NFL Player kills girlfriend, then self at practice facilty. Game still set for Sunday.

[Ashannon Blackthorn]

Pity George Carlin is dead... he'd have a field day with this one...

 

[flying_whimsy]

$5 says that repeated head trauma is linked to this. It's been kind of a big issue in the NFL lately.

That was my first thought when I heard about it; well, that or steroids.

OT: You know, if the team is having that bad of a time they could just refuse to play; then the NFL just looks like even bigger jerks and the precious integrity of the season can go unharmed. (Personally, if the team isn't up to it I feel the NFL should be willing to postpone or cancel: refunding tickets and advertising payments won't kill them. The league needs to start treating players like human beings, but, you know, the church of FOOTBALL! demands blood sacrifice.)

As tragic as this may be, a pro football game cannot just be stopped unless there is a major safety concern for the players or the fans. The show must go on and all that.

I understand where you're coming from, but from a mental health standpoint this probably does constitute a safety concern for the players. There's no telling what kind of effect this could be having on the rest of the team: for some of them playing may be the best way for them to cope, but for others it could be what pushes them past the breaking point. Regardless, that's not a call the NFL should be authorized to make on behalf of the team.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Tragedy struck in the NFL early Saturday morning with the news that a Kansas City Chiefs player committed suicide at the team's Arrowhead Stadium practice facility, after shooting and killing his girlfriend at home a short time earlier, SI.com has learned.

The player who shot himself is fourth-year linebacker Jovan Belcher, 25, Kansas City police have confirmed. There are no other known injuries at the Chiefs facility.

The Chiefs released a statement saying: "We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning. We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation.''

According to police, Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend, 22, at home around 8 a.m. CT, with the woman's mother present and a witness to the murder. Belcher then drove to the team facility, where he later shot and killed himself in the parking lot of the team complex, in front of GM Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel, as well as other team personnel. A KCPD spokesman said Pioli and Crennel tried to talk to Belcher, who thanked the men before taking his life. Belcher and his girlfriend had a three-month-old child.

The Chiefs (1-10) are scheduled to play at Arrowhead Stadium Sunday at noon CT, against the Carolina Panthers (3-8). One league source in the NFL office said officials were still trying to decide Saturday morning whether the game will be played on Sunday as scheduled. He said his guess was that the game would not be postponed or canceled, due to the complications of when to re-schedule the game in the remaining weeks of the season, or how a cancellation might affect the other 30 teams in the league in terms of competitive fairness.

"There is a ripple effect,'' the source said. "It's not simply two teams affected here. I'm not sure in recent history we've ever just canceled a game. But what's under consideration are all the factors involved if they don't play, when do they play? It's a pretty tight schedule to try and make a game up at some later point. These things have to be thought through. Nobody wants to play a football game right now if you're a Kansas City Chief, but what does that do to the other 30 teams? It gets a little complicated from a schedule standpoint and a competitive standpoint.

The league source said the NFL did not feel it was mandatory to make a decison in regards to the game before Carolina boarded its mid-day flight to Kansas City. "If the Panthers have to fly back from Kansas City without having played the game, it's not that big of an issue to deal with,'' the source said. "We'd rather take the time to think through all the ramifications.''

Kansas City mayor Sly James said that he's spoken with the Chiefs, who believe the game Sunday should be played.

Belcher was a fourth-year reserve linebacker who went undrafted out of the University of Maine in 2009. He signed with Kansas City as a collegiate free agent after the draft. As details of the shootings continue to come in, a Chiefs team source said Kansas City officials are still in the early stages of dealing with the tragedy.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/don_banks/12/01/chiefs-muder-suicide/index.html#ixzz2DpKADY4Z

Does anyone else feel it's incredibly disrespectful not only to the victim (girlfriend), but to this man's fellow team mates to continue on with the rest of the season, let alone play a game SUNDAY?

