Photo CreditL USA Today
Michelle Beadle is the epitome of what every female sports reporter should encompass. She’s smart, funny, beautiful and one of the best at her job. She has never shied away from sharing her opinion and throughout the past year, she has been very vocal on the domestic abuse claims made against NFL free agent Greg Hardy. Recently, she commented on ESPN airing an interview done by Adam Schefter with him.
Beadle spoke about it on her show SportsNation after clips of the interview aired, “I feel dirty in that this guy has no job right now, and for some reason we’ve decided as a network that we’re going to give him the stage for his redemption tour as he basically goes out and tries to find some employment. I don’t understand why we’re doing that. If he wants to figure out a way to get his message out there — which by the way, he hasn’t said he did anything wrong, so how a man is supposed to convince anybody he’s changed and yet not admit to actually doing anything? I have no idea. But why we’re giving him the forum to go out there and tell anybody that is where I’m a little bit confused.”
Her comments are exactly what most people are thinking. Why should Greg Hardy get to parade around like he did nothing wrong and act as if he deserves a third chance to play in the NFL? She addressed the comments that Hardy made relating to his “innocence” which is easily one of the dumbest things that Hardy has ever uttered. She is not the only one to find Hardy’s claim of innocence hard to swallow; Ravens wide receiver and domestic violence advocate Steve Smith Sr. spoke out on Twitter about his feelings. Her comments about ESPN are interesting since they are her employer but also shows how passionate she is.
I truly fault both Greg Hardy and ESPN for this horrible disaster of an interview. Greg Hardy should have accepted his fate instead of calling more attention to himself which really doesn’t surprise me. Hardy feeds off the negative publicity that he gets and ESPN gave him the platform to get more of it. It’s honestly sickening to have to sit and watch a guy, who has been convicted once, lie to everyone’s faces and pretends he is the real victim. Hardy could really do us all a favor by getting as far from the NFL as possible. Even if a team signs Hardy, they will soon realize the drama isn’t worth his lack of production or horrible attitude on and off the field.
