In light of the photos from former Carolina Panthers and current Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy’s domestic violence case being released by Deadspin, Jerry Jones, owner, president and general manager of the Cowboys, seems to be ignorant of the serious nature of domestic violence.
Hardy was convicted on two counts of domestic violence in July 2014 after an incident with then-girlfriend Nicole Holder. Hardy and his lawyer appealed for a jury trial in superior court, but Holder did not show up for court, and the charges were dismissed in February and later expunged from Hardy’s record. NFL.com reported that Holder reached a civil suit agreement with Hardy.
Despite all the issues with Hardy, the Cowboys signed Hardy to a one-year contract during the 2015 offseason, with Jones viewing the signing as a second opportunity for the embattled defensive end, and made many nonsensical statements to defend him.
Jones needs to be removed from his position of general manager of the Cowboys and Hardy needs to be released immediately.
Jones must be held accountable for what seems to be a lack of institutional control, and for being incapable of relating to issues of all the people in the Cowboys fan base, not just the ones on the team.
In May 2014, while Hardy was still with the Panthers, two 911 calls were made from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. The transcripts of the calls were initially obtained by the Charlotte Observer. One of the calls was from Hardy, who could be heard on the call saying “you shouldn’t have hit me” to Holder, followed by background noise.
The second call came from two people, one of whom was the building attendant of Hardy’s apartment complex. On the call, the attendant described the incident immediately as “domestic violence” and said “some girl is getting her ass beat upstairs.”
Other details obtained by the Charlotte Observer from Holder’s court statements included Holder describing being thrown against a bathroom wall, thrown onto a bed littered with assault rifles and choked to the point where Holder thought she was going to die.
After the photos from the case were released, including the bruises that were scattered all over Holder’s body, while Hardy only seemed to have scratches on his cheek from the incident, I think it’s time to evaluate if Jones actually did his due diligence investigating the former Ole Miss defensive end.
I figured that Jones would finally stand down from his position of defending Hardy, given the graphic nature of the photos and report. But, much like the rest of the football community, I was sorely disappointed.
After the release of the photos, Jones defended the embattled player, stating that Hardy is “grateful for the opportunity he has been given.” It’s not the first time that Jones has come out to support Hardy this season.
Following his reinstatement from a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, Hardy used his first media opportunity to objectify Gisele Bundchen, Tom Brady’s wife, during the interview. Just one day after, Jones came to Hardy’s defense, agreeing with him and further objectifying Bundchen.
I was already outraged when the Dallas Cowboys signed him after the incident last year and became further outraged when Jones continued to deflect Hardy’s on-the-field and off-the-field antics to the point where he called Hardy a “leader” and someone that deserved a contract extension.
When I think of Hardy, “irresponsible” and “abuser” are generally the words that come to mind for me. Leaders don’t resort to violence toward assistant coaches in order to get their point across, which Hardy did during a game against the New York Giants, so I have no earthly idea where Jones gets this notion of Hardy being a leader.
Leaders also take responsibility for their previous actions, not place blame on others, which Hardy did during his reinstatement hearing for the NFL.
According to transcripts obtained by Deadspin from Hardy’s reinstatement hearing, Hardy also claimed that Holder’s injuries resulted from her falling in the bathroom, and his attorney, Frank Maister, used victim blaming tactics during the hearing in order to discredit Holder and her statements.
What that statement tells me more than anything is that not only is Hardy a despicable human being, as that was a given, but that Jones is right there with him. Even in interviews leading up to the season, Jones speculated that Hardy didn’t commit violence because the accuser was lying about it.
I never thought that in this post-Donald Sterling ownership world that we would have someone who would be willing to alienate victims of domestic abuse just to support a player who is not worthy of it. Just because one of your players is performing well on the field does not mean that you have to vehemently defend him off the field.
If Ray Rice can become a football pariah after a video of him hitting his girlfriend in an elevator was released, why can’t Hardy, and by association Jones, be treated the same? It shows that no matter what egregious action a player may have committed, you will be able to find work in the NFL if you are talented enough.
Hardy isn’t the first professional athlete to commit domestic violence, nor will he be the last. The NFL has the opportunity to show that it can go beyond wearing pink apparel in October to prove that it cares about women, and it needs to act to show that domestic violence no longer will be tolerated.
