Let me climb up on my soapbox for a minute. Why in the world is everyone looking to the NFL to police off field behavior? Goodell is an idiot, and should have damn well knew better than start down this path years ago with this bullshit, and frankly he's reaping what he's sown. So fuck him, the sanctimonious fuckstick. My problem is the following: Ray Rice gets PTI in Atlantic County - I used to clerk in Atlantic County - and PTI was generally reserved for non violent offenders. Yes, people are up in arms that he got it - so now there are signs on the highway for some chick named Janelle that got indicted after carrying a concealed weapon (that she had a permit for in PA) into NJ - which is a huge fucking no no, to be given PTI because Ray Rice got it. So what I am seeing is people asking that this girl not be prosecuted because Ray Rice got PTI, and people screaming for the NFL to do something about private off field behavior. The thought occurs to me, and apparently no one else, there would be no need for either if people focused their ire on the party THAT IS SUPPOSED TO POLICE CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR! It's like, what the fuck people? You don't like the criminal prosecution result, so now your sense of justice is offended, but instead of mass criticism of the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office, we get mad at the NFL for failing to properly chastise someone for off the field behavior? Ludicrous. VI steps off soapbox and wanders off somewhere. Other mods feel free to delete. I'm feeling crankly and cantankerous. In other words, normal.
Maybe it's because I'm an idiot, but I always felt like this is to dodge potential backlash, sponsors pulling away, litigation, etc. I mean, there are paternity suites, custody battles, potential murders, accusations with substantial evidence to support for illegal drug use, and then of course I cite for your edification back in the day NFL guys got away with all of this shit by either lawyer-ing up and fighting to success or just keeping it hushed... kinda.
I'm not sure if I agree or not. That video cut into my brain when I saw it. The other stuff is just making an appearance because of the Ray Rice shit. That being said, this isn't new stuff. Think about drug testing at workplaces. They test you when they hire you and are legally allowed to test you whenever the fuck they want. This is policing behavior outside of work. You won't go to jail but you'll lose your job. The stuff the NFL is doing is a step beyond that. They probably already do background checks, drug tests, hire PIs to make sure they are squeaky clean--and then they may play football for this business--and it is about to either get a lot more thorough or they are going to get better about hiding the bad apples.
Think about the discussion if the NFL does nothing: "NFL ENDORSES WIFE BEATING" This is a branding problem: they create the "Ray Rice" brand to sell shoes, jerseys and beer, based on game performance, hype and talent. When the guy does something stupid or illegal, the brand is threatened. It's the same concept as "the Chevy Malibu is a piece of shit" which threaten's GM. This brand shit is why no one knows who Bobby Rainey or Niles Paul are, but every word out of ESPN's collective mouth right now tastes like Wes Welker's dick. The amazing thing is that this is overshadowing the games themselves. It's week 3 tomorrow and no one gives a fuck about Kansas City being 0-2, Seattle losing or any of the other potential stories of this season. It's also shocking that no one is discussing how the NFL is a fucking non-profit. Nope, the NFL has become the "young, rich, and black criminal scandal machine". I detest the scandals, because I don't think the two dozen or so assholes capable of performing at the NFL level are worth paying attention to and I am starting to hate football because of the horseshit administrations that don't understand transparency, accountability and consistency as institutional values.
I think V.I.s question is more to the affect of, "why are people mad at the NFL for not doing more to Rice?" I think people feel there is a privilege to playing football. So if you do morally unacceptable shit people want to see that privilege revoked. We saw much the same reaction when the Eagles dared give Michael Vick a job. Is the NFL within their rights to fire an individual? Of course. However, if people were really serious instead of taking to twitter/Facebook they would take their money away from the NFL, they would stop watching, they would stop buying jerseys. And it seems like the NFL money making machine is chugging a long just fine.