I mean this is someone who's fellow team mates played with him, probably joked around with, formed friendships with. There is probably some deep fucked psychological issues from this, especially from the players that watched him kill himself.... but then to have the audacity of saying "Well we can't reschedule the game... cause, ya know, FOOTBALL!"

Like really... Fuck the NFL. Anyone with commonsense would cancel the game, god forbid real life effect the timing of the damn super bowl.

As they say "The show must go on"

It is what the victim would have wanted. To go out there and do what he loved rather than sit and mourn his death.

According to police, Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend, 22, at home around 8 a.m. CT, with the woman's mother present and a witness to the murder. Belcher then drove to the team facility, where he later shot and killed himself in the parking lot of the team complex, in front of GM Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel, as well as other team personnel. A KCPD spokesman said Pioli and Crennel tried to talk to Belcher, who thanked the men before taking his life. Belcher and his girlfriend had a three-month-old child.

Does anyone else feel it's incredibly disrespectful not only to the victim (girlfriend), but to this man's fellow team mates to continue on with the rest of the season, let alone play a game SUNDAY?

I mean this is someone who's fellow team mates played with him, probably joked around with, formed friendships with. There is probably some deep fucked psychological issues from this, especially from the players that watched him kill himself.... but then to have the audacity of saying "Well we can't reschedule the game... cause, ya know, FOOTBALL!"

Like really... Fuck the NFL. Anyone with commonsense would cancel the game, god forbid real life effect the timing of the damn super bowl.

I'd say that, given the player's love for football and personal thanking of the coach, it would be more disrespectful to stop their season just because he's gone. I'd think he'd want them to win on his behalf.

That man, both of you are talking about IS A MURDERER.

This shit isn't about him, it's about his team mates and the family of the woman he senselessly killed.

Chris Benoit was the greatest wrestler alive and didn't get a free pass, why should this fucker?

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

A WWF pay-per-view event continued to the end when Owen Hart died in front of the whole stadium. NASCAR continued business as usual when Dale Earnhardt died. Even more relevant, Brett Favre played the day after his dad died.

"Fuck the NFL?" They're respectful people, there will be a moment of silence and it will be acknowledged with class. Do you want to be in charge of giving over 100,000 refunds for tickets? Figuring out where exactly to shove this game in the future? How to work the playoff standings with a team that has less games or a division with only 3 teams? This is a multi-billion dollar business, and I'm sure companies that large continue business and give appropriate respect when someone decides to be an hero.

I'm not saying this isn't tragic, but the logistics of what you suggest are pretty insane, and it would only outstretch the ripple of effect of what this man did. It won't go unrecognized, and to me that's the most I really expect from them. The show has gone on despite things even worse than this. This "only" happened before a practice.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

$5 says that repeated head trauma is linked to this. It's been kind of a big issue in the NFL lately.

It's also what's linked to Chris Benoit killing his wife and kid. The only thing that makes me question it is his age.

Funny how a Pro Wrestler does the same fucking thing, he's vilified and portrayed as a 'roid rage freak, but when a football player does it the country mourns like it lost a national hero.

As tragic as this may be, a pro football game cannot just be stopped unless there is a major safety concern for the players or the fans. The show must go on and all that.

Putting aside pyschological damage...

AN ACTIVE NFL PLAYER JUST MURDERED SOMEONE.

That's not grave enough to post-pone a season by ONE game? like the NFL is going to lose so much money if they have to push back the super bowl a week? A PERSON WAS FUCKING KILLED BY THEIR EMPLOYEE!

Fucking even WWE cancelled it's programing when the Benoit shit happened.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

A WWF pay-per-view event continued to the end when Owen Hart died in front of the whole stadium. NASCAR continued business as usual when Dale Earnhardt died. Even more relevant, Brett Favre played the day after his dad died.

"Fuck the NFL?" They're respectful people, there will be a moment of silence and it will be acknowledged with class. Do you want to be in charge of giving over 100,000 refunds for tickets? Figuring out where exactly to shove this game in the future? How to work the playoff standings with a team that has less games or a division with only 3 teams? This is a multi-billion dollar business, and I'm sure companies that large continue business and give appropriate respect when someone decides to be an hero.

