Everybody hates Suh

Thanks to Roger Goodell we now live in a world where football doesn't quite seem like football anymore. Big hits aren't praised and celebrated, instead they are penalized and players who lay out the hits are fined and suspended. We want huge hits as fans, yet the league, media and even these same fans scream about player safety everyday, until Sunday. On Sunday we want defensive players to be ferocious, unruly gladiators, especially if they are playing for the team we root for. We want these modern day gladiators to hurl themselves at each other for our entertainment, and when they give us what they want we punish them. We fine them, and we suspend them. Seems backwards doesn't it? Lots of players seem to be caught in the middle of these confusing times for the NFL and fans, but one player stands out among them. He gives us everything we ask for on Sundays, but then we denounce him on Monday. His name is Ndamukong Suh.

Suh came into the league and it was immediately obvious he had tremendous talent, and was a fearsome competitor. He was the player everyone wanted on their defensive line so the quarterback would wet himself before the snap. He eats quarterbacks for breakfast. Suh is beyond a throwback player, he is simply from a different era. He is reminiscent of Deacon Jones slapping lineman's helmets, and throwing quarterbacks to the ground like rag dolls. (I'm looking at you Jay Cutler.) He doesn't simply tackle players, he tries to rip their heads off. He wants to be feared, and he has clearly made a name for himself. So if he is so ferocious and talented, why is the football world against him? His whole life he has been told to destroy whoever has he ball, and he excels at that yet we criticize him for it. Its like telling a kid to get good grades in school, and then grounding him when he brings home a report card with straight As. It doesn't make any sense.

Suh doesn't belong in this new NFL, yet he is everything that football is about. He is the prototype football player who puts on his pads and goes to war every down. How can we demand violence, and then punish the player that excels at that violence the most? Five years ago Ndamukong Suh would have been every one's favorite player. He would have been featured on big hit highlight reels on Sportscenter every Sunday night, and the media would be all over him. He would be hoisted up with the likes of Mean Joe Green, Mike Singletary, Deacon Jones, and Lawrence Taylor. But in today's league he is labeled as a "dirty" player. The media crucifies him and some fans will complain about his lack of sportsmanship but in a world where last place finishers get trophies too, Suh deserves praise for leaving it all on the field to win, not make friends.

We want our athletes to hate each other and play with the passion that we have as fans. We shouldn't exile the one player left who gives us all of that. He isn't "dirty", he is the player of our dreams, and we should heap praise onto him for being the gladiator we want. Suh jumped in the pit to fight the lion, and we bash him for using "unnecessary roughness" on the lion. Its ridiculous.

Not only do I respect how Ndamukong Suh plays the game of football, I love thew way he plays. And anyone who tries to knock that smug look off of Jay Cutler's face by making him pick turf out of his face mask is good in my book.

Don't suspend Ndamukong Suh. Make room for him in Canton.