Adrian Peterson's Suspension is Lifted

U.S. District Judge David S. Doty has ruled in favor of Adrian Peterson, which has allowed for his suspension to be lifted by the NFL.  Peterson was suspended after he was accused of hitting one of his children with a switch(a stick/twig slimmer than ones own thumb).  This used to be a common form of punishment similar to spanking, but is now looked down upon and can be ruled as child abuse.  One can assume that this was a form of punishment Peterson himself may have received as a child.  If that is the case then it is also easy to see why he may have chose to punish his child in the same manner.  

This news came to shock the world as it came nearly a year after one of his sons had been beaten to death by his ex-girlfriends new boyfriend.  Peterson was obviously troubled by this off the field last year.  In press conferences after the incident you could see the pain and anguish in his face.  Knowing this I could never believe he would be intentionally hurting his children.  As I said earlier he may have not known any better.  To him this may have been something that he thought put himself in line as a child.  He may have just been trying to be a good parent by keeping his child in line.  However, whatever the intentions were we as a society know that this now is an unacceptable form of punishment.  

The ruling by the NFL to suspend Peterson indefinitely may have been the best at the time because they did not know what the outcomes of his ruling would be.  This newest ruling does not free him of any wrong doing but it does allow for the overturn of his suspension.  It is in my hopes that the NFL community can now go back to viewing Peterson as the man pictured above.  A loving father and a passionate football player.