No one should be discussing this as if it's a fucking huge tax dodge scandal, because it isn't. It's part of the outrage media's twisting of simple facts to create page clicks and headlines. Im having trouble finding the tax attorney's blog that explained it but the jist is, only the leagues head office is set up as a 5013c, though even then as different sub set up that is not anything like say a church or salvation army set up. The individual teams are all taxed on revenue, tickets, jersey, etc. Everyone sees '9.5 billion dollar industry enjoys tax free status!' and falls for this bullshit line of reasoning that just isn't true. Not that the NFL, or the individual teams, don't have ridiculous shit going on. Leaving tax payers on the hook for stadiums with bad deals, TV black outs, etc. This situation though is just blown out of proportion by twisting facts.
Haha, I guess that's something that people don't think about if they haven't ever worked for such a business. I used to work for Colonial Williamsburg, which was nonprofit and wasn't taxed for any donations or fundraising. But they were certainly taxed for their for-profit businesses- the restaurants, hotels, gift shops.
I do not understand people who spend a significant amount of money to travel somewhere and then order hamburgers at restaurants. I know we've talked about it here before. I'm currently in Puerto Rico and the amount of times these people have had a chance to do something they couldn't do at home or do their usual shit, then picked the usual shit has been astounding. I can't travel with these people, its infuriating. When in Rome is my way of life the few times I travel. "Why do you care? Its not your money." "Eh, go fuck yourself its annoying to witness."
As far as the new personal conduct stuff the NFL is bringing out it's been a long time coming. Sport in Australia and New Zealand has had these clauses in contracts for a long time now. Suspensions, deregistering and even bans from playing inside the country have come about on many occasions for alcohol abuse, domestic violence and other crimes. Once you get a mark like that next to your name you may get a second or if you're ridiculously talented maybe a third chance but most of the time other clubs won't take you on and your career of getting paid to play the game you love most is over. Over here players are looked to as role models and expected by everyone to behave as such and if they don't they get cut down very quickly. Gone are the days where you could do something stupid while drinking and it not being all over the news.
I got into a screaming match with one of my best friends in the middle of an intersection in London cause we were looking for a dinner spot and he was suggesting TGI Fridays. I was already making a concession to go to a shitty knock off American sports bar to watch college football afterwards, I wasn't going to go to the shittiest level of American chains in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. I would complain if he was trying to go to a TGIs in the US, much less abroad. 90% of our friction during the week was related to his inane choices for food. Unrelated, last night I went out with some people I played soccer with. One of the girls brought along her neighbor, cute in that dumb blond sort of way, great tits on display, super flirty. She went to FSU and people were giving her relentless shit about Winston. I defended her a bit, even though he's a moron, cause most were Notre Dame fans on their unfounded high horse. Night progresses, she gets super aggressive hitting on me, not really my type, but ok. Pretty assertive about letting her friends leave and wanting to go to my place. Get to my place, she continues to be super vocal, saying shit like "your view is amazing, im totally turned on." "I want to have sex on your balcony, its perfect for it." So things progress and she proceeds to be the prudest hookup Ive encountered since college. She felt conflicted even taking her top off. Then this morning she dropped shit about "im not into randoms, im definitely a dater." FUCK THAT NOISE. I can't stand that BS logic. I wasn't expecting anything, I dont insist on sex as means of entrance to my apartment, but that bait and switch nonsense is annoying as fuck. I'm all-in on Clemson tonite. Fuck FSU.
In fairness to your friend, when you're talking about English food you probably would have been better off going to TGI Friday's.
Eh. It's annoying, for sure, to dine with someone who has no sense of adventure. Then again - there are certain things I KNOW I don't like. Fish, olives, mushrooms, cooked broccoli...I don't like them in ANY incarnation - as a main ingredient or as an additive. If I'm somewhere and I can't avoid them, I'll find SOMETHING that doesn't have those things on it. Things like tomatoes I'll eat as salsa...andddd that's it. Otherwise, I'll pick them out or just ask to not have them. The other things mentioned so noticeably alter the flavor of the dish that....blech. no. yuck. Some people it's fear, other's (like me) just know there are certain things they don't like and would rather skip paying for them.