FootballDad
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Although this should rightly collect yawns from us here at CF, since we've figured this all along, it's a big revelation to media types.
Jerry Angelo basically says that the recent domestic violence cases are just the tip of the iceberg.
[h=1]Former Bears GM says teams hid hundreds of domestic violence cases from league[/h] By Frank Schwab
Jerry Angelo told USA Today that when he was general manager of the Chicago Bears he would not report cases of domestic violence to the NFL, because he didn't want those players suspended. And during his 30 years in the NFL, Angelo said he thought that there were "hundreds and hundreds" of cases that went unreported by teams. Angelo had remorse about the whole situation, in light of the attention domestic violence issues have gotten since the video of Ray Rice punching and knocking out his wife was released.
The NFL has a shameful history with domestic violence, all the way up to giving Rice a two-game suspension that was so light Goodell had to apologize for mishandling the situation. The sad fact is that the NFL gave out many suspensions for domestic violence that were way too light before that, there just wasn't a camera in an elevator capturing those incidents, like the Rice case.
The Rice case has clearly caused Angelo to step back and reflect on some of his actions when he was in the NFL.
Jerry Angelo basically says that the recent domestic violence cases are just the tip of the iceberg.
[h=1]Former Bears GM says teams hid hundreds of domestic violence cases from league[/h] By Frank Schwab
Jerry Angelo told USA Today that when he was general manager of the Chicago Bears he would not report cases of domestic violence to the NFL, because he didn't want those players suspended. And during his 30 years in the NFL, Angelo said he thought that there were "hundreds and hundreds" of cases that went unreported by teams. Angelo had remorse about the whole situation, in light of the attention domestic violence issues have gotten since the video of Ray Rice punching and knocking out his wife was released.
"I made a mistake," Angelo, who was Bears GM from 2001-11, told USA Today. "I was human. I was part of it. I'm not proud of it."
Angelo, in a very interesting series of quotes, said he would keep the cases from the NFL because the team would be at a competitive disadvantage if the player was suspended. Angelo said the common response when the team found out a player was involved in a domestic violence incident would be to ask, "OK, is everybody OK? Yeah. How are they doing? Good. And then we'd just move on. We'd move on."
"Our business is to win games," Angelo told USA Today. "We've got to win games, and the commissioner's job is to make sure the credibility of the National Football League is held in the highest esteem. But to start with that, you have to know who's representing the shield."
"We got our priorities a little out of order," he said.
Angelo wasn't speaking of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's integrity ("He would never cover anything up," he said), but said that the Rice video changed his perspective.
The NFL has a shameful history with domestic violence, all the way up to giving Rice a two-game suspension that was so light Goodell had to apologize for mishandling the situation. The sad fact is that the NFL gave out many suspensions for domestic violence that were way too light before that, there just wasn't a camera in an elevator capturing those incidents, like the Rice case.
The Rice case has clearly caused Angelo to step back and reflect on some of his actions when he was in the NFL.
"Short of killing somebody, there is absolutely nothing worse than abusing a child or a woman. Nothing," Angelo told USA Today. "And I think everybody understands that now much, much better.
"We'll be better for it. Everybody will be better. The players, the NFL, everybody.''