This "He said" "They said" hooey between Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings has been going on far too long. It's been going on since September and it had gotten old in September. The whole thing has been made even worse with the media, local and national, writing the script. Most, if not all, of that script has been fiction. No one really knows what's going on between the player and team as they hadn't been allowed to sit down and talk. That's made everything even worse as the clowns in the media have been volleying sound bites between the two. That can only hurt a relationship. We saw that play out in San Francisco.
Both Peterson and the Vikings were mostly quiet through the fall of 2014. Peterson had to wind his way through the legal process. The Vikings had to prepare for and play 15 football games. Once Peterson completed his legal stuff in November he had to deal with Roger Goodell. That has been far more difficult than any court of law with Goodell making shit up as he skips along. Through all of it, Peterson and the Vikings could not speak. So the media did the speaking for everyone. That had been the case until last week when U.S. District Judge David Doty overturned Peterson's suspension. The NFL, of course, appealed the ruling. In limbo once again. The good that came out of this ridiculous legal dance is that Peterson was placed on the Commissioner's Exempt list. This allowed team and player to finally talk. That talk took place Wednesday. The media was there to photograph it. Through the gates of Peterson's home.
In the soap opera directed by the media Peterson has expressed frustration over what he claims has been a lack of support from the Vikings. I'm not sure what he expected. From the beginning this has been a legal case that involved only Peterson. He committed what most in this country consider a crime. Obviously the legal system sees it as a crime. He was indicted, tried, and mildly punished. The court of public opinion wasn't and isn't unanimous but the clear majority consider disciplining a child with a switch a crime. The Vikings weren't party to the crime and were bystanders to the legal process. They immediately supported Peterson in their obvious desire to have the supremely talented back on their roster. They tried to put him back in the lineup for their Week 3 game against the New Orleans Saints. The negative public and sponsor reaction to that forced the Vikings to reverse their decision. That reversal resulted in Peterson's first trip to the Commissioner's Exempt List. The Vikings haven't been part of the process ever since. They haven't been allowed to visit with Peterson. They haven't been allowed to talk to Peterson. When asked, every Vikings player, coach, and executive expressed a sincere desire to have Peterson on the team. Everyone but one. Kevin Warren is in charge of the Vikings legal affairs. He's charged with keeping the team in the proper light. With a sensitive issue, socially and legally, he had to guide and advise the team with care. Warren acted on the side of caution with Peterson. Unfortunately, Peterson saw that as betrayal. Warren was simply doing his job. This perceived betrayal bothered Peterson more than anything else. One person simply doing his job. Everything since the adjudication of Peterson's legal matters been a mind-numbing duel between the NFL and the NFLPA on behalf of Adrian Peterson. Suspension, NFLPA appeal, NFLPA wins appeal, NFL appeals, we wait. Peterson waits. The Vikings wait. At least team and player can now talk. Stroke egos. Mend wounds. Head coach Mike Zimmer and General Manager Rick Spielman visited with Peterson in his Houston home for four hours on Wednesday. We'll soon know what came of that meeting.
I have no idea what Adrian Peterson expected of the Minnesota Vikings. Flowers? Chocolates? A #28 decal on the helmets? Start each game with 10 players on offense with an empty backfield like the Washington Redskins' defensive tribute to Sean Taylor a decade ago. I can't even imagine what sort of sign Peterson needed to see or hear that he didn't see or hear. The Vikings weren't allowed to do much. Actually, they weren't allowed to do anything. All that they were able to do was wait and let the process run it's course. A process that the NFL seems hell-bent on stretching as long as possible. I just hope that Zimmer, Spielman, and Peterson made the most of their much needed sit-down. Six months of listening to the media spin this mess was six months too long. For everyone.
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