Life shouldn’t be so complicated. But it is. In 1967, I wrote a letter to the commissioner of the NFL, and told him that it was a bad idea to combine the NFL and AFL. Now, 55 years later, I am writing another letter to the Commissioner, Roger Goodell, asking him to suspend Deshaun Watson permanently from playing in the NFL.
Watson plays quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. Currently, he has been suspended for 11 games for sexual misconduct against 25 women who were hired to give him massages. Mr. Watson has settled with 23 of these women, and currently faces two more charges of sexual misconduct.
When the NFL first investigated these incidents in August, they came down with a six-game suspension. Goodell thought it should be more. The league had another hearing, and Watson was suspended for 11 games without pay and fined $5 million. This weekend, he is back on the roster and can play.
I have always been a diehard football fan. I haven’t missed a Super Bowl. I loved watching the NFL. But no longer. My daughter said to me that this culture of abuse has been going on forever in the NFL. And she is most likely right. I guess my social consciousness got a long-overdue wake-up call.
I have stopped watching NFL football. I no longer support a business where this kind of behavior is deemed acceptable.
— Alex Koplin
Homer
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