Why Do I Continue to Read Peter King?

[Leather]

If they weren't able to practice during SB week, the team would have no reason to have them listed as active; they'd get someone useful.
 
"It's amazing that all 9 guys starting the game for the Yankees are healthy today.  When's the last time you saw that?"

 

[DourDoerr]

Top stories of the week


So, if you ignore the players who have already been lost for the season (Mayo, Richards), and those guys who suffered big injuries two weeks ago (Sherman/Thomas), or have not played in a month (Stork), everyone is healthy. Got it!

Listened to a bunch of NFL podcasts this week and King made the rounds and repeated this endlessly.  It's nonsensical.  What's sad is not one host called him on it or at the least asked exactly what he means by it.  It's almost as if they all realize he's mentally challenged and they have to accept a lot of babble as part of the bargain.

 

[joe dokes]

Amidst this brutal takedown of the NFL is this gem:
 

When actual news breaks, the integration of the NFL as entertainment with its own reporting wing becomes unmistakable. At this point, Sports Illustrated's Peter King can't speak when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is drinking a glass of water.
 

 
http://www.mrdestructo.com/2015/01/everything-stupid-is-alive-and.html

 

[jacklamabe65]

I don't even understand this tweet. Did king say he is tried and Sherman responded after the ...?

 
Reminds me of what Churchill said after dabbling in a homosexual encountering. When asked what it was like, he replied, "Musical." Ah, Peter, Richard Sherman and Junior Mints. 

 

[joe dokes]

I know its several thousand words on deadline, which is no small feat (and maybe many of them were written before the game). But he's still a tone deaf dickhead.
Writing about the death of Wellington Mara's wife at  85. she died from complications from a fall on ice:
 

She met Wellington Mara at a Manhattan church when an old lady fainted and Ann and Wellington he came to her aid.
 

 
 

 

[Leather]

Oh, oh...I've waited a long time for this one (in progress):
 
 

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Football can take your breath away. In good ways and bad. What happened Sunday night under a mild winter Arizona sky will be debated from Kennebunkport to Kennewick for as long as the Sam Adams—or Mac & Jack’s—flows.
 

 
No.  No it won't.   Fans of winners don't debate "what ifs."   (They go home and make fun of Gang Green.)
 

New England: Great play by a guy we never heard of!
 

 
Speak for yourself.
 

The Super Bowl That Took Our Breath Away has a good ring to it.
 

 
 "Treacly Shit That Takes My Breath Away In It's Awfulness."
 

On Saturday night, at the Patriots’ hotel, the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa (sounds more exotic than it is)
 

 
Nothing about a Sheraton sounds exotic.  Ever.  It's. A. Sheraton.
 

If New England calls time there, and Seattle scores on the next play, the Patriots get the ball back, down 31-28, with about 50 seconds left. That’s far preferable to getting it back down 31-28 with two timeouts and, say, 18 seconds left.
 

 
Or they thought they could stop Lynch and the Hawks would run out of time; or jump offsides, or something.  
 
 

Check out the scores of the six New England Super Bowls in the Belichick/Brady Era:
Super Bowl 36: Patriots 20, Rams 17.
Super Bowl 38: Patriots 32, Panthers 29.
Super Bowl 39: Patriots 24, Eagles 21.
Super Bowl 42: Giants 17, Patriots 14.
Super Bowl 46: Giants 21, Patriots 17.
Super Bowl 49: Patriots 28, Seahawks 24.

 
Ok.   Something here about close games, randomness of Super Bowls, whatever...right?
 

We’ll leave the impact of the Ted Wells/Jeff Pash investigation into the deflated footballs for another day, because the finish line there could be weeks away

 
 
Oh fuck you.  What does this have to do with anything at this point?

 

[Leather]

The 5-11 undrafted free agent rookie—from noted football power West Alabama—broke up three passes in New England’s Super Bowl win
 

 
King does this a lot, the smarmy humor in a place where it's not warranted.  Like, the story of Butler coming out of an unknown school is enough; you don't need to drive it down into the dirt to make the same point.   King sucks at sarcasm.
 

