Vikings RB Adrian Peterson was reinstated Monday after missing Sunday’s 30-7 home loss to New England that came on the heels of accusations the OU product had physically abused a 4 year-old last spring in Houston. Minnesota’s decision was closely followed by revelations Peterson’s been accused of abusing another of his children, but it seems it’ll take even greater offences for the Vikings to distance themselves from such an otherworldly talent. As the Star-Tribune’s Jim Souhan notes, “when the Wilfs were embarrassed by the Love Boat scandal in 2005, they commissioned a lengthy code of conduct to cleanse an organization that leads the NFL in arrests since 2000…Monday, the Wilfs shredded the code of conduct and spliced it into a pompom with which to cheer a man who admits he beat his son bloody.”
Why not sign Darren Sharper? The former Vikings safety has been accused of sexual assault in three states, but not in Minnesota. He may be able to intercept a few passes between trials.
The Vikings are hiding behind the phrase “due process,’’ which refers to a citizen’s rights in our legal system. “Due process’’ has nothing to do with a company deciding whether it wants to be publicly represented by a man who has admitted to police that he whipped a 4-year-old with a branch until the boy bled, after stuffing leaves in the boy’s mouth and before threatening to punch him if he told anyone.
Sunday, the Wilfs will cheer for Peterson while waving their shredded code of conduct. Evolved Minnesotans should cheer for any Saints defender who may want to stage an impromptu intervention with the big man who beat the little boy.