Monday Morning Rant: Domestic Abuse in Professional Sports NEEDS TO STOP
Oct 14, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov (26) against the Edmonton Oilers at the Staples Center. The Kings defeated the Oilers 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Soooooo, Slava Voynov has been suspended indefinitely for domestic abuse charges.
First, I want to hit him repeatedly in the head with a hockey stick, because what’s wrong with you? Even if you’re that kind of guy (in which case, we need a whole other article to rant about that, but I’ll try and keep it succinct today so we can move on to Coyotes hockey before long), DO YOU EVEN FOLLOW NATIONAL TELEVISION?
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I think that the dumbest criminals in the world aren’t the ones who commit the dumbest crimes- they’re the ones who commit crimes that are currently high-profile cases in the media, anyways. Have kids in your town been caught shoplifting lately? If you shoplift afterwards, you’re an even bigger idiot. If Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson are currently in gallons of hot water for domestic abuse- and Semyon Varlamov is having his own domestic abuse allegations dragged back through the media, just to remind everyone that the NHL isn’t innocent in all of this- you getting arrested for a domestic violence charge makes you the biggest moron alive. As if you weren’t already. Congratulations.
According to the current CBA, the league is completely within their rights to enact the suspension. Good, because I was without hockey long enough that they’d better have added some damn good clauses into that thing. If you want to comb the CBA and find it, I’ve provided a handy link to the document here. Enjoy.
Of course, a lot of people are getting upset that nothing happened last year when Varlamov got arrested for a domestic abuse incident, which was colorful beyond compare and almost seemed reminiscent of the final season of One Tree Hill. The charges were eventually dropped, though, and Varlamov is the one who turned himself in in the first place- so the issue isn’t quite comparable to the Peterson/Rice scandal. Truthfully, we have no idea if the league would have handled this better pre-NFL fiasco, save a player’s wife or girlfriend coming forward with a hushed-up story from before the incident.
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Do I think things would have been this swift and concrete pre-Rice? I’d like to think so, but we truly have no idea. So I’m going to look at it as the league being smart enough to look at what’s currently happening in the NFL, and reacting accordingly.
I still think there’s an issue with the fact that players get paid while on indefinite suspension. I know the CBA has to include this kind of clause to protect players that are pending rulings that could end in their favor- but really, there’s no way to add a clause modifying these instances for players suspended for SVU crimes? Please. Give me a break.
Of course, this also puts the USWNT in the spotlight even more in the world of professional soccer for the whole Hope Solo incident. The NFL acted swiftly *once the Ray Rice video came out, re: Adrian Peterson*, and the NHL has done a pretty bang-up job of doling out a swift punishment, which sounds about right for the NHL. As someone who believes in equal rights for all, I’d like to see Voynov get a chance to step into the boxing ring with Solo, then ship them both off to an intensive weekend of rehab and therapy to figure out why they do what they do.
Also- Slava Voynov, you’re a scumbag.
Happy Monday, NHL. I was wondering how the league had remained so problem-free since the Ryan Malone incident- but domestic abuse? Voynov, that’s deplorable.
**Update: it was brought to my attention that I haven’t gone into much detail about exactly what Voynov was accused of. We don’t know yet, and his agent has declined to comment. Will obviously fix that once more comes out.*