Sports Illustrated

CLEVELAND — After all the breathless commercials and East 4th St. beer bashes, after all the white confetti tosses and red glow-stick shows, came a reminder to rollicking Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday night. Despite his size and strength, athleticism and intelligence, nothing goes precisely as planned for LeBron James. Even in the past four-and-a-half years, a glorious span that saw him reach four Finals and capture two championships, there was the decision, the bump, 9-8, Dallas, the clutch gene, good job good effort, the cramps, Game 6, the cramps again and San Antonio. Then he returned to Northeast Ohio this summer, and judging by the TV spots, he was home free.

James commands more attention than anyone in sports not simply because he is the world’s best basketball player. It’s also because the storylines around him never stay the same. One day, he can’t win the big one and the next he can’t lose. One day, he can’t hit the last shot and the next he can’t miss. The narratives — a modern catchphrase that seemed to be coined with him in mind — constantly shift under his Nikes. All summer, James was cast as the spotless homecoming king who could do no wrong, a role he filled with aplomb. But, realistically, it would only last until the first bad loss.

“It was fun,” James said, “while it lasted.”

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In sports, unlike advertising, there is no script, and the Knicks ruined a great party with a shocking 95-90 win. James did not play a good game or even an average one. He made 5 of 15 shots, committed eight turnovers, and only found easy baskets when he was cherry picking Kevin Love outlets. He threw a pass into the seats when Kyrie Irving cut inside. He fouled Carmelo Anthony taking a three. He scrapped with Jason Smith of all people. Selecting a James highlight is hard, besides the lay-up he sank over Anthony, while being dragging down by the jersey.

“Emotions are going to run,” James said. “The crowd was excited, we were excited, everyone was excited. I tried to focus.” He acknowledged no nerves, but in the tunnel before warm-ups, he hopped up and down like a frenzied prizefighter. He let out an impromptu roar in the pre-game layup line. He tilted his head to the rafters before introductions. If he wasn’t overwhelmed, he was at least moved.

“I think we spiked at a certain point,” Blatt said. “We’ve been excited about this game for a long time. We used that emotion in a positive way and then … we kind of dropped off the map.”

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Blatt acknowledged that Cleveland must do a better job putting James in motion, which could mean more pick-and-rolls, particularly potent when run with Love. The Cavaliers don’t have time to regroup. They now embark on a challenging four-game road trip, with a date Friday in Chicago, followed by a test Tuesday in Portland. Perhaps they will find a bit of normalcy on the road, without Justin Bieber roaming the corridor outside their locker room, singing quietly to himself.

“It’s crazy,” said Cavs forward Tristan Thompson. “And it’s just beginning.”

The coronation did not go at all as planned, and in a way, that was appropriate. James traditionally does his best work in the crosshairs, when he is being doubted, not exalted. That’s part of the reason he appealed to this region in the first place. “Hard times are what we do,” said Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson, watching the game from a suite. “Challenges are part of life. It’s how you deal with it. He deals with it every time. That’s why he’s the best.”

The homecoming game will forever be part of the James oeuvre, another event that produced another storyline, significant until in a few hours the next one comes along.

This article originally appeared on SI.com

Game 7 of the 2014 World Series started before Game 6 could find the door

KANSAS CITY — Eric Hosmer was asked how it feels to force Game 7 of the World Series, and what that feels like, and could he describe how it feels and explain his feelings, and nobody seemed to notice the bucket. It was at the Royals’ first baseman’s feet. It is silver. It sits between Hosmer’s locker and Terrance Gore’s. It holds three bottles of champagne and a bottle of Johnnie Walker. People have been sending liquor throughout this postseason. Hosmer has been saving it for the end.

The end is hours away.

Giants-Royals, Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, Wednesday night. If this doesn’t make you tingle, at least a little, then you have no use for baseball and probably shouldn’t be allowed to vote next week.

The anticipation began earlier than usual; in a sense, Game 7 of the 2014 World Series started before Game 6 could find the door. This is what happens when the home team, trailing the series 3-2, puts up seven runs in the second inning, as the Royals did. Everybody starts thinking about tomorrow night. Royals fans celebrated without worry. Giants fans threw out Game 6 like a piece of damaged fruit, knowing they could immediately reach for the next one.

