Due process is a good thing, not a Vikings' excuse

The Vikings are untrustworthy folks. They have proven that with their conduct in the financing of their new stadium.

The people at the State Capitol that pushed through this billion-dollar edifice – including Gov. Mark Dayton – did so in the belief that the Vikings would make modest demands on their season-ticket holders when it came to putting up front money for seats in the new structure.

The Vikings then turned it into a needless and wild-eyed money grab … an anticipated $125 million in seat licenses. The fact that Michele Kelm-Helgen and her pals on the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority approved this gouge makes you wonder why they wound up as such lackeys for the Vikings.

Adrian Peterson is a knothead. He has proven that with idiotic comments through the years, such as comparing NFL players to "slaves,'' and suggesting he has no trouble with gay people as long as he doesn't wind up in a locker-room shower at the same time.

And let's face it: The evidence is fairly clear that Adrian's concern for protection is as indifferent in intimate situations as it is in pass blocking.

Peterson lost me a year ago, when he accepted condolences from NFL players and the public after the death of a son as if he had spent countless hours tickling that 2-year-old under the chin.

Within a couple of days, we found out Peterson had never met the child … never made the short drive from Mankato to Sioux Falls last summer to meet the child. He didn't see the child until the 2-year-old was on life support.

That young lad was beaten to death by another man, and nine months later, Peterson was taking a switch to another son – a 4-year-old visiting from Minnesota – as a form of discipline.

That's about as stupid as you can get, I agree.

A doctor saw the marks on the boy during a routine visit back in Minnesota, and alerted authorities. After a process of several weeks, Peterson was indicted at the end of last week in Texas for negligent abuse of a child.

The Vikings announced later in the day that Peterson would be deactivated for Sunday's home opener vs. the Patriots. Peterson went to Houston and turned himself into authorities on Saturday. He posted a $15,000 bail and was released.

There were demands from an outraged public that the Vikings release Peterson. There were suggestions that the Vikings indeed would release him – mostly because this would be a good excuse to get out from under his large contract.

The Vikings mentioned "due process." Good. I'm a believer in due process.

I don't buy that it's some kind of sacred "privilege'' to play in the NFL, and that players should be held to a higher standard of behavior than other workers. It's a job, like any other job, only a heck of a lot more grueling than nearly all of them.

I also see a difference between the Peterson situation and the Ray Rice situation (or the Chris Cook situation). When you beat up a woman (wife, fiancée, girlfriend or stranger), your motive is to beat up a woman.

As stated previously, I believe Adrian Peterson is a knothead. And maybe his motive in giving a "whopping'' to that lad was because he enjoys beating up kids. But I don't believe you can flat out say that, without a full look at the facts -- from the prosecution but also from Peterson's attorney Rusty Hardin.