While the NFL itself can’t handle anything because of its past mistakes in this matter, the Minnesota Vikings have finally given in to the public and financial pressure, suspending Adrian Peterson from all team activities until the matter of the allegations in this child abuse case get cleared up.
Missing the Vikings’ game against the Patriots in week 2, Peterson was reinstated to all team activities due to concern for due process and the legal proceedings. However, the revelation of another allegation against Peterson for harming a different child of his and pressure from both the league itself behind the scenes and from sponsors, as the Vikings lost one business connection while both Nike and Anheuser-Busch expressed concern for the way the league has been handling these things, has caused the Vikings to suddenly change course.
When someone from the front office spoke about why Peterson was reinstated, the answer was ‘because we think it’s the right thing to do.’ A couple of days pass, and right is suddenly a very different concept. Vikings owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf emerged with the idea of additional thought that made them change their minds, and are doing this for the benefit of themselves and Peterson himself.
Nike have also take off the shelves all of their Peterson merchandise in their own stores around the Twin Cities. Peterson might be insisting that he simply did what he thought was right as a parent, but it’s quite clear that from the pictures that have been surfacing the perception of right, wrong, violence and legitimate parental discipline is completely different from person to person, and especially in the eyes of the law, which is Peterson’s biggest problem.
So now he’s on the Exempt/Commissioner’s Permission list, which pretty much means he stays away from the team while he deals with his legal problems. Peterson was indicted by a jury in Texas. He hasn’t denied hitting his kid with a switch, but as far as he can tell, it’s a matter of perspective, but the longer this goes on, the more meaningless his fake apology and attempts to make it seem like he’s done the right thing will be.
The Vikings made the right choice when they suspended him for one game, but then took the wrong step when Peterson was reinstated before anything was cleared up. This whole zig zag and the return to what is now a suspension without any real end in sight just gives the organization and the league another situation they mishandled and to be criticized for.