If you abuse anyone, there should be consequences. If you abuse someone half of your size, then you should possibly be expecting some jail time. If you abuse a woman when you are an NFL player, you should be banned for life. You are a bad man, Greg Hardy.

We are in the midst of the NFL season. Sundays have become an important cornerstone of beer and laziness. The NFL is an American addiction.

We try to forget that the players are terrible and that cheering only buttresses the domestic violence, rape and numerous other crimes. But like junkies, we continue to watch every Sunday, religiously.

Greg Hardy is part of that addiction. No one cares if the Dallas Cowboys defensive end beat his now ex-girlfriend, Nicole Holder; they only care if he gets a sack next week.

“He’s one of the real leaders on this team … motivating or pushing any part

of the football team” said Jerry Jones, the owner, president and general manager of the Cowboys. The problem with Greg Hardy is that he is pushing more than just the football team. This 6’4”, 280-pound man viciously beat Holder on May 13, 2014.

Hardy was arrested the assault. For this Greg Hardy got a 10-game ban. This was later reduced to just four games.

For reference in how “serious” the NFL takes misbehavior, a player who tests positive for marijuana is also required to serve a 10-game ban.

That isn’t the only upsetting part of this case. Hardy was originally sentenced to an 18-month probation in which he appealed, requesting a trial by jury. Holder failed to show up for the hearing, which meant that all of his charges ended up being dropped.

“It doesn’t matter … Nothing is going to happen to him anyways” claimed Holder.

For all of this misconduct, Greg Hardy is now playing for the Cowboys. He has also gained the respect and admiration of Jones.

“He certainly has the kinds of skills and impact that we want to look to the future with the Cowboys,” Jones said.

And Hardy isn’t hurting financial, either. He is making $11.3 million dollars to play a game this year.

He is only part of the problem. You, me and every NFL fan out there is the problem, as well. The fans have a great amount of power. The NFL made $9 billion last year. Whatever your intentions, by watching, you are supporting the criminal circus that is the NFL.

I sit on the couch with all of my buddies. We have spent the past few hours in a haze. We haven’t showered yet and we smell. There is a half full bag of chips and bowl of salsa on the coffee table. We are locked on our phones. “Wow AJ for the TD!” “Whoa look at OBJ! He has 3 TDs!” The game comes back on. AP breaks off a huge run. We all scream and shout.

We don’t think of the pictures. We don’t think of the child abuse. We don’t think about Adrian Peterson’s ten kids by an estimate of ten women. We don’t think of that. All we think about are fantasy points. We think of stats and the numbers on the scoreboard. We think about anything other than those pictures.

Those pictures are unpleasant. But Adrian Peterson running for 20-plus on 3rd-and-4 is art.

“Just had to say I express my regret 4 what happened in past and I‘m Dedicated to being the best person & teammate that I can be… but mostly I am Grateful 4 the opportunity to play in NFL #GodBlessHookyStreet,” Greg Hardy tweeted about the police photos.

There’s something wrong with that.