Cowboys Hardy To Miss OTA Day Appealing 'Play-Doh Policy'
By Mike Fisher | @fishsports
IRVING (CBSDFW.COM) -- There is no standardized NFL punishment for those alleged to have wavered from the straight-and-narrow. In the case of the New England Deflatriots, their owner Robert Kraft gets to stand accused while also sharing a friendly dinner and a reported "hug" with commissioner Roger Goodell.
A courtroom plaintiff allowed a warm embrace with his judge and jury?
Greg Hardy isn't quite that "connected," I guess.
The latest chapter in the star pass-rusher's attempt to return to the field comes Thursday morning when he has his "day in court" with a Washington DC appeal before Goodell appointee Harold Henderson.
Hardy -- who has been a Dallas practice-field force since signing as a high-profile free agent from Carolina -- will miss OTAs that day, of course, as he works to undo some of the damage caused by his involvement in a domestic-violence case. He and the Cowboys would also like to undo some of the 10-game suspension handed down by Goodell.
Hardy's appeal could focus on a "punishment-doesn't-fit-the-crime" argument based on the NFL's own personal conduct policy. I'm no defender of Hardy's involvement in a heinous situation, and if the "going rate" for such an incident were two games, or 10 games, or 100 games, I would support that. But this? This is a Play-Doh Policy, open to interpretation, malleable, and arguably susceptible to favoritism.
Greg Hardy is getting his hearing. He might have a better chance on Thursday if he was getting a hug.
(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