And it was his interception at the goal line with 20 seconds left in the game and Seattle driving for the winning touchdown that gives Butler a spot in New England sports lore forever. Just as Dave Roberts’ stolen base ignited the Red Sox to four straight wins over the Yankees in the ALCS in 2004, Butler’s interception always will be remembered from Bridgeport to Bangor.  
 

 
What about Baxter State Park?  Berlin, NH?   Have they forgotten, already?  What about Kennebunk; or are they only capable of debating, and have lost the ability to remember?
 
[Gratuitous alliteration, another King hallmark].  
 

Tom Brady, QB, New England. Obviously, there were a couple of throws he’d love to have back. But in setting the all-time record in Super Bowl touchdown passes and tying Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the most Super Bowl wins ever by a quarterback, Brady clearly is in the discussion for the best quarterback in NFL history.
 

 
 

Bill Belichick, New England. In the middle of Deflategate, Belichick did what he always does: He kept the focus on the field. “ One of the things that he was able to do this past week,” said offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, “is make sure that nobody ever thought about anything other than what would win this game. He’s always like that.” Belichick now takes a unique place in the coaching pantheon. He’s won four Super Bowls as a head coach and two as a coordinator (Giants). He certainly is in the discussion for the greatest coach ever. 
 

 
 

Making totally inoffensive and unquestionable judgments as if they are a fresh take that merit debate; another King Hallmark.
 
I mean, fucking seriously:  if Brady isn't the best ever (and I'm not saying he undoubtedly is, just that it's more than "he's in the discussion"; if there's a discussion it's "Brady or who?")  who is?  Take a stand!   And Belichick...I mean, fuck, who else could it be?

 

[Leather]

2. Walking in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday morning, I saw a 30ish man in a crisp blue business suit get off a commuter bus from the ’burbs, put a backpack on, drop his skateboard to the ground, then roll down Third Street.
 

 
Something that's not that uncommon in this day and age, fatso.  You're old and out of touch, deal with it.
 

Katy Perry has 64.3 million Twitter followers, more than anyone else on Planet Earth.
 

 
See above.
 

e. [like] Cris Collinsworth’s point that the early Jeremy Lane interception could have been the best thing to happen to New England … because it ended with Lane getting knocked out of the game with a wrist injury and forced Tharold Simon to play too much, and the Patriots picked on him a lot.
 

 
Keep tossing that salad, Peter.   A touchdown would have been preferable to a goaline INT, regardless, since the Patriots drove the field with Lane playing, but it's moot.
 

b. [don't like] Tom Brady’s bad decision on the rushed interception in the first quarter.
 

 
But...I thought that was the key to winning!
 

c. Doug Baldwin, Stanford man, getting a 15-yard infraction in the biggest game of the year for simulating pulling down his pants in the end zone and simulating something else while the simulated pants were pulled down.
 

 
STANFORD MAN!  I would have expected it from a Wisconsin man, or an Alabama man...but not a STANFORD MAN!
 

h. The game degenerating into a late brawl. I blame Seattle’s players more than New England’s, and Bruce Irvin got tossed because of it. 
 

 
That's big of you, considering Seattle was 100% to blame for being sore fucking losers and starting it, then Irvin escalating it by taking a swing at Gronk's head.
 

5. I think Media Day is a ridiculous clown show that embarrasses and demeans everyone who plays even a little part of it. (And yes, I do want you to get off my lawn.)
 

 
Waaaahhh Boo fucking Hoo, you aren't the only one that can engage in hot takes and talk to NFL players.

 

[Leather]

6. I think it says something about our court system, and not something good, that Ray Rice knocks his wife out cold in an elevator (captured on video) and Jonathan Dwyer assaults his wife in their home, allegedly head-butting her violently and breaking her nose, and neither man was sentenced to any jail time. Rice was put in something called a diversion program, and Dwyer got 18 months’ probation and some community service. So the NFL is supposed to come down six times as hard as society does on players who commit serious forms of domestic abuse. Something’s wrong with that.
 

