NFL and the Girls

Around this time last year, I was ranting writing about how women are largely ignored by the NFL. Statistics I’ve seen show that women make up 45% of football fans, but are nevertheless generally ignored – other than as arm candy for the big manly men who have to dumb the game down for our pretty little heads. Well, evidently, the NFL was listening to the millions of girly fans out there, because last year they began a huge marketing push to try to get the girls. Starting with holding an event right before New York’s Fashion Week (including models of all ages and sizes, which is more than I can say for most designers*) and also selling gear other than the standard thong + logo shenanigans.** AND the commercial they ran to advertise the gear was amazing (check it out here).

So, I wonder if everyone in the NFL’s PR and Marketing department has signed the petition to have Goodell fired. In case you missed it, Ray Rice, running back for the Baltimore Ravens, was involved in a little bit of a kerfuffle. And by that, I mean he was caught on video dragging his unconscious girlfriend out of an elevator – after he allegedly knocked her out. So what does this have to do with Goodell and the NFL as a whole? Well, because of the punishment Rice received from the NFL. He got a suspension. Good. That’s what happens to players who break the law. And his suspension was? Shorter than the guy who was caught with marijuana in his system. Shorter than the coaches and players involved in Bounty-Gate. Shorter than a player who punched another player during a game. Rice was suspended for a WHOPPING TWO GAMES!!! Say what?!?!

A lot of women are crying foul. Saying that the NFL is basically showing women everywhere that domestic violence isn’t really a big deal. That as long as the player is producing, you’d better just duck and dodge this grown man’s swinging arms. I’m not saying I disagree with these women, but that discussion has been had more eloquently elsewhere on the interwebs. But, what I’m more curious about is how this effects the greater scheme of things. First, I have heard about zero people (men or women) saying that they won’t watch the game anymore.*** (To be fair, it’d be difficult to be angry if the Ravens aren’t your team. How much control does the, say, Raiders organization have over what happens to a Ravens’ player?). Second, Goodell has a history of some messed up punishments. Why aren’t there rules or guidelines for how long suspensions should be? How can anyone be certain that the punishments being handed out fit the actual crime committed?

For me, I’ve seen my favorite organization kick a player off the team for accusations of misconduct. So, it’ll be difficult for me to justify boycotting the entire league over Goodell’s apparent mismanagement. If I was a Ravens fan, I’d probably be switching my team colors in a matter of seconds. The good news is that the NFL is apparently re-evaluating its stance on domestic violence: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11357684/nfl-planning-toughen-standards-cases-domestic-violence-according-source. Hopefully we see changes asaptually.

So, what say you? Will you continue to watch or are you just sitting on ice until hockey season? (HA! See what I did there?)



*looking at you Karl Lagerfeld

**because my lady bits need to show some team pride, too.

***At least I've not heard of anyone personally. There was an article recently about Maine's governor, however: http://nesn.com/2014/08/maine-governor-threatens-nfl-boycott-over-ray-rice-suspension/