Minnesota Vikings give into pressure, ban Adrian Peterson from team again
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| Adrian Peterson's mugshot |
CSNNE:
After a day of public pressure from angry fans and concerned sponsors, the Minnesota Vikings have reversed course and placed star running back Adrian Peterson on the exempt-commissioner's permission list, a move that will require him to stay away from the team while he addresses child abuse charges in Texas.
The Vikings recently did the right thing in deactivating star running back Adrian Peterson from the team after he was initially indicted. They then did the wrong thing by reinstating him just a few days later.
That didn't go over so well.
The Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton came out against the Vikings' decision to bring Peterson back to the team.
“It is an awful situation. Yes, Mr. Peterson is entitled to due process and should be “innocent until proven guilty.” However, he is a public figure; and his actions, as described, are a public embarrassment to the Vikings organization and the State of Minnesota. Whipping a child to the extent of visible wounds, as has been alleged, should not be tolerated in our state. Therefore, I believe the team should suspend Mr. Peterson, until the accusations of child abuse have been resolved by the criminal justice system.
“However, I will not turn my back on the Vikings and their fans, as some have suggested. The Vikings belong to Minnesota – and in Minnesota. This has been the team’s only home; and our citizens, including myself, have been its most dedicated fans.’
Dayton was not the only politician speaking out against the Vikings allowing Peterson to be on the team. Minnesota Senator Al Franken also issued a statement urging the team to rethink their decision.
Washington Post:
“It was absolutely heartbreaking to hear about what happened to this child,” Franken, the Democratic Senator from Minnesota, said. “I’m a diehard Vikings fan and watching the games on Sundays has been one of my favorite things to do since I was a kid.
“But this is just wrong and I think the Vikings make the wrong decision here [to allow Peterson, one of the league's biggest stars, to play]. This is in the hands of law enforcement now and it must go through the judicial process, but I don’t believe Adrian Peterson should be allowed to play until that happens.
“A lot of kids look up to these players and it’s not okay for the Vikings to send the signal that what happened is acceptable. This is bigger than a football game.”
Couple that PR hit with the impact on the Vikings' owners' wallets when Raddisson pulled out of their sponsorship, Nike stopped shevling Adrian Peterson gear in stores and Anheuser-Busch came out publicly against the NFL's recent mishandling of the Ray Rice and Peterson cases, and you now have the Vikings making the right move.
The team has placed their star runningback on the "exempt-commissioner's permission list", which I've never heard of before. This bans Peterson from any team activities.
"While we were trying to make a balanced decision yesterday, after further reflection we have concluded that this resolution is best for the Vikings and for Adrian," the Wilfs said in a statement. "We want to be clear: we have a strong stance regarding the protection and welfare of children, and we want to be sure we get this right. At the same time we want to express our support for Adrian and acknowledge his seven-plus years of outstanding commitment to this organization and this community."
Still, it certainly wasn't a good look for the team that they would effectively rather choose to try and win football games, over letting a man who beat his son to the point where he was bleeding and had visible lacerations stand out and be a role model on the field against the Saints this weekened.
Peterson's first court date is expected to be October 8th and it is possible he will not suit up again this year. The Vikings suffered a crushing 30-7 loss to the Patriots last week, the first week sans their star runningback.
Zygi Wilf comes right out of the gate with "We made a mistake."
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 17, 2014
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