 
Oh.
 
My.
 
God. 
 
Peter King in 1947: "So professional baseball teams are supposed to be proactive about letting black people play when they still aren't allowed to eat lunch next to white people in half the country?"  

 

[ifmanis5]

Well done, Leather. *Stanford-style polite applause*
 
And now we wait for King as he retreats to his Midtown Manhattan manse and wait for more one-sided Ballghazi leaks that will later be totally refuted by yet another 3rd party Goodell rebuking. I guess that could be another 'part of a discussion.'

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

And if you still have cookies left to toss after reading his column, his video wrap-up of the game has gems delivered straight from his sweaty, wrinkled jowls, such as:
 

<sign-on>

we're still digesting one of the most shocking Super Bowl endings ever.  Probably the most shocking.  There's two, and they both involve the New England Patriots.  There's the David Tyree helmet catch, and now - as Patriots President Jonathan Kraft told me a short while ago - there's the David Tyree-on-steroids play.

 
I thought every David Tyree play was essentially a David Tyree-on-steroids play, Peter.

The rest of the drivel goes as follows, so you don't have to give him a click and a listen if you don't want to:
 

Now, you remember on the sidelines of this game, Jermaine Kearse falling, stumbling, everybody thinks "that's an incomplete pass", and somehow, someway this deep pass comes to him, and he is able to hang on to it, no one knows how.  One of the most miraculous catches in Super Bowl history.  So, clearly, now, all the Seattle Seahawks have to do is punch the ball into the endzone very soon after that, and they made a terrible mistake - we all saw it.  They tried to throw a slant pass at the goal line, it failed.

But let's talk about what New England did right in the last quarter.  Talking to Josh McDaniels the OC of the patriots, he said something really good, I thought, he said, "listen, you coach a long time in this league, it's going to be very very hard to see a series of plays like the Patriots made, Tom Brady driving New England twice in the 4th quarter, down 10 against the best defense in football.  In 2012, 2013, 2014.

Forget all the controversy coming into the game, that had nothing to do with today, other than galvanizing the Patriots.  But it had nothing to do with what they did in the 4th quarter of this game.  He'll go down in Super Bowl lore along with all the un-famous players who had the biggest day of their lives, the biggest play of their lives, in the biggest game of their lives.  And that's an interception that Malcolm Butler will never forget.  

Nor will the 6-state New England region ever forget that play.  They'll never forget this two-week period, surrounded by so much controversy over the inflated footballs, or the deflated footballs.  But for one night at least, football needed this game.  Football needed a fantastic spectacle.  And America got that spectacle.  One of the best super bowls I've ever seen.  Might even be in the Top 1.  <signoff>

 
Thanks for coming, Peter.

 

[Myt1]

 
I bet most people know the word "odoriferous" from the Right Guard commercials back in the day where noted luminaries such as Hulk Hogan and Brian Bosworth used the word in a humorous attempt to show how smart and cultured they were. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2784o1swxv4
 
Sadly, PK is not using it in such a way, he honestly thinks that using it makes him smart and cultured.

I got Hogan's wardrobe after he filmed that commercial.  Everything except the shirt fit, and I had a pair of pants that he doesn't wear in that one for a few years.  Got Chuck Norris's gi from his Right Guard commercial, too.
 
Oh, Peter King sucks.

 

[minischwab]

Mailbag is posted.  Thank you Peter, you make it too easy:
 
He Hate Me. At the risk of making this all about me, I’m going to make this all about me. Last week, I was the pool reporter for the Pro Football Writers of America covering Seattle Seahawks practices.

