Does Christian Peter belong in the NFL?

It isn't an easy thing, defending the rights of idiot cavemen like Christian Peter. But he deserves to wear a uniform number if he isn't wearing a prison number. He should be picked up by some NFL team, as long as American sports remain so forgiving and hypocritical:

How can NFL teams ban Peter while many of the same teams fight for the right to push a mountain of millions toward his college teammate, Lawrence Phillips, who is guilty of the same sort of crimes?

The disparity between Phillips and Peter? Talent. That's all. Phillips is a lot better player that Peter. So Cote over there says you are making a statement by turning Peter into a pariah --
and, yes, you are, but the statement you are making is all screwed up.

You are saying we'll ostracize you only if you are a bad person and a bad player. If you are a bad person and a good player, well, here is a fat contract and will you please join our team? This is the kind of attitude that gets these athletes into so much trouble in the first place.

Why is it we always want to make our profound social statements with fifth-round talents? Using Greg's logic, we should continue paying convicted rapist Mike Tyson $30 million, but if Peter McNeeley should rape a woman, by God, throw his butt out of the sport forever.

Peter (Christian, not McNeeley) has done despicable things, and I'm not defending any of his behavior. I'm all for punishing him, but you have to punish others, too. You can't boycott Peter and allow pregnant-girlfriend-punching Big Daddy Wilkinson to go without suspension. You can't jettison Peter while Warren Moon doesn't miss a game after his frightened son's Daddy-is-beating-up-Mommy 911 tape becomes public.

Cowboys personnel director Larry Lacewell once said teams would follow Charles Manson into an opium den if they thought he could run a 4.3. NFL teams wouldn't follow Manson into an
opium den, of course. They would wait for him outside.

Whom are we kidding here, anyway? The Rams say they passed on Warren Sapp last year because of drug concerns, but this is the same club that was bailing a drug-trafficking cornerback out of jail on weekends so he could keep playing. This is not a league of saints. Christian will fit right in.

The Patriots didn't cut Peter until a public backlash. If Peter had been a first-round pick, rest assured, he wouldn't have been released. Christian Peter is gutless, no doubt, but the Patriots are guilty of cowardice, too, just a different kind.