Mostly, the managers knew they wouldn’t have to use their best relievers in Game 6, and that is one of many reasons this Game 7 is shaping up to be an epic. The Royals have a rested Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland lurking in the bullpen. The Giants have starter Madison Bumgarner, who could finish one of the best postseasons ever with some relief dominance on two days rest. Bumgarner doesn’t just have the Royals’ number. He has their bank accounts and e-mail passwords, and he changes the code on their garage-door openers because it amuses him.

With every Game 7 strike, each team will get a little closer to a seemingly unsolvable pitching force. When Hosmer was asked about the possibility of facing the new Mr. Octob(umgarn)er, he said, “Hopefully we have a lead before we get to him. That’s all I can say.” You can be sure the Giants are thinking the same thoughts about Herrera, Davis and Holland.

It should come down to those pitchers, throwing noise and fury, and that would be a nice change. What is worth saying about Game 6? Giants starter Jake Peavy had a rough go, which is not surprising because he has quietly been one of the worst postseason performers in all of sports. (Peavy now has a 7.98 playoff ERA, astounding for a guy who won a Cy Young award.) The Royals are resilient, but we knew that, too. They were assumed dead in their Wild-Card game against the A’s until they get up and punched the coroner in the face.

Hosmer said he was hanging on every pitch, regardless of the score, because of the stakes. He even hit one after calling timeout (the Kauffman Stadium crowd was so loud, he didn’t realize the TO was granted), then hit one that counted, giving him the rare at-bat when he was 2-for-1, for a perfect 2.000 batting average.

That was a fitting moment in an unusual series. This has been a sequence of lopsided games between evenly matched teams. The winning margin was at least five runs in five of the six games, yet the Giants have scored 27 runs in this Series and the Royals have scored 25, and those numbers would be probably be dead-even if the Giants had let Hunter Strickland pitch to two more batters. Each team has scored in double-digits once and been shut out once.

Hosmer said he “wouldn’t mind a lopsided one,” but this World Series deserves better than that, and it sure feels like we’re going to get it.

World Series Games 7 are rare treats. Baseball has only had one since 2002: the Cardinals-Rangers tilt in 2011, which had a Cardinals-have-got-this feel the whole way because St. Louis had won Game 6 in preposterous, dramatic fashion, and teams that lose games like that rarely recover. (The Rangers actually took a 2-0 lead to start Game 7, but it evaporated by the end of the first inning.) Game 7 in 2002 had the same feel to it — the Giants blew a 5-0 lead in Game 6 and seemed destined to lose Game 7 in Anaheim, and they did.

But the three World Series Games 7 before that were among the most famous games in baseball history. There was Luis Gonzalez’s broken-bat Series-winning single against Mariano Rivera in 2001. There was Edgar Renteria’s walk-off single for the Marlins against Cleveland in 1997, which Hosmer watched from the stands in Miami. And there was Jack Morris’ 10-inning shutout against John Smoltz and the Braves in 1991.

Home teams usually win, but that’s not guaranteed. Game 6 losers usually lose Game 7, but that probably doesn’t apply here, because it’s not like the Giants lost in excruciating fashion, and with titles in 2010 and 2012, they don’t carry a huge burden for their city.

Nobody knows who the hero will be this time. Nobody knows who will have a bat in his hand with runners on-base and the championship at stake, or who will be on the mound. That’s the beauty of baseball. We just know that Hosmer will either open that alcohol and enjoy it forever, or stand and answer questions next to the saddest little bucket in America.

This article originally appeared on SI.com

The Giants trailed the World Series headed into game 4 against the Kansas City Royals, but dug deep for a dramatic 4-11 victory in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO — There were the Giants, exactly where they didn’t want to be. Oh, sure, they can talk about their infinite pool of belief, but some parts are shallower than others. They admitted afterward: They did not want to have to score three runs against the back end of the Royals’ bullpen. That’s like stealing three steaks from a lion.

The Giants trailed the World Series, 2-1, and Game 4, 4-1, in the bottom of the fifth inning. There is no clock in baseball, but the Giants heard one ticking anyway because this is what the Royals do. They shorten the game. They delete your last chapters. Kansas City relievers Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland loom over everything in this series. You might as well just call them Those Guys, the way the Giants’ Gregor Blanco did: “We were able to accomplish it before Those Guys came around. At the same time, we knew even if Those Guys come, we can do something to get us going.”

