Ushering in a Faulty Generation

SportsCenter; otherwise known as 24/7 “Deflate Gate” coverage. Will the Patriots be fined? Yes. Will Tom Brady play this season? That’s coming up next. Oh yeah, and Johnny Manzeil threw a touchdown and someone is a free agent, but we’ll ignore that because… Tom Brady.
Tom Brady’s case is going to Supreme Court, just because it can. I think this is really just dragging it out. If there was to be a punishment, it should have been dealt before they won the Super Bowl. Trying to discipline now is just too little too late in my opinion, and while the league focuses on this, they are letting more serious things fall by the wayside. Athletes are role models, whether they want to be or not, and if they go unpunished the kid that looks up to them will believe those behaviors correct.
It seems like the priorities of the NFL are askew, since cheating is only a four game suspension, domestic abuse is swept under the rug, but using corporal punishment to discipline your child is season ending. So the college football athletes are looking at the NFL players, believing they can cheat if they want, and even abuse their girlfriends, as long as they don’t knock her unconscious. The rules are in place to keep order, and they should be doubly enforced to maintain order as new athletes are ushered into the league. Why worry and focus on cleat color or end zone celebrations when laws are being broken? It is far too often that off the field shenanigans are met with solely a fine, as if these men aren’t multi-millionaires. $25,000 is more than the average person makes on minimum wage at $7.25, so we hear news of the fine and think, “Wow, that is a lot of money” whereas the athlete pats down his pockets thinking, “I know I left that $25,000 somewhere. Oh well, it’ll turn up.”
Money seems to allow people and their actions to slide, and the NFL does the best job of proving this point. A professional athlete’s bank account is what every aspiring athlete dreams of. But, do they subconsciously dream of doing whatever they want in the league as well?
I’m just putting it out there that professional athletes must be disciplined, and in the public eye. When they are not held accountable for their actions, a terrible snowball effect of children and young adults believing they can behave in the same way begins to grow.