Staubach on Hardy: I wouldn’t want an abuser as a teammate

[boozeman]

Staubach on Hardy: I wouldn’t want an abuser as a teammate

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 23, 2015, 11:55 AM EDT


If it were up to Hall of Fame Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, Greg Hardy wouldn’t be in Dallas.

Staubach said on KTCK-AM that while he admires the way Cowboys Executive Vice President Charlotte Jones Anderson has taken a leadership role in the NFL’s efforts on domestic violence, he still has a hard time justifying allowing a player like Hardy on the team.

“Well, it depends on getting a chance to understand the red flags . . . like the Hardy situation,” Staubach said. “Charlotte Jones is fantastic. She’s involved with the NFL on the committees. I think she had a hand in trying to understand that this guy deserves a second chance. I don’t have any tolerance toward domestic violence. If I was making the decision, it probably wouldn’t have been good for the Cowboys.”

Hardy missed 15 games last year and is suspended for 10 games this year for a domestic violence incident. Staubach said that’s not the kind of person he’d want as a teammate.

“I wouldn’t really enjoy being in the locker room with someone I knew was a domestic violence person. That’s how I feel,” Staubach said. “Today you know more about the personal lives of players. Back in the old days, there were some issues. But we never really had a domestic violence, smoking marijuana or . . . I’m sure it happened though, we just didn’t know about it. I would have really had a hard time with a teammate that you look at as a courageous, tough guy on the football field . . . to abuse a women in any shape or form, there’s just no excuse for it.”

The Cowboys have taken a lot of criticism for signing Hardy, but this criticism may sting the most. Few people are more respected in Dallas than Staubach, and Staubach doesn’t think Hardy belongs in the Cowboys’ locker room.
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Easy for Staubach to say. He never had to play on a team without a quality pass rush.

 

[midswat]

I never give a shat what old players think.

 

[Stars]

I thought Harvey Martin was an abuser. Maybe that was after he retired.

 

[Genghis Khan]

Hollywood Henderson was no saint.

 

[boozeman]

Hollywood Henderson was no saint.

Neither was Lance Rentzel or Rafael Septien.

 

[boozeman]

I thought Harvey Martin was an abuser. Maybe that was after he retired.

Yes, in 1996. But he did do a lot of dope and drank a lot as a player. Was part of Thomas Henderson's party crowd.

 

[townsend]

Staubach came off as pretty even in this interview. No public figure wants to come out as 1% tolerant of DV. Pretty much anyone weighing in on the issue would probably say the same thing

 

[bbgun]

Dallas immediately cut ties with Rentzel and Septien when their troubles became known, and Henderson was released late in the 1979 season when his act got old, so there was only so much the old regime would put up with.

 

[Carp]

Staubach later told them to get off of his lawn, pissed his pants, and wished everyone Merry Christmas.

 

[ravidubey]

Staubach is right on all counts. But the reality is 1/4 American women have or will experience domestic abuse.

Most of those women are in their 20's, which is prime NFL girlfriend range.

So you know a good number of the 1500 NFL players in any era are abusers at any given time.

Do you want it? Of course not. But it is what it is. You aren't going to dump 10% of the NFL any more than you'd throw 10% of the US population in jail.

 

[skidadl]

I think that the punishment policies that the nfl has in place are fair. If you beat up a woman then you are going to be serverely flogged. Makes sense to me.

 

[L.T. Fan]

I think that the punishment policies that the nfl has in place are fair. If you beat up a woman then you are going to be serverely flogged. Makes sense to me.

Absolutely. The game is not more important then basic morality.

 

[p1_]

Don't forget Staubach was a Landry disciple,
which is not to say they didn't disagree about things,
but they were on the same page morally speaking.

 

[townsend]

Absolutely. The game is not more important then basic morality.

The question to me becomes what the NFL's role should be in all this. With a Ray Rice, or Adrian Peterson where the abuses are more clearly recorded it's pretty open and shut, a professional organization should be expected to look at an employee with a side eye. But Hardy's case was a lot less open and shut. Is any physical conflict, even if we don't know the specifics, go on the player? Is the NFL just supposed to punish on the accusation, assuming the testimony of the accuser was 100% valid?
Should they have suspended Erik Williams and Michael Irvin when that woman falsely accused them?
I don't have answers for any of this, but the pendulum shouldn't be forced to swing so far back that we assume everyone's bad because they got in some kind of conflict. Guys like Dez and Tyron have had issues with their families.
Should any family member who wants to blackmail a player just have to threaten a police report to threaten their livelihood?

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Speaking specifically about Hardy I don't think anyone really has any idea what happened that night. Well there are 2 people who do know but I think both of their stories are at least partially bullshit. It just gets on my nerves when someone like Staubach pretends to have any idea weather Hardy is actually a woman beater or if he just had the misfortune of dating a crazy money hungry bitch.

This isn't like Ray Rice where we have a video or Adrian Peterson where he admitted to everything.

 

[L.T. Fan]

Speaking specifically about Hardy I don't think anyone really has any idea what happened that night. Well there are 2 people who do know but I think both of their stories are at least partially bullshit. It just gets on my nerves when someone like Staubach pretends to have any idea weather Hardy is actually a woman beater or if he just had the misfortune of dating a crazy money hungry bitch.

This isn't like Ray Rice where we have a video or Adrian Peterson where he admitted to everything.

Even though the facts are not completely know most employers take the position that if the employee is responsible for being detementral to the company they have the right to discontinue the association until such time as the sitution is resolved. In other words the empathis is on the employee to resolve the matter. This seems to be how the NFL is operating. The matter of guilt or innocence is left to the legal system.

 

[midswat]

Speaking specifically about Hardy I don't think anyone really has any idea what happened that night. Well there are 2 people who do know but I think both of their stories are at least partially bullshit. It just gets on my nerves when someone like Staubach pretends to have any idea weather Hardy is actually a woman beater or if he just had the misfortune of dating a crazy money hungry bitch.

This isn't like Ray Rice where we have a video or Adrian Peterson where he admitted to everything.

Hardy did nothing wrong.

I deduct this solely off of the victim claiming to say "kill me" while being choked. Impossible.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Even though the facts are not completely know most employers take the position that if the employee is responsible for being detementral to the company they have the right to discontinue the association until such time as the sitution is resolved. In other words the empathis is on the employee to resolve the matter. This seems to be how the NFL is operating. The matter of guilt or innocence is left to the legal system.

I'm not talking about the suspension or the NFL. I'm talking about individual people such as Staubach condemning the guy with zero knowledge of the events that took place that day.

 

[L.T. Fan]

I'm not talking about the suspension or the NFL. I'm talking about individual people such as Staubach condemning the guy with zero knowledge of the events that took place that day.

He is an accused abuser. I know nothing about the case but that stigma is associated with him and I think that is where Staubach is coming from. Agreed that Hardy hasn't been adjudicated and Staubach is in error with his position as a technical matter but I think he is against the association with the club and Hardy.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

He is an accused abuser.

He's not even really that any more. His case was dismissed and there is no one making any accusations against him any longer. So if someone makes an accusation against you that isn't true what exactly are you supposed to do? Be screwed for the rest of your life?