 

[joe dokes]

One last thing: I do not mean to deprive Butler of credit here. He deserves a ton of it. He’s a soccer goalie on a penalty kick. He wasn’t positive Lockette would run the slant-in here; if Lockett jab-stepped inside and cut outside, there was no safety help, and Wilson would have had the easiest touchdown pass of his life, and the most significant. But Butler guessed (by what he’d seen on film) the slant was coming, and he made an instinctive, fantastic play on the ball. A Super Bowl-saving play for the ages.
 

 
Actually didn't Butler say he WAS about as positive as he could be that that play was coming?  And doesn't that immediately put it into the non-guess category. Yet he later says that he DID see it on film, yet it's still a "guess." 
 
 
 
 
And then in his mailbag, he has his own back-patting tweet:

Peter King @SI_PeterKing

MMQB1: http://mmqb.si.com/2015/02/02/super-bowl-49-patriots-defeat-seahawks/ … … ADJUST. The importance of Belichick’s Saturday night message … Malcolm Butler  knew  the pass was coming.

 

 

He knew, but he wasn't positive and he was guessing.

 

[Corsi]

Fuck Peter King with a rusty oyster shucker.  
 

SHARPER HOF CHANCES. You can’t possibly envision a scenario under which Darren Sharper is even considered for the Hall of Fame at this point, right?
 
—Jim, New Orleans 
 
I certainly could. If you’re asking me if I think it’s logical, the answer would be no. But Darren Sharper  will be considered on his football merits alone. That is all that we are allowed to consider when cases of players are brought before our committee. [Sharper, who played 14 seasons for three teams, has been indicted on multiple rape charges in California, Arizona and Louisiana.] I know the public doesn’t believe that we separate someone’s ugly personal life from his football life, but that is what our bylaws tell us to do, and I know at least that is what I do. 

 

 

 

[Leather]

Regardless of what the bylaws tell him to do, it's his strident tone in that answer that makes him an asshole.
 
"I will NOT consider the fact that this man is human garbage! Nope! Not gonna do it! SORRY!  That would be against the CODE!"
 
He clearly places his status as a fucking HOF voter above his status as a human being that can admit that Sharper is a piece of shit.

 

[Mystic Merlin]

That's hilarious.

He'll countenance using Spygate against Bill but is fine ignoring a 'serial rapist' rap.

How about not drawing definitive lines for what criteria you will or will not consider for HOF candidates? It creates perverse results. The HOF is presumably about honoring athletic accomplishment and buttressing the sport's brand, not lawyering some bylaws.

He's such a dipshit.

 

[Jed Zeppelin]

"Wearing the last uniform he'll ever put on, a color somewhere between Broncos and Buccaneers Orange, Inmate #13425 bravely skyped his acceptance speech from a small, dimly lit room, wrists chained to a table (not a podium, sadly) and armed guards at his side. He humbled himself before America's harshest scribes, and those in attendance couldn't help but wonder which bone-crushing hit was the one that unwittingly turned this man into a monster, and I, Peter King, far from my home in Manhattan, shed a single tear and smiled, having upheld the by-laws which decide the very integrity of the game by ignoring the naysayers who would diminish this man's football accomplishments. That's why we're here, isn't it? Warts and all, this man went out there for three hours every week and physically imposed his will on those would say 'No, please, stop.' For 14 years, this man never stopped.
 
Darren Sharper, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 2016."

 

[pappymojo]

Did grampy pants offer an opinion on the half time show? 

 

[Vandalman]

"Wearing the last uniform he'll ever put on, a color somewhere between Broncos and Buccaneers Orange, Inmate #13425 bravely skyped his acceptance speech from a small, dimly lit room, wrists chained to a table (not a podium, sadly) and armed guards at his side. He humbled himself before America's harshest scribes, and those in attendance couldn't help but wonder which bone-crushing hit was the one that unwittingly turned this man into a monster, and I, Peter King, far from my home in Manhattan, shed a single tear and smiled, having upheld the by-laws which decide the very integrity of the game by ignoring the naysayers who would diminish this man's football accomplishments. That's why we're here, isn't it? Warts and all, this man went out there for three hours every week and physically imposed his will on those would say 'No, please, stop.' For 14 years, this man never stopped.
 
