On SportsCenter this morning, anchor Hannah Storm delivered a tearful monologue about how the NFL has handled the recent spate of domestic violence within the league, centered around the Ravens' Ray Rice.
Holding back tears, Storm talked about having to explain the Rice scandal to her young daughters:
On Monday morning I was genuinely excited to come to work and break down what I thought was a fascinating first weekend in the NFL. Instead I kicked off ESPN's coverage of the horrific Ray Rice elevator video. Meanwhile, one of my daughters has her first fantasy football team this season, but at breakfast this week, instead of discussing how her team was doing, we watched the Ray Rice video play out again in all its ugliness.
I spent this week answering seemingly impossible questions about the league's biggest stars. 'Mom, why did he do that? Why isn't he in jail? Why didn't he get fired?' And yesterday: 'Why don't they even have control of their own players?'
The anchor poses some powerful questions that sports fans who are also parents have been forced to ask themselves in light of the recent violence:
Are we supposed to simply separate a violent game on the field from violent acts off the field, and if we do what message does that send?
Storm continues, "What exactly does zero tolerance mean to the NFL? What does it mean to the coaches? The GMs? The owners?"
Since the violent video emerged last Monday, Rice was suspended from the NFL indefinitely, after originally receiving just a two-game suspension. A former FBI director is now investigating the league's handling of his arrest.
This post originally said the FBI is investigating the NFL, when it is actually a former FBI director. It has been updated to correct this error.