Dallas Cowboys: Defending The Greg Hardy Signing

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Sep 8, 2013; Charlotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy reacts to the crowd during the game against the Seattle Seahawks at Bank of America Stadium. Seattle wins 12-7. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports

This might not be the most popular piece I’ve ever written, but since few others seem to be up for it, I’ll easily defend the signing of defensive end Greg Hardy by the Dallas Cowboys.

After all, there’s been plenty of people already who have come out publicly to crucify this move by owner and general manager Jerry Jones. Locally speaking, this list is highlighted by Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings and WFAA television sportscaster Dale Hanson, a guy who used to be part of the Cowboys radio play-by-play team.

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Now, I’m not in any way offering support or an excuse for whatever Hardy did or didn’t do to ex-girlfriend Nicole Holder. This really has less to do with either of these people, but rather the signing of Hardy by the Cowboys or some other franchise in the NFL.

Let’s also discuss some of the circumstances surrounding this dropped case.

To start with, Hardy’s case was dismissed. Despite this fact, there seems to be this outrage that seems to suggest that Hardy got away with murder or some other egregious crime that immediately places society at risk because he’s not in jail or prison.

Again, the case was dismissed.

The reasons this case was dismissed are the key here, and there’s much more to this than the perception that Hardy simply “got off” because of who he is. The prosecution, in this particular case, made the decision to drop the charges for reasons including possible questions about the accuser’s credibility based on conflicting testimony and also – wait for it – a likely financial settlement between Hardy and Holder.

That’s right, a financial settlement.

In the United States, we have a legal system that is established in order to hold people accountable for misdeeds of all kinds against society in general – or at least this is the stated goal. The system is far from perfect but it remains as one of the best in the world today.

Having said that, the system can’t work unless those persons involved actually participate as opposed to taking the money and running away, literally.

Think about that.

Maybe Hardy did exactly what a judge in North Carolina found him guilty of.

Yet, there’s a reason that the charges were dropped, right?

I’m not a legal expert and I’m not highly educated on this case beyond the obvious facts that many others have followed via the mainstream press.

It just seems to me that had something really happened here that was so incredibly awful that Holder would have stopped at nothing to make sure that this didn’t happen to another woman who might end up dating or possibly marrying Hardy. Instead, she appears to have taken an undisclosed amount of money, traveled a whole lot and finally bailed on the whole situation entirely.

This does not at all make Holder a bad person. It is her right not to pursue this matter if she chooses not to.

But if Holder makes that decision and there’s further questions regarding what actually happened during the evening in question – there’s no other witnesses – as a result of her testimony, then who’s to really say what is or what isn’t?

Next: Will Dallas Media Turn Their Backs On The Cowboys?

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