The NFL: Quiet Positivity Among Loud Negativity

The NFL is the greatest game to watch and support however there has been so many head shaking occurrences in this league that are hard to stomach.

NFL has 1696 players on the 32 teams that have 53 players each. Then, add in the practice squad guys and you have a lot of personalities. These guys can make millions while we the fans may not make the millions they put their dollars together to buy the game tickets and anything else NFL related such as jerseys, hats or anything else that puts a smile on the fans face.

I love the game beyond what I can even understand myself. It has been so hard in the last few years to see the awful stories released with some of them such as the Ray Lewis story, Michael Vick, Aaron Hernandez, Darren Sharper, Ray Rice, Ben Roethlisberger, Ray McDonald and more.

The Adrian Peterson saga has been so hard to watch. The man is the best running back in the NFL but the last year or so has been truly gut wrenching. The revelation of Adrian’s handling of his son and now the tweets flying about a contact situation of wanting guaranteed money. My heart is absolutely torn in thinking about this. I wonder if and when he plays for the Vikings how will fans treat him in his first game. Will they cheer? Will they boo?

The problem I struggle with is who do you believe in this situation. Is the agent spouting his mouth off? Is the media blowing things up? Will we ever know the truth about all things Adrian if whether he truly wants to play for Minnesota?

I love Zimmer’s comment about Peterson saying “He will play for us or he will not play at all.” I believe the team is good enough to win without him if that happens but if he does play puts the team real scary to contend with. I am a heart sickened Vikings fan just wanting an end to the saga. The radio conversation is interesting as well as all things read but speculation only takes a story so far.

I speak of all things troubling in the NFL including the Peterson story and I sat back all week just thinking of the Vikings team and how excited I am to get the season going. I am a parent and want my kids to love the game and know just because a few guys make bad choices there are way too many good guys that makes this league superior.

I look back at last Friday May 23^rd and think about the story I read about Randy Moss. The man is playing days dropped to 21^st in the first round and we saw in 1998 just how good he was.

I remember back in the Training Camp days seeing a little girl with Randy really not knowing the story. There were so many people in Randy’s playing days that had their opinions of his attitude and some of his tactics. I got the pleasure to meet Randy a few times at Mankato Training Camp and will say I really liked what I saw out of him. The story of Kassi Spier and Randy really puts life into perspective about how human kindness can be awesome.

Kassi was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2004. Her dad dies in a car accident in 2013 and then Spier is diagnosed with a brain tumor. How much more can a person endure? Randy, as we found out, made a promise making good showing up at Pelican Rapids High School to hand Kassi her high school diploma.

The NFL has had a few black eyes in recent years but a story like this can really bring a tear to a person knowing this mega star personality took time to show major compassion.

Thank you, Randy. And thanks to all the other players in the NFL for all the great things you do that do not get mentioned in the media. Maybe one day, the great things that NFL players do will get the type of attention that the negative topics do.

Thanks for reading

Purplestick

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