News broke earlier this week that the Tampa Bay's prolific slot receiver, Antonio Brown, has officially been suspended and fined for failing to adhere to the NFL's mandated COVID-19 protocol. AB's lawyer has been adamant about the fact that Brown is vaccinated, but the NFL feels they have been duped by a historically problematic player who is nearing the end of a Hall of Fame career, and their decision has been made final.
Sound vaguely familiar? Well, it should, because not to long ago I wrote about a similar scenario involving Aaron Rodgers. In that article, I mentioned that it was my belief that star players are given preferential treatment in order to appease to the NFL's owners and fans. While others, such as AB, are treated as inferior's and are punished according to the established league rules and the NFL's very biased discretion. Well.... now we have proof of my superstitions being true. Lets examine:
You may have noticed the only difference between AB's situation and Aaron Rodger's is that AB's behaved in a way that was "detrimental to the league", while Aaron Rodgers misconduct only impacted his team... This is the "very biased discretion" I was referring to. The actions of the two players was incredibly similar and without going through their day to day activities, the majority of which is unrecorded, it is very difficult to say which one of them had a greater potential to negatively impact the league.
Personally, it is frustrating to see players mistreated because of their level of skill or where they are in their career. AB has a family that he is sacrificing his body for in return for a paycheck and he has performed beyond the expectations that many had set for him going into this season. Other leagues, such as the NBA, have stronger player unions and respectable leaders that are able to achieve equality to a greater degree. Until the NFL does the same we will continue to witness these atrocities.
There will be no data analysis today, but I will place some bets. First of which will be on Kansas to cover the -7.0 spread set against St. Johns. St. Johns has had an incredibly weak schedule up until this point and I haven't seen Red Storm perform to the level of a juggernaut like Kansas. Also, I am going to throw two futures onto the board. Purdue to win the NCAA Championship this year and the Buffalo Bills to win the SuperBowl..... cause fuck it.
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