The NFL has always been tough on PED use. But something caught me by surprise yesterday, Jerome Felton, blocking back for Adrian Peterson, the man who just signed a 3-year deal worth $7.5 million a year was suspended for THREE games because...
...he was caught driving drunk in June of last year.
FINALLY.
The league has just recently started enforcing a more detailed substance abuse policy, and getting caught drinking while driving now carries a suspension almost as great (3 games versus 4 games) as being caught using PEDS.
I salute the NFL. I've been on their case for FIVE years of blogging saying they do not do enough to stop drunk driving among players.
This is a great first step. Adrian's predicted 2,500 yard rushing season most likely just went out the window. (He probably won't even come close to approaching 2,000 again.) I'll have to get used to the name Rhett Ellison, who will be replacing Felton for the first three games of this season.
I'm guessing the Vikes were already going to have a disappointing season anyway, so their hopes of success just got much dimmer.
But I'm really glad the the NFL at last officially recognizes DUI as a serious crime. Even more surprising? The ORIGINAL charge of DUI was legally reduced by the courts to reckless driving, but the league knew alcohol was involved so they went with the stiffer penalty.
Let's see all the other major league sports jump on this bandwagon. A DUI is serious business. It's time to get drunks off the road, even if they are star athletes making millions of dollars a year.
No comments:
Post a Comment