Darren Sharper, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 2016."

 
Well done.

 

[Corsi]

he's currently on a twitter rant defending his stance on Sharper.

 

[Corsi]

https://twitter.com/SI_PeterKing/status/562793362018017280

https://twitter.com/SI_PeterKing/status/562793362018017280

link to tweet

 

[rodderick]

he's currently on a twitter rant defending his stance on Sharper.

 
He's getting killed for it, and deservedly so. Sharper's a borderline case anyway, it's not Ed Reed we're talking about here. Many people won't vote him in because of his on field play, nobody would ever condemn you for taking the fact that he's a terrible human being into consideration. But hey, this is Peter King and bylaws are bylaws, folks! 

 

[MarcSullivaFan]

He's a mental and moral midget. THE SACRED BYLAWS!!!

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

Nothing better than the "I'm just following the rules" argument.

That's strong moral fiber, right there.

 

[riboflav]

HAHAHHAHA
 
Love the guy who posted a link to a youtube video of PK arguing that Bonds should NOT be inducted into the HOF because he was accused of using steroids. I guess PK would say that steroids, though injected off the field, have an effect on the field. But, what if raping women off the field kept Shaper sharp on the field?

 

[riboflav]

EDIT: I suck and still cannot embed tweets.

 

[joe dokes]

Nothing better than the "I'm just following  the rules  orders" argument.

That's strong moral fiber, right there.

 
He took home more than just a piece of gravel from Dachau.

 

[pappymojo]

What do the bylaws say about voting for two people to receive the MVP award?

 

[Leather]

Paul Zimmerman on voting for L.T.:
 

"The bylaws are very clear," says Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated, who lobbied strenuously on Taylor's behalf. "Basically, the other side said, 'We don't care what the bylaws are -- we in good conscience can't vote for this guy.' He got in, but there were five against him and three on the fence.
 
"Someone asked me how I would have voted if he were a child molester. I honestly don't know. The argument, I guess, is technically the same, but we're still humans. We have opinions. Consistency, in the big picture, is overrated."
 

 

[Leather]

King is one of those self-righteous, dunder-headed, "Rules are Rules!" people that doesn't fucking understand that rules and laws are always fungible in certain circumstances, because to draft rules and laws so particularly to account for every single contingency would be so cumbersome as to render the rule/law practically worthless.  It's also impossible, because society changes, and not every circumstance is knowable.  
 
It's why judges exist. It's why legislators change laws.  The irony here is that King thinks he's being all legalistic and proper and "lawyer-like" when he's simply acting like a stupid first-year law student in their first encounter with the Socratic method.
 
So, in most cases, "A Rule is a Rule" makes sense, sure.  But it's usually when you find yourself having to say "Well, a rule is a rule!" that you most need to step back and think of A) what the intent of the rules is; and B) whether there's a good faith argument to be made for interpreting the rule in a novel manner or for making an exception to the rule, based on the circumstances.   Otherwise, we'd still have people in Georgia being arrested for selling corn flakes on a Sunday. 
 
If everyone always just said "well, a rule is a rule!" then we'd still have segregation, still have prohibition, and women still wouldn't be allowed to vote.   Sometimes an unforeseeable event occurs where application of the rule is stupid, and the right thing to do is to stand up and say that the rule needs to be fixed.  Relying on the rule in such circumstances is the act of a moron or a coward.  
 
So, King, take your pick. 

 

[JohntheBaptist]

 

https://twitter.com/SI_PeterKing/status/562793362018017280
link to tweet
 


 
Shades of Robert Mruczek from King of Kong. "And I will defend... [voice quivers] to my dying breath..."
 
The level of solemnity with which he treats his HoF task--comes through any time he talks about it--is laugh out loud funny.

 

[joe dokes]

If I said, “I will not consider Sharper for induction because he has been accused of multiple rapes,” I would resign from the committee.
 