Blanco said in the dugout, “We were saying, just keep pushing, just keep playing hard. We knew we just needed something to get us going.”

The Giants were very clear about two things:

1. If they had to try to score three runs against the back of the Royals’ bullpen, then hey, that’s what they had to do.

2. Who the heck would want to do THAT?

So there they were, bottom of the fifth, down 4-1, when the ironically named Joe Panik hit a double. That chased Royals starter Jason Vargas; it was like a wedge in the middle of the Royals’ pitching staff, prying an opening between the starter and shutdown relievers. Jason Frasor came in to pitch. Hunter Pence singled in Panik. Danny Duffy replaced Frasor. A hit, a walk and a sacrifice fly later, Pence scored.

The Giants now trailed 4-3, and that still wasn’t ideal, but it meant that they would at least have a shot if the score held into the eighth inning. As Giants starter Jake Peavy said of Davis and Holland: “They’ve got to give up runs at some point, right?”

The Giants never found out. They added three in the sixth and four in the seventh, and Davis and Holland might as well have gone down the street for some Vietnamese food. It was a reminder that dominant relievers can finish World Series wins, but only if they have something to finish. Ask Mariano Rivera, history’s best postseason reliever, who pitched only one playoff inning in 2002 and one in 2006, and got only one out in 2011 when his team had a lead. He never got the baton.

How did the Giants do it? We have two sources on this, and they tell different versions of the same story. One is the box score, which tells a tale of 16 hits and 11 runs, including a three-hit, three-RBI night for Pence. The other source is the Giants themselves, who sold another gallon of that mushy stuff about teamwork and undying belief and feeding off each other.

You don’t have to buy it. But the point is: They do.

It’s why Peavy says, “We believe in our bullpen the way the world believes in Kansas City’s bullpen.” It’s why nobody cares, or even seems to notice, that star Buster Posey does not have any extra-base hits in the postseason. It’s why Pablo Sandoval fights off a pregame illness and two early strikeouts to get two big singles.

It’s why Yusmeiro Petit has now thrown 12 shutout innings in the postseason and allowed only four hits, and why Petit has so willingly assumed so many different roles. Posey said what Petit is doing is even more impressive than when he retired 46 consecutive batters in the regular season, a major-league record, because of the stakes.

“He’s expected to go in and pitch three, four, five innings, sometimes less,” Posey says. “You never know when it’s gonna be. He’s gotta be ready every game.”

And it’s why first baseman Brandon Belt says: “I guess everybody at this level wants to win the World Series. But it just seems like when it matters most, we dig down deep. We have the ability to dig down deep and get the big hits when we need it, and scratch and claw our way to the top.”

You can look at this World Series so far and figure it’s all just a prelude to the inevitable: A dramatic finish in Game 6 or 7 for these evenly matched teams. And that may be true. But make no mistake: The Giants were in an extremely tenuous position in Game 4. Down two games … down three runs … two of the last three games in Kansas City. If the Giants win their third World Series in five years, they will point to this moment, with the game’s scariest bullpen and an enormous deficit looming, and be proud they didn’t blink.

This article originally appeared on SI.com

Kansas City beat the Giants, 7-2, in Game 2 to even the World Series

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera made a conscious effort to change the speeds of his pitches this year, and in Game 2 of the World Series, it paid off. He threw a fastball 101 mph, then dropped down to 100, then went back up to 101. You can see why opposing hitters might be confused, and also why they would want to curl up with a good book and hit themselves over the head with it.

Herrera got five outs and handed the baton to Wade Davis and Greg Holland. Then Herrera watched video of himself, which he does after every outing to make sure he is not too open in his delivery, which was a problem last year. Maybe a little tiny bit of him watches so he can see the radar-gun readings and think, “Good God am I awesome,” though he wouldn’t admit that.

Anyway, the video confirmed what anybody watching live already knew: That was the real Herrera. And these were the real Royals.

Kansas City beat the Giants, 7-2, in Game 2 to even the series, and they really had no choice. Lose this one, and the hill would get awfully steep. The Royals didn’t win the Series in Game 2, just as the Giants didn’t win it in Game 1, but they did something important besides win the game. They showed why they belonged here.

