Punishment Bias: Marshall Walks, Marshawn Chalks

(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Various news stations are reporting at this time that Marshawn Lynch’s three game suspension will be upheld.  For you diehard Bills fans this feels like a blow below the belt. 

For one, Lynch is an integral part of this offense and is a force that should be reckoned with every Sunday, and two, this sentence seems a little harsh considering it is only one of two completely unrelated incidents Lynch has been involved in since joining the Buffalo Bills in 2007.

Maybe there is a pattern.  Yet, if there is a pattern, than why is it Brandon Marshall, footballs equivalent to Chris Brown, gets a free pass?  How many run-ins with the law has he had?  Here’s a good answer, you can’t count them with just your hands.

So why is NFL commissioner Roger Goodell taking a relatively lax stance with Marshall, while slapping Lynch harder than when Brown took shots at Rihanna?

It seems to me that Goodell wants to come down hard on gun possession in light of Plaxico Burress’ case, but doesn’t seem to care for the issue of domestic violence.

Let’s review the facts of Lynch’s case.  He was with a group of friends when police pulled up to his vehicle they picked up a scent of marijuana and decided to approach Lynch and his friends. 

They searched the vehicle and found marijuana cigarettes in the vehicles ashtray prompting them to search the remainder of the vehicle.  They found a pistol in a backpack in the trunk of Lynch’s car.

Now in all probability the gun is used for life threatening and self defense purposes only.  Think about it, the gun isn’t in the glove box, it’s not on his person, and it certainly isn’t being used to threaten anyone.

The man is from Oakland, if you think he wouldn’t have a gun, coming from where he’s from, you are sadly naïve.

The hypocrisy of the whole situation should utterly disgust anyone who is against gun control.  Maybe it’s just me, but owning a pistol is a little less condemning in my eyes than assaulting helpless women.

Ultimately it can do Lynch some good, he chalks it up as a learning experience and doesn’t make the same mistakes again, while Marshall walks and is doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again.

Maybe Goodell thinks its redundant to punish Marshall, while there is hope for Marshawn. 

Who knows what goes on in the mind on the Roger “The Enforcer” Goodell?

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