At least one member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame thinks beleaguered running backs Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice should never play another game. That'd be former Minnesota Vikings great Fran Tarkenton, who recently shared his thoughts with Sports Illustrated.
"I followed the Clippers thing," Tarkenton said, referring to racist comments made by former NBA owner Donald Sterling. "That owner didn't get indicted for any crime, but the racial comments he made were totally inappropriate, and we took a stand. The whole world and the NBA, we have zero tolerance to racism. And I think that's right. I agree with that. But I also think we ought to have zero tolerance to child abuse and domestic violence."
So, Tarkenton said, the league needs to make an example of Peterson, who beat his 4-year-old son with a tree branch until the child bled through his clothes, and Rice, who knocked out his then-fiancé with one punch in an elevator.
"I don't think [Peterson] should play again in the NFL," he said. "I don't think Ray Rice should play again. Either we have zero tolerance, or we don't. And what is more egregious than domestic violence and child abuse? I don't know of anything, unless you kill somebody."
The 74-year-old former quarterback — who was inducted to the Hall in 1986 after throwing 342 career touchdown passes — doesn't think the league is in the right state of mind.
"I don't think we've gotten beyond 'win at any cost' yet," Tarkenton said. "And I think we need to get there. We should have zero tolerance to racism. We don't believe that, right? Is that more important than zero tolerance to domestic abuse and child abuse? Unless we as a society think that way, then we won't make progress. And the whole domestic violence thing, that has been tolerated universally, but certainly in the NFL. We can't tolerate that."
Rice recently had his suspension lifted, but is currently without a team. Peterson is still suspended, and will likely remain that way until early 2015, when the Vikings are expected to trade him away.
Minnesota fans are having a rough year without their star player, but at least they still have memories of Tark decimating defenses in the '70s.
