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Home » Blog » Woman Beater Greg Hardy Doesn’t Like Being Called a Woman Beater By His Teammates, Poor Fella

Woman Beater Greg Hardy Doesn’t Like Being Called a Woman Beater By His Teammates, Poor Fella

Amber Lee Blog News NFL
Image courtesy of Zimbio

Image courtesy of Zimbio

Earlier this week the NFL announced defensive end Greg Hardy would be suspended without pay for the first 10 games of the 2015 regular season. The reason cited was conduct detrimental to the team, the team being the Carolina Panthers, which selected him in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

Hardy spent much of the 2014 season on the commissioner’s exempt list, then a little known and rarely used clause that allowed Roger Goodell to deal with the Adrian Peterson situation last season as well, which kept him out most of the season, but allowed him to be paid in full.

His placement on the exempt list stemmed from allegations that Hardy had brutally beat and terrorized his ex-girlfriend during a particularly horrifying domestic assault in 2013.

It was a crime for which he was ultimately convicted, with more than enough evidence presented to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Despite the conviction, Hardy was eligible to appeal his case and have it heard in front of a jury, rather than the bench trial he opted for in his first go around.

The second trial would never happen though, as the woman he was convicted of terrorizing decided not to go through with another public nightmare. And who can blame her for that?

Maybe she was too traumatized from having to continuously relive the ordeal, not just in court, but as she went through it countless times with investigators and prosecutors. It’s also more than possible that Hardy threw enough money at the problem to make it go away.

Classifying what Hardy did to his ex-girlfriend—not something he allegedly did, as there’s a difference between getting off on a technicality and innocence—as ‘conduct detrimental to the team’ is actually laughable, given the horrifying details of the case against him. That’s the NFL for you though.

Considering the severity of his offenses and the fact that he had been previously seeking a long-term deal with the Panthers last offseason, it came as no surprise when the team cut ties with him in February. And it was even less of a surprise to see that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was first in line to pay Hardy.

Though there’s a realistic chance his lengthy suspension could be reduced, based on an incident that took place on Friday, it seems there may be bigger problems in Big D than exactly when Hardy will return to the football field.

According to various reports, on the finals days of the team’s offseason program, Hardy and teammate Davon Coleman had to be separated from each other. The two began going at each other following an unpleasant verbal exchange that escalated into a full-blown argument.

Though there was “no physical altercation of any nature whatsoever,” that per Coleman’s agent Michael Loeffler, from the description of the incident, it’s clear that bad blood has been brewing in Dallas. That’s because there seems to have been little to no on-field catalyst for the blow up—calling a teammate a “woman beater” for questioning effort during OTAs is not a proportional response.

According to Yahoo! Sports, the incident began as the defensive linemen were participating in sprints. Coleman reportedly made reference to Hardy’s past domestic violence, calling him a “woman beater.” The remark from Coleman reportedly came after Hardy called him out on what he perceived as a lack of effort.

Although altercations between teammates are common during offseason training, something about the tone of this one differentiates itself from most others. Coleman going straight to that well against Hardy just for a relatively innocuous offense suggests the new guy might not be meshing well in the locker room.

For months now it has seemed that Roger Goodell is absolutely incapable of setting a reasonable and fair disciplinary standard in the NFL that properly addresses the plethora of circumstances various players find themselves in over the course of a career. Goodell has proven himself incapable of doing anything but further lining the pockets of billionaires.

Not to mention his own pockets, of course.

https://twitter.com/ColesWorld43/status/466547407895801857

Perhaps when it comes to over-the-top brutality, like that of which Hardy was convicted, players will finally start policing their own. Having Greg Hardy on the field makes everyone around him look worse. He may be a talented football player, but he’s a loathsome human being who has no business on an NFL field.

Hopefully Davon Coleman is just the first of what will be a number of teammates to make him feel like an unwanted outsider. No team in the league should want anything to do with Hardy, or anyone like him. There is no benefit that can be brought to the field to ever justify this guy’s presence.

Unfortunately though, no matter the nature of their crimes, players like Hardy will always find a home in the NFL. That is, of course, unless the assault is captured on video and TMZ Sports is the only outlet in the country that cares enough to bring it to light. An interesting state of affairs we’ve reached when TMZ has the moral high ground.

If the legal system fails. And the commissioner fails. Players policing themselves is all that’s left.

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