The Photos Of Greg Hardy's Victim Didn't Change My Opinion On Him Even A Little Bit

First of all, shoutout to DeadSpin for uncovering just how shitty of a person Greg Hardy is. I think what we learned from the Ray Rice incident is that we can only care so much when we don't have visual evidence to clarify the extent of the crimes committed. For that reason, these pictures pack a pretty big punch, but I got to be honest, they don't really surprise me in the least.

Greg Hardy is a shithead. He's the scum of the Earth. Literally the lowest form of human that exists on this planet. With that said, I don't think worse of him now than I did before I saw these photos. I couldn't possibly think less of anyone ever than I did of Greg Hardy when I woke up this morning. I don't know why people think these pictures change anything. Did we think Greg Hardy casually picked his female companion up and lightly laid her down to sleep on top of a mattress of semi automatics? Did we think he gently placed his hands around her neck and asked her nicely to obey him? We knew that a fully grown professional athlete slammed a woman half his size against the wall then threw her around the room. I wouldn't expect her to come out of that unscathed. If we are being totally honest, with the way I picture Greg Hardy acting while enraged, she may have been very lucky to walk (run) away with only a couple bruises. That doesn't make these pictures any less sickening to see. I am just saying that if someone said "I am putting you in a room to have a physical altercation with an angry Greg Hardy" I would expect to come out unrecognizable. This being a woman changes a lot, but it doesn't change the fact that I think Greg Hardy doesn't deserve to live, a belief I held before seeing these pictures.

Am I surprised the NFL saw these? No. Do I believe that the Dallas Cowboys didn't see them? Not for a second. But while Greg Hardy isn't a player I would want on MY team, I am not surprised that someone does even after seeing what he is capable of. Greg Hardy served his time. He was out of football for 19 games. That's over a year. That's more than Ray Rice, or Adrian Petersen, or anyone else that was tagged as a domestic abuser. This is being treated as a bigger deal because Greg Hardy still has the talent to be worthy of an NFL roster spot. Ray Rice has found himself out of football for over two years now SOLELY because teams don't think he's good enough to play football anymore. If Ray Rice had Todd Gurley's talent he would be toting the rock 25 times a game and it's not even up for debate. The NFL didn't give Ray Rice a lifelong ban and the video of his transgressions was much harder to watch than these pictures were to look at, so why would I expect Greg Hardy to be treated any differently?

I got to be honest, I am not that mad at the NFL for this one. Every time they take someone to court they lose. Every single fucking time. That doesn't mean Greg Hardy should be playing in the NFL. It doesn't mean he should be walking freely amongst society. I think it's pretty obvious that fucking psycho belongs in solitary confinement. A lot of people had to fail to uphold their civic duty for Greg Hardy to be playing football for the Dallas Cowboys, but the NFL isn't one of them. While they certainly like to pretend they do pretty often, they don't play judge, jury, and executioner. The charges were dropped and, for once, it wasn't Roger Goodell doing the fumbling.