There was so much wrong about Greg Hardy's sitdown interview with ESPN's Adam Schefter earlier this week.
Hardy is without a team after being released by the Cowboys this offseason, so he is looking to restore his image in hopes he can revive his career. ESPN "SportsNation" host Michelle Beadle called out her employer for providing Hardy a platform.
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Hardy once again proclaimed his innocence in his domestic violence case, but hardly anyone, certainly not former Panthers teammate Steve Smith, in the court of public opinion is buying that after viewing photos of the bruised and battered body of his accuser, Nicole Holder. She claimed the 6-5, 274-pound Hardy drug her, then threw her onto a bed full of guns.
"I've never put my hand on any woman," Hardy told Schefter flatly. "In my whole entire life, no sir. That's just not how they raised us. As you can tell, like I said, it's the Bible belt. That's something that . . . I won't even say frowned upon. It's non-existent in most Southern homes."
ENGEL: Hardy, not Gibbons, the real menace
The first part of that statement is(n't) debatable. The incident has run its course in the justice system. Hardy appealed his conviction by a superior court judge in Charlotte, N.C., and Holder failed to appear in court to testify in the subsequent jury trial.
The latter portion of it is downright deplorable. The South isn't a theocracy. It's just as sinful as anywhere else on Earth.
Hardy, who was born in Milington, Tenn., and graduated from Briarcrest Christian School in nearby Memphis, has mistaken the form of righteousness for the practice of it. Sure, Memphis is the fifth-most religious city in the United States, according to Business Insider; however, it still ranked as the nation's fourth-most dangerous city. With a population of 652,000-plus, it boasts a violent crime rate of 1,583 per 100,000 people, Forbes reports.
STEELE: Hardy needs to show he can act like a man
In 2013, Tennessee was tied for sixth on a Violence Policy Center list of the states in which women are most likely to be killed by men. Southern states South Carolina (No. 1), Louisiana (No. 4) and Oklahoma (No. 6) were also among the top 10. Alaska, Maine, Nevada and Vermont, four of America's least religious states, made the list too.
Being around places of worship simply exposes one to a higher moral standard. Whether or not a person adheres to it is something entirely different.
IYER: Hardy no longer worth risk to any team
Schefter stood by his decision to conduct the interview. He told Dan Patrick he feels as though Hardy is a "changed kind of guy," though he later regretted taking his assesment that far.
No one knows Hardy's heart.
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One thing is for certain, however; we'll ultimately know what he, like anyone else, believes, moving forward, by how he lives, not where he lives.
Let the church say "Amen."