Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb was a defensive end with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1960s.  A beast.  A self abusing beast.  "Big Daddy" overdosed on heroin and died at the ripe old age of 31. 
 
Without any real explanation, my father took Lipscomb out of my football card collection and disposed of it.  I never rally had an issue with it, but I didn't forgot either.
 
It wasn't until today that I learned that Lipscomb was the product of a broken family.  Abandoned by his father who he never met, his mother was murdered when Gene was just eleven.  He never went to college but became a pro when the Los Angeles Rams scouted him playing for the United States Marines.  Back then football players didn't make much money and held down off-season jobs.  Gene was a professional wrestler.  That's when they started calling him "Big Daddy."
 
That's a made for television movie plot right there.  These days he'd be a very sympathetic character.  Back then though, they didn't talk much about those things.  "Big Daddy" was a drug abuser, nothing more, nothing less and that was that.
 
Times have changed.  The NFL is no longer just a Sunday afternoon activity.  It has become the social conscience of the country.
 
On the field things are pretty clear cut.  Attempt to injure another player in the most extreme cases can cost you a two game suspension.  Stomp on an opponent's helmetless head and it's five games.  Using performance enhancers and getting caught will cost you four games.  Pay bounties for hits on a quarterback.  That's a year. 
 
Off the field it's a little trickier.  The NFL has decided that first offender DUI charges will result in a game suspension. Multiple offenses result in multiple games.  Cleveland wide receiver Josh Gordon is looking at a season long suspension for having a history of drug abuse.  Ben Roethlisberger saw his six game suspension for a rape allegation reduced to four.  Richie Incognito of the Miami Dolphins was suspended three months on a bullying charge.
 
This sliding scale of justice was called to task last when the NFL suspended Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice just two games for beating his girlfriend and now his wife, unconscious at an Atlantic City casino.  It's hard to rail against the outrage. 

The NFL is telling us that domestic violence is a more serious issue than DUI.  That won't make everyone happy.  It is also telling us that it is half as serious as a rape allegation.  That won't make everyone happy either. 

And that's the point.  The National Football League shouldn't be expected to provide us a moral compass.  Nor should Commissioner Roger Goodell be considered God.  It's a job he shouldn't want.  He'd have to take a pay cut.
 
Maybe this is all we know.  It was easier back in the days when "Big Daddy" Lipscomb was simply allowed to kill himself on heroin and no one felt obliged to explain.