Adrian Peterson Decision Shows for Once NFL Is Ahead of the Culture

The NFL has gotten a lot wrong recently. We all know this.     

It has gotten so much wrong when it comes to domestic violence, for example, that the president of the United States took note on Friday when he appeared on the Colin Cowherd show.

When presidents, who have huge responsibilities like, oh, I don't know, managing a nuclear arsenal, are chastising a sports league, you know it's not great for the sports league. The NFL has been bullying, dizzying and unfair when it comes to some aspects of its discipline. The league's been all over the place. It's been in cover-its-ass mode. I get that.

But on Adrian Peterson, the NFL got it right. It got it so, so right.

Sure, there will be Vikings homers—and still-bitter fantasy football fetishers—who will hate the decision. There will be those who drape themselves in the American flag and say a dad has a right to beat his children. If you are one of those people, you may want to head to Hannity.com.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

This is about reasonable human beings. People who believe children—four-year-olds—shouldn't be beaten with tree branches. That a four-year-old's scrotum shouldn't be hit with a tree branch. This is about evolving beyond the 18th century.

This is also about a message sent by the NFL—a long overdue one. It's a different era, not just in terms of players who beat their kids. Players need to adapt to these new times. The NFL used to look the other way when it came to these issues. Any issue, really. The NFL always looked the other way. Always.

Five years ago, Peterson would have gotten a fine, maybe a moderate suspension—maybe a game, maybe a half—and played on.

No longer, and that's a good thing.

Peterson's appeal of his season-long suspension being denied Friday ensures that he will remain suspended without pay for at least the remainder of the 2014 NFL season. He won't be considered for reinstatement before April 15. He will forfeit six games checks.

The appeals officer, Harold Henderson, wrote in his decision (which ESPN published in its entirety):

"

The facts in this appeal are uncontested. The player entered a plea which effectively admitted guilt to a criminal charge of child abuse, after inflicting serious injuries to his four-year old son in the course of administering discipline. No direct evidence of the beating was entered in the record here, but numerous court documents, investigative reports, photographs and news reports, all accepted into evidence without objection, make it clear that Mr. Peterson’s conduct was egregious and aggravated as those terms are used in the Policy, and merits substantial discipline. His public comments do not reflect remorse or appreciation for the seriousness of his actions and their impact on his family, community, fans and the NFL, although at the close of the hearing he said he has learned from his mistake, he regrets that it happened and it will never happen again. I reject the argument that placement in Commissioner Exempt status is discipline. I conclude that the player has not demonstrated that the process and procedures surrounding his discipline were not fair and consistent; he was afforded all the protections and rights to which he is entitled, and I find no basis to vacate or reduce the discipline.

"

It is fair to say that Henderson isn't truly neutral. I know him. Like him. Respect him. But he is a former NFL league office executive. If he's neutral, I'm Denzel Washington.

Yet Henderson is also correct, particularly in two things he wrote: Peterson didn't show remorse and Peterson is a child abuser. These are two uncomfortable truths that Peterson supporters must digest.

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Peterson was never truly sorry. He was only sorry when the issue became something the country debated, and when people began to see him as a child abuser.

This is the part where some Southerners and African Americans say beating kids is part of the culture. Beating four-year-olds isn't part of my damn culture. Just because things were done one way in 1814 doesn't mean we should still be doing it in 2014. You know what else was happening in the 1800s? Slavery.

If you're black and you're saying, "This is how we do," well, then, you're an idiot. You are basically saying as a race we like to abuse our children. We're less civilized. If you're a Southerner and you're saying, "This is how we do," then you are saying an entire region of the country is backward child abusers. Less civilized than other parts of the nation.

The reason we are where we are now is because the NFL tolerated this stuff for too long.

This time, it got it right. It's a whole new era in football.

Get used to it.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.