 
First off, this is either awful grammar or fake courage.   "If I said . . . I would resign" is an illogical construct.  "If I said . . .  I should have my vote stripped" would make sense. "If they told me I had to . . . . I would resign" also makes sense. But two things entirely in his control ("I said" and "I would") sounds courageous, but its illusory.  He's the Thomas Kinkade of taking a bold stand.
 
A better/smarter man than Peter King *would* resign if he felt he was being "forced" to ignore Sharper's heinousness. You'd think that the HoF folks (I dont know if its an "independent" entity like baseball's) would take notice of the nation's pre-eminent football writer throwing down the gauntlet like that. Does the committee also make the rules for induction? Maybe 'Merken Loser King could advocate for change?

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

The first tweeted response to the above, I believe, was "Great. Problems solved." 
 
I'm sorry, but if you believe the football HoF is a place where we should celebrate serial rapists then, no, you shouldn't be on the committee. 

 

[Trlicek's Whip]

 
Shades of Robert Mruczek from King of Kong. "And I will defend... [voice quivers] to my dying breath..."
 
The level of solemnity with which he treats his HoF task--comes through any time he talks about it--is laugh out loud funny.

 

 
I just tweeted this at him. Peter King IS Grand Poohbah.

 

[Corsi]

http://deadspin.com/peter-king-defends-hall-of-fame-s-right-to-honor-allege-1683701729

 

[ifmanis5]

http://deadspin.com/peter-king-defends-hall-of-fame-s-right-to-honor-allege-1683701729

Great last paragraph.

 

[joe dokes]

Holy shit, I think it gets better.  I dont twitter, this is from the MMQB site's twitter rundown, so I may be misinterpreting:
 

Peter King @SI_PeterKing

RT @pfmflan: Should bylaws be changed to account for off field matters? … No. Then there’d be different set of rules for first 53 classes.

 

 

Is this King saying that the bylaws should NEVER be changed?

 

[JohntheBaptist]

I think he is without realizing it. He is just a tornado of stupid today.
 
Also he blocked me! He wrote "You go, Harper Lee" and I couldn't stop myself from telling him to shut the fuck up.
 
But that means PK read my tweet you guys!

 

[Corsi]

I honestly have no idea how King hasn't blocked me yet.  I call him on his nonsense constantly.
 
On the other hand, Greg "The Bore" Bedard blocked me for this:
 
https://twitter.com/dannygberg/status/492359770452406272

 

[Shelterdog]

I honestly have no idea how King hasn't blocked me yet.  I call him on his nonsense constantly.
 
On the other hand, Greg "The Bore" Bedard blocked me for this:
 
https://twitter.com/dannygberg/status/492359770452406272

 
Barnwell blocked me for saying "I think we all get your point about momentum by now"

 

[Leather]

Someone in Deadspin's comments raised a good point:
 
King is proactively defending other guys (like Marvin Harrison) that have been good to him in the past.  He needs to get his story straight re: morals and crap.

 

[Shelterdog]

King also has repeatedly ripped on Lynch's chances of making the hall of fame a couple of teams, sneeringly calling him the 35th leading rusher of all time or something like that, often referencing Lynch's media antics.  Kind of a weird way to describe a player whose career is far from over, who is ahead of HOF Csonka and behind HOF Earl Campbell by only a little. 
 
IIRC He's also suggested Randy Moss isn't a surefire candidate because of Moss's antics and that we'd need to consider those after time passes. 

EDIT: Off the field stuff that bothers the media or makes you look like not a gritty dirt dawg? Fair game or at least open for discussion.  Serial rape?

 

[Corsi]

King also has repeatedly ripped on Lynch's chances of making the hall of fame a couple of teams, sneeringly calling him the 35th leading rusher of all time or something like that, often referencing Lynch's media antics.  Kind of a weird way to describe a player whose career is far from over, who is ahead of HOF Csonka and behind HOF Earl Campbell by only a little. 
 
