I usually prefer a little more rest between this kind of post, but I can't pass up a gimmie like this one:
A woeful Vikings season grew even more troubling early Saturday when cornerback Chris Cook was arrested on two domestic assault charges and booked into the Hennepin County jail. Cook is being held without bail and will appear in court Monday morning.
The Vikings have ruled him out for Sunday's game against Green Bay at Mall of America Field.
I may have a few other things to say about this after the game.
Update: Cook's court appearance for today was cancelled because the police handling the case had not yet forwarded it to prosecutors for formal charges as of this morning. They have to do that by tomorrow or cut Cook loose. I would think that if things were straightforward it would be in the county attorney's hands by last night, since they had all day Saturday and Sunday to write it up(I'm pretty sure cops still work weekends on these sorts of things). On the other hand, domestic assault/strangulation is a pretty specific and serious charge to be held on. I would think they would have physical evidence from the scene such as photos of bruising to hold him on that.
The temptation is great to say that the Vikes should release him and he should haul his sorry as back to Virginia, because guys who choke their girlfriends are not an asset to the community and guys who are sitting on their ass in jail at game time are not an asset to their team. But, he deserves his presumption of innocence just like we all do and we'll have to see what the facts are.
I'll tell you what though, the pressure is on for state and local governments to kick in $700 million out of $1.1 billion to build the Vikings a new stadium. I'm already leaning against it and thinking the hell with the NFL, but I can still be convinced otherwise I guess. But not so some damned thugs can make a million bucks a year or more and then go pissing on their communities.
I'm not talking specifically about Cook here, because he still gets his day in court. But I'm starting to rethink my attitude about redemption for these guys. Look through this database of arrested NFL players and see if you don't start to feel the same. I don't want to trample on any legal rights, but maybe the NFL needs to start handing down some multi-year suspensions to start getting some attention from the knucklehead players. And maybe, just maybe, a felony conviction should be a ban for life.
Too harsh?
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