Tevlin: Peterson case is forcing NFL to confront tough issues

In April 2012, Adrian Peterson and two other Vikings showed up at the State Capitol to show support for the new stadium and "created a ruckus" from gawkers and even legislators, some of whom took to Twitter to boast they had just spotted the famous running back.

Since then, Peterson has literally been the figurehead of the Vikings stadium, his visage tattooed on the "prow" of the stadium in architectural drawings.

Until game time Sunday, when Peterson's image was suddenly missing from those drawings, shown during the Vikings-Patriots game.

Poof!

Two days after Peterson had been accused of abusing his 4-year-old son, the rebranding had begun.

The Peterson case, even more than Ray Rice's spectacular fall, has refracted so many facets of real life onto the surreal venue of pro football. It's about child abuse, parenting rights, cultural differences, race, class and wealth. It's about face-painters vs. non-fanatics, North vs. South, nostalgic views of corporal punishment vs. modern views of child rearing.

In a few days, Peterson had gone from an NFL superstar to part of a Wikipedia entry on "switches," along with a "Dukes of Hazzard" episode and a Richard Pryor routine:

"It's complicated and nuanced," said Joel Bergstrom, development and communications director for the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery, which works to end child abuse. "No topic is more judged than parenting. Add in class and race and you've got a cauldron."

It's almost impossible to write about the issue with nuance, however, because nobody wants nuance. Not when you see photos of welts on a boy.

Besides, the target is shifting every few hours as events unspool.

Monday morning I was nodding in agreement with colleague Patrick Reusse, who offered a moderate opinion that the Vikings should allow due process. Who is not for due process, even when it's applied in the NFL just as it is in real life, unfairly toward elites?

I also agreed with the Vikings that each case is different and the motivations of Peterson and Rice aren't equal, as far as we know. And I rejected the notion that you can't feel deeply sad for both the boy and Peterson.

So, the Vikings could change course and let Peterson go. It would allow them to pretend to be acting on principle when it would actually be an act of public relations. Then another team could sign Peterson, and his behaviors would be sufficiently laundered for the general football fan.

When the Vikings announced that Peterson would return to the team, there was widespread speculation that they had to have knowledge that the NFL agreed with them and would allow Peterson to play while the case continued.

If you want a more Machiavellian take, I proposed a theory to editors that perhaps NFL President Roger Goodell made a deal with the Wilfs: You reinstate him for the "good of the team and due process," satisfying the base. Goodell, currently under pressure to resign for the way he mishandled the Rice domestic assault, then suspends Peterson. This absolves the team from a no-win decision and makes Goodell look like he's tough on scoundrels.

It would be a cold-blooded decision for all the wrong reasons, but it would fit the league's propensity for self-preservation.

Questions inevitably arise about the lack of coverage of Peterson's off-field (at least off-camera) behavior. There has been kind of a gentleman's agreement that the mainstream media (I'm not talking about TMZ) steer clear of the personal lives of athletes, or for that matter business leaders. The number of girlfriends an unmarried player has spread across the country is not our business.

Until something like this, almost inevitably, happens and we "discover" the hero is deeply flawed. Remember our previous "beloved" athlete, Kirby Puckett?

It seems like this is what the public wants, too, plausible deniability in order to deify jocks. After all, we don't hold news conferences to announce that the valedictorian at St. Paul Central is signing her intent to go to Harvard. We do, however, when the best football player announces he's chosen Ohio State.

Just two weeks before the abuse charges, this paper did a fascinating interview with Peterson in which he boasted of wanting to be the best ever, not the best running back, but the best football player.

He was expressing what I think they now call "American exceptionalism." Readers ate it up. Would we have read the story if Peterson was promising to be the best father ever?

Crisis Nursery's Bergstrom said that when someone has a child, there are no instructions, and a "a parent's own knowledge about parenting is usually based on their own experiences."

Crisis Nursery works with the poorest and most isolated families, but they share characteristics with wealthy parents who commit abuse. I asked him whether severing the parent from their job and society is productive.

"No," he said. "It makes things worse."

My chat with Bergstrom was enlightening, but it didn't help me plan my weekend. My wife and I intend to pack away the summer clothes and bring out the sweaters and seasonal flannel.

Buried deep in a closet is a purple jersey bearing No. 28, a gift from my wife.

I have no idea what to do with it.