Pioneer Press
"Idle time is the devil's play," said Dayton, describing the NFL's six-month offseason. "It means that young males who are heavily armored and heavily psyched as necessary to carry out their job are probably more susceptible to being in bars at 2 o'clock (in the morning) and having problems. It doesn't excuse it. It just says this probably comes with it."
Dayton linked the wayward behavior of players to post-traumatic stress disorder soldiers suffer after returning home from combat, describing professional football as "civilized war."
"Shake one of their hands and you know that this (football player) is someone who is not your ordinary citizen. They're
heavily armored, heavily psyched to do what they have to do and go out there. It's, basically, slightly civilized war," Dayton said.
"Then they take that into society. Much as soldiers come back, they've been in combat or the edge of it and suddenly that adjustment back to civilian life is a real challenge. And that's part of the reality. That's not to say it's good and it shouldn't be improved. It should."
Dayton said NFL players are role models who should not be given special treatment by law enforcement.
"I think they should be held as accountable to follow the laws of our society as anyone else, and the consequences should be the same," he said. "I wish there could be instilled that badge of honor so they would hold themselves to a higher standard or the league could. Obviously, they're falling considerably short of that now."