There is a risk when you appear on an unfamiliar and large stage. Anybody who watched the 2008 Rays, ’06 Tigers, ’07 Rockies or a friend nervously stumble through wedding vows understands. The Royals are the feel-good story of baseball, but we’ve all seen this script, and the last few pages are usually in flames. It happened to the Chiefs in January; after a stunning regular season, they collapsed in the playoffs against the Colts. After their Game 1 loss, the Royals looked like they might do the same.

Instead, we saw the real Royals. The bullpen dominated. The offense put together a big inning, a five-run sixth. And yes, there were moments when they seemed determined not to score, no matter how many hittable pitches they saw. The Giants’ Jake Peavy found the middle of the plate way too often; a better lineup probably would have chased him by the fourth inning. Instead, the Royals couldn’t pound Peavy’s mistakes and they chased pitches they should have left alone. Well, hey, nobody is perfect … except the Royals’ relievers, obviously.

The World Series is different. It feels different. The Royals had five days to think about how different it is. Herrera said his bullpen warm-up sessions don’t tell him much. “I never know before I throw my first pitch in the game, because it’s way different.” That’s how it is in the World Series, too. Until you go through it, you just don’t know what it will be like.

The Royals know now, and a potentially epic Series is unfolding. We may have seen the last two blowout games of the Series — the pitching is better than the hitting for both teams and runs should be scarce. Madison Bumgarner looms over everything for the Royals: lose Game 3, and Game 4 becomes a must-win because Bumgarner pitches Game 5.

But the Royals don’t have to worry about that until Friday. In the meantime, they can enjoy their first World Series victory since they beat the Cardinals in Game 7 of the 1985 Series, and they can enjoy the fact that somebody else embarrassed himself.

That somebody, of course, is Giants reliever Hunter Strickland, who gave up a double to Salvador Perez, a homer to Omar Infante and a little piece of his dignity. After Infante’s homer, Strickland chewed out Perez for reasons that remain unclear, using words that remain a mystery, making this the lamest baseball confrontation in baseball history.

“[Strickland] was doing something like, ‘Get out of here,’ or something,” Perez said, “and he starts to look at me, and look at me, that’s why I was asking him, ‘Hey, why are you looking?’”

It says something about the media that there was a bigger horde around Perez, who got yelled at for no apparent reason, than around Infante, who actually hit the home run. Yes, Perez also hit a double, but most of the questions were not about the double. I suppose this also says something about us. Let’s just say that unlike Herrera, I will not be watching video of our performance. I fear I spent too much time in the wrong horde.

Strickland has now faced 23 batters in the postseason and allowed five home runs. This next sentence will not help Strickland’s mood, but here you go: Herrera has faced 325 batters this season, including 40 in the postseason, and allowed zero home runs. Zero! And he is their seventh-inning guy.

That pretty much sums up why the Royals are here, why this city has fallen in love with its baseball team again and why the Giants had better get to Game 3 starter Jeremy Guthrie early. The video replay of the Kansas City bullpen is always the same. Those were the Royals and that’s how they got here. Your move, San Francisco.

This article originally appeared on SI.com

The report mentions that athletes' academic counselors directed them to take the classes in question

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill released the report on its latest investigation into alleged academic fraud on Wednesday.

The report details how a lack of oversight allowed Department of African and Afro-American Studies administrator Deborah Crowder and former chairman Julius Nyang’oro to create so-called “paper classes.” In these classes, students received high grades with “little regard” for the quality of their work.

Nyang’oro and Crowder have been implicated in previous probes into the situation for steering athletes into the aforementioned classes, an issue that was found by a 2012 probe to have dated to the 1990s. This latest investigation was conducted by former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein at the request of the university.

While Wainstein’s report still places most of the blame for the fraud in the department at Nyang’oro and Crowder​, it points to the surrounding culture at North Carolina for allowing it to happen. Wainstein mentions that athletes’ academic counselors directed them to take the classes in question, that there wasn’t sufficient external review of the department and that a belief within the school that fraud couldn’t happen there prevented proper oversight.

Wainstein told reporters Wednesday that Crowder, who was largely responsible for creating the fraudulent classes, was motivated by a belief that UNC’s athletes weren’t being supported by the university.