I'm not saying this isn't tragic, but the logistics of what you suggest are pretty insane, and it would only outstretch the ripple of effect of what this man did. It won't go unrecognized, and to me that's the most I really expect from them. The show has gone on despite things even worse than this. This "only" happened before a practice.

Owen Hart died during the show, the next night they suspended the fictional cannon.

Eddie Gurrero died they suspended the cannon for a week.

Chris Benoit died they suspended it at least until they found out he murdered someone, then they quickly had to back pedal.

also,

EDDIE AND OWEN DIDN'T MURDER ANYONE.

 

[Signa]

It's impossible for me to muster up any sort of sympathy here. I feel like it's getting to be the norm for sports celebrities to get into some drama. I know this isn't the first murder-suicide to hit the NFL in recent years.

As for the girlfriend, I do have a little sympathy for, but I get the sense she was just a gold digger. Why else would she and her mom be hanging around him? His winning personality?

 

[Gomithrus]

If you look back only one of the leagues, AFL & NFL (i forget which one) actually cancelled games on the weekend of JFK's assassination so its not unheard of.

 

[Lionsfan]

what?

i have never heard of any professional sport STOPPING cause some one on a team died. NASCAR didn't stop the race when Dale Ernhart died, and he was a legend in his sport, so why would the NFL grind to a halt for some one no one out side the Chiefs fandom has heard of? granted it's sad, more so cause he killed his girlfriend as well, but a profession should grind to a halt just cause some one that was in it died

also, you seem to forget, Football is these guys jobs, would you really wanna skip a day of work cause a co-worker pulled a murder/suicide?

If a coworker killed himself by gunshot right in front of me, I wouldn't want to go back to work the next day.

I don't think the NFL needs to suspend the season, but there's no logical reason they can't postpone the Chiefs game until Monday or Tuesday.

As for the girlfriend, I do have a little sympathy for, but I get the sense she was just a gold digger. Why else would she and her mom be hanging around him? His winning personality?

What is this.....I don't even.....

So because she's dating a pro football player she's a Gold-Digger?

 

[GrimTuesday]

what?

i have never heard of any professional sport STOPPING cause some one on a team died. NASCAR didn't stop the race when Dale Ernhart died, and he was a legend in his sport, so why would the NFL grind to a halt for some one no one out side the Chiefs fandom has heard of? granted it's sad, more so cause he killed his girlfriend as well, but a profession should grind to a halt just cause some one that was in it died

also, you seem to forget, Football is these guys jobs, would you really wanna skip a day of work cause a co-worker pulled a murder/suicide?

If a coworker killed himself by gunshot right in front of me, I wouldn't want to go back to work the next day.

I don't think the NFL needs to suspend the season, but there's no logical reason they can't postpone the Chiefs game until Monday or Tuesday.

Yes there is, money. Playing on Sunday means big bucks for the team, the NFL, and the Networks, and to not air a game on Sunday means they will lose revenue. There isn't much on on Sundays, which which is one reason football games draw so much ad dollars. If the game were on on a Tuesday, it wouldn't draw the same amount of money. Monday is out of the question because of the fact that they already have Monday night football, which is considered somewhat sacred. In addition, it would also mean screwing of the TV scheduled, with the networks hate.

 

[ace518]

They should still play. If one of my co-workers shot his girlfriend, and himself... I'd be devastated.



I also wouldn't get any time off of work for it. They are employed by contract to the NFL. They are paid many times what I am. It sounds cold, but seriously, why should a player, being famous, and on a pro team, get any more compensation than I would as a worker in a company. Perhaps a couple of days off for bereavement, fine. So skip practice monday/tuesday. Get to your wake and funeral, and get on with life. Like every other person in a job would have to do. I wish when someone died tragically in my life I could get weeks off, but I don't. Stop treating people in famous professions like they deserve some type of special dispensation from life. Life is hard, that's how it works.

