boy barely out of his teens to play football, why not have a graduated salary scale based on job performance? To give you some perspective, just know that there are 169 NFL players who were paid more than $5 million this year, according to Forbes Magazine.

While it is true that players realize greatly reduced income if they are cut, they are still guaranteed astronomical rates.

It is no secret, for example, that Tim Tebow, (left) 25, of the New York Jets is an underperforming player, who now has broken ribs, which make him almost a non-performing player. Still, according to public records, Tebow’s contract calls for him to be paid $2.1 million by the Jets. Just for perspective, know that the average income for a 25-year-old college graduate in the U.S. in 2010 (the most recent year for which figures are available) was $40,000, according to the U.S. Department of Education. There is something very wrong with this picture.

The NFL is dealing primarily with very young boys and men who have often been given a pass through high school and college because of their athletic skills. The passes they have been offered rarely come with any sort of guidance. By the time many of them get to the NFL, they are hit with big money, sometimes with inordinate public adoration and often with a type of freedom they are not prepared to navigate. Meanwhile they are kicked in the head repeatedly and encouraged to just keep on keeping on. In the case of young Jovan Belcher it all added up to one self-inflicted gunshot to his already-battered head. You may chalk that up to Belcher’s lack of personal responsibility. I, for one, place a significant portion of the responsibility for Belcher’s actions squarely in the offices of the National Football League.