ESPN Columnist Dan Batard's Take On An Inherently Violent NFL Creating Violent Situations

Is the constant collisions of players battling on the gridiron each Sunday to blame for violent outbursts of the NFL's players off the field? Dan Le Batard, writer for ESPN.com, thinks so. In a new article showcased this week, Batard gives numerous reasons and examples of NFL players to strengthen his argument.

Batard raises the question of how much impact recurring hard hits and concussions play a role in the behavior and thought patterns of a seasoned NFL Veteran. He goes on to purport and list tragic events by NFL former NFL stars as the likes of Junior Seau, Andre Waters, Dave Duerson, Jovan Belcher, and, Davone Bess;  apart from the media stirred Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Jonathan Dwyer cases Batard takes us back in time to show us a glimpse of how such enduring damage can create fatal circumstances.

Nevertheless, Batard also places the NFL domestic violence faux pas and ensuing media frenzy in objectively numerical terms referencing a paper by researchers at FiveThirtyEight.com, which shows that among all NFL employees, less than 0.5% players have had cases or crimes or incidents involving violence in a domesticated location. 

Batard sheds light also on the role of the player's position, noting that RBs (Running Backs) take the brunt of the damage throughout a career and hints at a possible correlation between concussive type hits accrued throughout time with mental health and stability. Batard's spin on things is that more research, more eyeballs, and, more concern should be raised to help spread awareness and scientific validity to these claims. As one could come to the conclusion, the repercussions of not addressing this issue now could not only hurt the league but everyone involved in it.

References:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11558730/does-football-contribute-bad-behavior-nfl-prevent


Photography/ Image Courtesy:

Ray Rice: Kieth Allison

Americand Tradition: KAZ Vorpal