Colin Dunlap: No Excusing Adrian Peterson
Everyone might not agree with me, but I don't care one bit, so here it is: I resolutely believe Adrian Peterson is a terrible person; just a rotten human being.
And I don't care how that comes across.
I don't care about your thoughts on discipline, your feelings on raising children or how you were brought up.
I don't care much for what happens --- or used to happen --- in the South or the functions of what it takes to raise a kid who is mentally strong.
I resolutely believe Adrian Peterson is a terrible person and I don't need to apologize for it. More so, I won't.
This is all so senseless. The marks, the bruises, the thought of what his son --- just 4 years old --- had to go through is all so senseless and gut-wrenching.
As the father of three-and-a-half year old twins, I definitely believe Adrian Peterson hasn't any excuse for what he did and when I look at my two children (who I value more than anything), I don't understand, no matter how frustrated they can make me with their behavior sometimes, how an adult could ever take a tree branch to a four-year-old?
How can you get to that point?
How can you not see something wrong with that?
How can you feel good about yourself for making your son howl in agony?
How can you, furthermore, feel as if you are teaching him a lesson?
Peterson, a masterful running back for the Minnesota Vikings, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child. On Monday he apologized for "[the] hurt I have brought to my child" after disciplining him by hitting him with a tree branch, and said he will testify in court that he did not intend to harm his son. Peterson also offered in the statement that he is, "without a doubt, not a child abuser."
My opinion is that you are, Mr. Peterson. You are a child abuser.
Just my opinion and, really, it doesn't matter what the State of Texas finds at the end of all this. My opinion won't change.
You see, your child was 4 when you took a tree branch to him, when you forced noticeable scars physically and who knows what emotionally.
To me, that's abusing a child.
Also, if it wasn't your intention to hurt the young boy, what exactly was your intention, Mr. Peterson? Hitting anyone with a tree branch (let alone a 4-year-old) can't be met with the intention to make them feel good. At least not in my world it can't. Such an endeavor is intended to inflict pain.
And let's remember something fundamental in all of this: Adrian Peterson is not denying he caused those marks on his son. Rather, he is trying to explain them away, attempting to rationalize them.
Save your nonsense about not wanting to lose your son to the streets, Mr. Peterson. He's 4.
Save your nonsense Mr. Peterson about how this is the discipline that your father instilled in you and it made you the man you are today.
You know what you are today? A man facing child abuse charges.
Also, spare me this whole "this is the South and this is the way we do it" line of thinking.
I went to college in the South, have many friends who still live there and have children about the same age as the boy who was taken to task with the "switch" at the hands of Mr. Peterson.
I know my friends and know them well. I also know they would never, in a million years, think about hitting their kids with a tree branch.
So I don't need you --- or Charles Barkley --- speaking for every parent in the South.
Know why? Because you aren't every parent in the South.
This whole situation with Adrian Peterson pains me and to circle back, maybe it is because I have two children about the age of the child who was hit with this stick.
For their part, the Minnesota Vikings deactivated Peterson this past weekend, but he's back this week and will play this upcoming weekend.
Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said the decision to reinstate Peterson was made after the organization had multiple conversations with Peterson's attorney and met with player.
Great.
What in the hell do you think the player or his attorney are going to say in a time like this? Do you really think either one of those people is going to advocate Peterson miss any more games? Certainly not.
If this was a backup offensive lineman or a guy who covered kickoff facing the same accusations and charges, I have a sneaking suspicion he'd be unemployed right now. But he's Adrian Peterson and the Vikings gotta win and gotta win now.
Football above all. Football above all.
Even above a four-year-old getting hit with a stick and causing physical harm.
How disturbing on a million levels. The Vikings should have the decency in this case to hold Peterson out until this situation is fully cleared up.
Also, think of it in this context, because this is how I have been thinking about it: What if your little kid was a friend with Peterson's little kid. Would you let your kid go play at his house any longer?
My answer is a steadfast "no." Ever.
I don't care how many therapists the father sees or how he claims he will be rehabilitated, that isn't a place you are going anymore because, well, I said so.
Did you happen to see the pictures of the injuries to the little boy?
I did.
They are on the internet.
It is almost unfathomable he's just 4 and was made to go through that.
What if that kid came over to your house to play and you saw those injuries?
What would you do?
Would you just turn a blind eye or would you act?
What if he told you that his daddy made those marks on him with a tree branch?
This is all so simple --- this is a sports hero we worship, so we fail to come across with what we know is the real truth: Peterson deserves absolutely no benefit of the doubt. He's a child abuser, he's a deplorable person and he has no business being worshipped by anyone.
Instead, he deserves to be in jail.
Imagine being that 4 year old kid.
Those bruises are real.
Those cuts are deep.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weeknights from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
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