University chancellor Carol Folt said that disciplinary action will be taken against those connected to the probe.

“It is a case where you have bad actions of a few and inaction of many more,” school chancellor Carol Folt told reporters in a conference call shortly before the report’s release. “It is shocking and people are taking full responsibility.”

Wainstein said he has shared his report with the NCAA, which announced this summer that it had re-opened its investigation into North Carolina after new individuals were available to talk to investigators for the first time.

In the report, Wainstein says current North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams became uncomfortable with the nature of the classes in question and attempted to steer his players away from the department. Former star Rashad McCants accused the school of fraud earlier this year. McCants chose not to speak with Wainstein’s investigation.

A previous NCAA investigation resulted in a postseason ban for the football team in 2012 and a loss of scholarships. Wainstein’s report describes academic counselors recommending the department’s classes to football coaches.

From a joint statement released by North Carolina and the NCAA:

The information included in the Wainstein report will be reviewed by the university and the enforcement staff under the same standards that are applied in all NCAA infractions cases. Due to rules put in place by NCAA membership, neither the university nor the enforcement staff will comment on the substance of the report as it relates to possible NCAA rules violations.

It’s unknown when the NCAA’s investigation will be concluded.

This article originally appeared on SI.com

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Sam "had a long way to go" as a player

The Dallas Cowboys have waived defensive end Michael Sam from their practice squad, the team announced Tuesday.

Sam, the first openly gay player in the NFL, was signed to the team’s practice squad Sept. 3. He never made it to the Cowboys’ active roster.

According to the team’s official website, Sam will be replaced on the practice squad with linebacker Troy Davis, who worked out for Dallas on Monday.

Sam said the following on Twitter after his release was made public:

I want to thank the Jones family and the entire Cowboys organization for this opportunity, as well as my friends, family, teammates and fans for their support. While this is disappointing, I will take the lessons I learned here in Dallas and continue to fight for an opportunity to prove that I can play every Sunday.

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Sam made history and received national attention in the spring when he announced he was gay several weeks before the NFL combine. As the reigning SEC co-defensive player of the year at Missouri, Sam became the highest-profile active gay football player and sought to become the first gay player to be selected in the NFL Draft.

The St. Louis Rams picked Sam in the seventh round of this year’s draft and kept him on their roster until the last round of cuts at the end of training camp. He was picked up by the Cowboys several days later.

At the time of Sam’s signing, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Sam “had a long way to go” as a player while dismissing concerns that the rookie could be a potential distraction in the locker room due to his sexuality, echoing the sentiments of Rams coach Jeff Fisher from when Sam was with St. Louis.

Jones said Sunday that Sam’s sexual orientation was “a dead issue.”

Sam is now free to sign with any other team or join any other team’s practice squad. The CFL could also be an option, as Sam reportedly received interest from the Montreal Alouettes before he joined the Cowboys’ practice squad.

This article originally appeared on SI.com

Sterling will no longer pursue his case against NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Sterling's wife Shelly, which accused both parties of fraud and of inflicting "severe emotional damage"

Former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has dropped one of his two lawsuits against the NBA, according to the Los Angeles Times‘ Nathan Fenno.

Sterling will no longer pursue his case against NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Sterling’s wife Shelly, which accused both parties of fraud and of inflicting “severe emotional damage” during his forced sale of the team earlier this year. The move frees up Sterling to pursue his other suit against the NBA, an antitrust suit that seeks more than $1 billion in damages.

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“We believe that we can more efficiently address all the issues in our pending federal action,” Sterling’s attorney Bobby Samini told the Times Monday.

The news comes on the same day that a judge threw out the defamation lawsuit of Sterling’s mistress V. Stiviano against Shelly Sterling. Judge Richard Fruin said Stiviano could produce no evidence Shelly Sterling defamed her. Shelly Sterling called Los Angeles Police to Donald’s home earlier this month, indicating there had been a break-in at the home. Responding officers found no evidence of a break-in, however, and instead found Donald Sterling entertaining Stiviano.

This article originally appeared on SI.com

The NHL has suspended defenseman Slava Voynov indefinitely after he was arrested on domestic violence charges Monday morning, the league announced Monday.

