I was born and raised in Minnesota, and despite having lived more than half my life in Illinois, I still bleed purple. In my childhood, the Minnesota Vikings absolutely dominated their division throughout the 1970s. Bud Grant, Alan Page, “Benchwarmer” Bob Lurtsema, Chuck Foreman, and Sir Francis Tarkenton were household names. Tommy Kramer, Anthony Carter, Keith Millard, and Chris Doleman led successful teams in the 1980s. Unfortunately, by this time the Vikings had lost four Super Bowls.
The Vikings have not returned to the Super Bowl despite having a bevy of talent including the likes of Randy Moss, Randall Cunningham, John Randle, and Duante Culpepper. In 2007, the Vikings drafted Adrian Peterson, a stud running back out of the University of Oklahoma. Peterson was “lightning in a bottle” during his first five seasons, and hailed as the best running back in the NFL. In year three, the former Sooner and Brett Favre got the Vikings back to the NFC Championship Game, but fell to New Orleans Saints during that team’s bounty scandal heyday. In year six, Adrian “All Day” Peterson had a monster year – rushing for a whopping 2,097 years – just short of the all-time record by a mere seven yards. AD has now made headlines for actions off the field and I learned a new word: switch. A switch is a branch used to mete punishment.
Beginning on September 12th, word quickly spread that AD had returned to his home state of Texas to get charged with child abuse. After receiving texts from AD that said “Got him in the nuts once I noticed” and “Never do I go overboard!”, the Minnesota mother of AD’s four year old noticed the effects of AD’s heavy hand when the child returned from his visit his dad in Texas. She took her young boy to a pediatrician to inspect the bloody lacerations and welts. The pediatrician then performed his duty as a mandatory reporter.
Reacting to the Peterson charges, numerous NFL players who were raised in the south defended the “whooping” by claiming they too had been at the receiving end of a switch during their childhood. This is an acceptable form of punishment, the believed. AD announced that he too was not unfamiliar with a switch, even crediting this form of discipline for his running prowess. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, more than a dozen states, clustered in the south and including Texas, permit school officials to physically strike students with paddles on the buttocks and/or thighs.
And then Shan Shariff, a member of the media in Dallas-Fort Worth area, wrote an article with a section called “East Texas Acceptance“, which states:
“Adrian Peterson is a monster.”
“He’s just the same and maybe WORSE than Ray Rice.”
“I don’t want a guy like that on my favorite team.”
“These are comments being made in every part of the country, but there’s less being made here in the great state of Texas. They are reportedly angry in Minnesota. They don’t view Peterson’s methods as a form of discipline. They view it as a form of abuse. The reaction is a mixture of outrage, anger and attack. The reaction HERE is a mixture of understanding, acceptance and debate. Adrian was raised in East Texas.
They just don’t understand AP like ‘we’ do.”
“‘We’ believe and practice corporal punishment. We got Whoopins, beatings, belts and switches administered like a bath at night. We agree and support your way of parenting Adrian. We get it, because it’s the way we grew up. Come back home and finish your HOF career here [as a Dallas Cowboy].” We would welcome you with open arms like no one else in the country.”
If you don’t read Shariff’s article, I will simply say he got it wrong because it was a local Texas judge who determined to levy the charges and not some nice Minnesota judge. Who doesn’t understand?
It is my opinion that AD was completely wrong to take a switch to a child who is at an age when he cannot even form and express complete thoughts and cannot fully comprehend the difference between right and wrong. I took down my man cave’s poster of Adrian Peterson the night I heard of the accusations. Later that same night I spoke to a high school friend of mine who is a current Viking season ticket holder. He told me, “Mark, there are pictures.” My dad said AD is now “persona non grata” in Minnesota and will never again appear in a Viking uniform.
Here is an article which includes pictures of the victim –
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/vikings-rb-adrian-peterson-accused-child-abuse-article-1.1937998
