crystalline said:
The Chicago Tribune gave some indepth takes of the Marshall press conference. They don't let Marshall completely off the hook; he rehashed his past without apologizing to the accuser.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-brandon-marshall-bears-haugh-20140919-column.html
It's behind a paywall; here's an excerpt
This, like Marshall, is complicated and confounding.
First, a little inside baseball: his press conference nearly torpedoed the piece. Not because of the content but because it serves as such an amplification of the story, as written. The forty-minute press conference touches on everything in The Marshall Plan, resolving nothing. The quotes on many subjects were consistent with previous statements cited in the story but there was little new, other than his reaction to ESPN/Allred. Which was a doozy.
He clearly feels ESPN recycled content from six years ago to portray him as that person today. I can see why he'd take exception to that; the story is about his efforts to change over the last six years. By contrast, the NFL Network's "A Football Life" (linked in the story) is a fair look at Marshall and his evolution.
I really struggled with Allred's role in the story, finally choosing to note the event but nothing more than that. Allred used to be an excellent attorney but her reputation for being after news coverage instead of justice hurts her credibility. And on the other hand, giving voice to the associated victims of domestic violence is a "good" for society. The stories told by the family and friends are all too-familiar because intimate partner violence affects more than just the physical victims. Their stories were powerful and relevant and Marshall's failure to acknowledge them is troubling.
But Allred wasn't bringing those friends and family out to ensure a six-year old crime was investigated. Allred was trying to get her share of the spotlight in the NFL's recent three-ring circus of failure. Making Brandon Marshall part of the story probably made him angry, and he failed to do everything necessary - e.g. apologize to the victim - in his press conference.
But what he did do was talk about The Marshall Plan. And give the NFL a way to effect
real change on this, and other issues.
I've seen here, and other places, this sentiment that Adrian Peterson shouldn't be allowed to play football again if found guilty. And I don't get that at all because it presupposes guilt AND precludes the chance that Peterson could become the greatest spokesperson against child abuse ever. What Peterson is accused of is sickening but it is also true that he learned that behavior. He can unlearn it. He can change. And if he becomes half as eloquent and thoughtful as Brandon Marshall, he'll do a whole lot of good for our world.
It really is up to us to leave the out-dated behaviors of past generations in the past. Physical violence solves only a few, highly-circumscribed problems. Ask Marciano490 for the full list. Family is no place for physical violence. Love doesn't hit, ever. Love talks, even when it is painful and hard. If you can't talk, walk.