There are currently no details on the exact nature of Voynov’s arrest other than that he violated California Penal Code section 273.5, Domestic Violence. He will continue to be paid while suspended.

From the NHL’s release:

The suspension was imposed under Section 18-A.5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which provides that, during the pendency of a criminal investigation, “The League may suspend the Player pending the League’s formal review and disposition of the matter where the failure to suspend the Player during this period would create a substantial risk of material harm to the legitimate interests and/or reputation of the League.”

Voynov, 24, has been with the Kings since 2011-12 and played in all 82 games for the team last season while helping it win the Stanley Cup. He’s played in all of the Kings’ six games this season, recording two assists and averaging 23:11 of ice time per game.

Voynov signed a six-year, $25 million contract extension with Los Angeles before last season.

The NHL dealt with a similar incident last year when Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov was arrested on domestic violence charges in an incident involving his girlfriend. The charges were later dropped.

The news of Voynov’s arrest comes amidst significant controversy around the issue of domestic violence in the NFL stemming from the arrest of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice.

The release of video showing Rice striking his then-fiancée in an Atlantic City casino elevator led to Rice’s release from Ravens and an indefinite suspension from the NFL, with criticism levied at the latter for initially suspending Rice for just two games.

The NFL has said it is working on developing a new domestic violence policy and the handling of the Rice case by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is the subject of an investigation led by former FBI director Robert Mueller III.

The issue of domestic violence has emerged in other sports as well, including the arrests of U.S. national team goalie Hope Solo and Charlotte Hornets forward Jeffery Taylor.

This article originally appeared on SI.com

He beat Brett Favre's record with No. 509

Two former New Orleans Saints wives have come forward to tell their story of abuse, fear and how the NFL tried to keep them quiet

If you’re looking to marry into the NFL, two former wives of players have some advice for you: keep your mouth shut when he hits you. That’s not their playbook, it’s the one they were handed when they were put in abusive situations during their husbands’ playing days.

On Friday, The Washington Post ran a story that detailed the horrifying lives of two women who were married to New Orleans Saints players in a time period between the 1990s and present day. To highlight how tight of a grip abuse still has on them, only one woman was willing to use her name publicly.

Dewan Smith-Williams, who was married to New Orleans Saints player Wally Williams in the 1990s and 2000s, detailed her abuse and how then-head coach Jim Hasslet nudged her towards keeping her mouth shut. Smith-Williams notes that Hasslet told her that taking the fall for her husband was not a good idea, which years later caused her to silence herself about her husband’s illegal activities even after he took a baseball bat to their entire house.

“We’ve told agents about it, called the NFL Players Association when things were really, really bad,” Smith-Williams recalls. “They would say, ‘Oh, we’re really sorry that you are going through this. We’ll look into it.’ But you never heard back. There’s no one available for the wives.”

The wife that wanted to remain nameless detailed an even more horrifying incident in which she was violently abused by her NFL husband only to have no one care. She notes that the police were called by the neighbors, who proceeded to joke with her husband and ask for autographs. But the most horrific and spine chilling details came in the days after.

After the incident occurred, the New Orleans Saints called the house to not so much offer assistance but to make sure she wasn’t going to go public with what happened. If that doesn’t paint a terrifying enough picture, the woman then noted that her husband refused to take her to the hospital and drove her around to make sure she told everyone that she had been in a car accident

“I learned to listen and not speak,” she says. “He would remind me of that night, how no one would care if I was gone and how the cops did [not care]. It was all about him. He reminded me that I was alone and disposable.”

This unnamed woman is still shackled in chains of an abusive relationship as her anonymity is on account of her abuser is still associated with the NFL in enough capacity that she is scared to say her name.

As if the NFL didn’t already have a big enough problem with abuse, this highlights just how deep the roots are. You can’t hear these stories and not feel sick. All of this happened over the last decade, which means the NFL needs to stop cowering behing the facade that abuse is a ‘societal problem’.

Abuse in the NFL being a societal problem is like saying obesity is a problem because gym memberships cost too much. There’s correlation but pretty transparent correlation. The NFL needs to stop hiding behind machismo and answer to what is very clearly a societal problem that the largest sports business in the world is enabling.

This article originally appeared on SI.com