IIRC He's also suggested Randy Moss isn't a surefire candidate because of Moss's antics and that we'd need to consider those after time passes. 

 
For reference:
 
https://twitter.com/SI_PeterKing/status/547598269757800452
 
https://twitter.com/SI_PeterKing/status/547598339416801280

 

[Van Everyman]

Are these tweets deleted? Or is my iPhone Safari blocking them for some reason?

 

[Skeesix]

"I think it says something about our court system, and not something good, that Ray Rice knocks his wife out cold in an elevator (captured on video) and Jonathan Dwyer assaults his wife in their home, allegedly head-butting her violently and breaking her nose, and neither man was sentenced to any jail time. Rice was put in something called a diversion program, and Dwyer got 18 months’ probation and some community service. So the NFL is supposed to come down six times as hard as society does on players who commit serious forms of domestic abuse. Something’s wrong with that."

 
Is it OK yet to note that between at least the Sharper thing and this, King seems to have a bit of a problem with women?

 

[joe dokes]

 
Is it OK yet to note that between at least the Sharper thing and this, King seems to have a bit of a problem with women?

 
I dont think he does.  Or at least this stuff doesn't show it.  He is simply, totally and perhaps irreversibly blinded by the glare of The Shield. And he's a bit of a simpleton.

 

[Reverend]

I think he's trying to say that the court system is flawed, albeit in his classically clumsy and poorly informed manner.

 

[Leather]

I think he's trying to say that the court system is flawed, albeit in his classically clumsy and poorly informed manner.

 
I disagree. He's saying:  "Who is the NFL to punish people for their misdeeds so harshly, if the best court system in the world decides otherwise?!"
 
Except, the NFL is not dealing with Constitutional rights and the possibility of imprisonment; it's a business.  It can do anything it wants with a player, as long as the action is not violating some contractual agreement or applicable labor/employment law.  Moreover,  equating "games suspended" with actual probation ("six times as long") is just stupid on its face.  
 
It's the inverse of those idiots who cite "Freedom of Speech" when they get fired for saying something fucking idiotic and offensive on Facebook.   References to constitutional law issues are totally beside the point.  
 
King is dropping a red herring, that's all.
 
 
EDIT: I mean, just think of the implications of what he's saying.   Let's say I get arrested for beating someone up and robbing them.  It's in the papers.  I get probation.  My employer fires me, as is their right.    Would any sane person in the world rush to my defense and say "Well, wait, the court system put him on probation for 6 months, so really, isn't a fair employment-related punishment also 6 months of probation?!"    Why?  It makes no fucking sense; incarceration and employment exist on two totally separate planes.

 

[Reverend]

 
I disagree. He's saying:  "Who is the NFL to punish people for their misdeeds so harshly, if the best court system in the world decides otherwise?!"
 
Except, the NFL is not dealing with Constitutional rights and the possibility of imprisonment; it's a business.  It can do anything it wants with a player, as long as the action is not violating some contractual agreement or applicable labor/employment law.  Moreover,  equating "games suspended" with actual probation ("six times as long") is just stupid on its face.  
 
It's the inverse of those idiots who cite "Freedom of Speech" when they get fired for saying something fucking idiotic and offensive on Facebook.   References to constitutional law issues are totally beside the point.  
 
King is dropping a red herring, that's all.
 
 
EDIT: I mean, just think of the implications of what he's saying.   Let's say I get arrested for beating someone up and robbing them.  It's in the papers.  I get probation.  My employer fires me, as is their right.    Would any sane person in the world rush to my defense and say "Well, wait, the court system put him on probation for 6 months, so really, isn't a fair employment-related punishment also 6 months of probation?!"    Why?  It makes no fucking sense; incarceration and employment exist on two totally separate planes.

 

 
Yeah, he is also saying that the NFL shouldn't be expected to be hugely exacting in judgement if the judicial system isn't. But he is also saying that the judicial system is broken on this issue.
 
The real shitty moment is in tying the too together. But that's how he is with the league.