 

[Apollo45]

Does anyone else feel it's incredibly disrespectful not only to the victim (girlfriend), but to this man's fellow team mates to continue on with the rest of the season, let alone play a game SUNDAY?

I mean this is someone who's fellow team mates played with him, probably joked around with, formed friendships with. There is probably some deep fucked psychological issues from this, especially from the players that watched him kill himself.... but then to have the audacity of saying "Well we can't reschedule the game... cause, ya know, FOOTBALL!"

Like really... Fuck the NFL. Anyone with commonsense would cancel the game, god forbid real life effect the timing of the damn super bowl.

I don't see it as being disrespectful at all. I can maybe, maybe, see a single game being postponed, but the entire season? You don't put the lives of not only the team but also the entirety of that stadium's personnel staff - vendors, security, ticket checkers, and many others who get paid an hourly rate and will therefore be put out of work for the rest of the season - because a psychopath murdered his girlfriend and himself. You hold a moment of silence and let the rest of the world get on with their lives. The NFL is right when they say this isn't a decision that only affects a single team. It affects every player in the NFL, it affects those that work the stadium, and it affects the fans who paid money to see the game. Cancelling even one game means that a significant number of people who don't get paid much in the first place go without work for a day, which for some of them could mean the difference between feeding their families and not being able to, or buying Christmas presents and having to tell their kids, "Sorry, some jackass went and killed himself and then screwed up our holiday too."

The respectful thing to do would be hold the game anyway, honor the girlfriend, try to have a fundraiser for their child's future, and continue on with life.

 

[Signa]

As for the girlfriend, I do have a little sympathy for, but I get the sense she was just a gold digger. Why else would she and her mom be hanging around him? His winning personality?

What is this.....I don't even.....

So because she's dating a pro football player she's a Gold-Digger?

My question was rhetorical, but if you're going to quote me, at least try to answer it if it's that stupid of a suggestion to you.

 

[Prosis]

First off, the title of this thread is misleading. They haven't decided whether to hold the game or not yet. They're still debating it. I don't think there's anything wrong with taking time to think an action and its ramifications through. Such as, "Would canceling the game glorify a murderer?" and "Would this suspension ruin his teammates' career for the rest of the season?"

Furthermore, as much as I hate professional sports, I have to admit that cancelling the game screws a lot of people. All of the vendors, all of the security guys, the tv blocks, the advertising companies, all lose a ton of money. Corporations manage fine, but for the smaller guys, that money needed to put food on the table. And as they mentioned, there really isn't time for a rematch.
I don't think its coldhearted of them. The show must go on. Any company or school will remain open, even if someone dies.

If you look back only one of the leagues, AFL & NFL (i forget which one) actually cancelled games on the weekend of JFK's assassination so its not unheard of.

That was a national tragedy, the loss of a well-loved leader to the hands of an assassin. I don't think this is on the same scale.

I understand where you're coming from, but from a mental health standpoint this probably does constitute a safety concern for the players. There's no telling what kind of effect this could be having on the rest of the team: for some of them playing may be the best way for them to cope, but for others it could be what pushes them past the breaking point. Regardless, that's not a call the NFL should be authorized to make on behalf of the team.

NFL (and most larger companies) have methods in place for this. Counseling, therapy, etc. will probably be mandatory for the team. Whether that counseling does any good is another debate entirely, but I don't think there's a way to determine that playing that day will drive them over the edge (unless the players specifically say that they don't want to play).

 

[darklilac]

I love the way this story is worded...It just kind of...glosses over the fact that HE MURDERED HIS GIRLFRIEND.

This.
I care much more about the fact that he murdered his girlfriend and left a baby without a family. I can't even fathom how the game is more important than that.
I don't give a crap what they do with the game, and they sure shouldn't "honor" him. He's a monster.
Might as well go on with the game though, it's just entertainment. The team didn't do it. And he's gone now.