EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- On a gorgeous day outside MetLife Stadium, George Fitzgerald, a New York Giants fans of 32 years' standing, tossed around a football with his brothers and son.
"We've been having a tough time for the last year, last week," he said. "We're here to support them. Hopefully, we're going to see a win and get them back on the straight and narrow."
The Giants later fell to 0-2 when they lost 25-14 to the Arizona Cardinals, but on a nearly perfect day for football, for the Fitzgeralds, life was good.
Forgotten for a time was the NFL's nightmare week, one memorable for graphic security camera footage of Ray Rice, then a star running back for the Baltimore Ravens, knocking out his then-fiancee and dragging her out of an elevator.
The world well beyond football watched it over and over again.
There were intensified calls for Commissioner Roger Goodell to resign after a report by The Associated Press said a law enforcement official had said the NFL had the tape in its possession when it suspended Rice for only two games in July. (The league said it was not aware that anyone in its office had seen the tape before it came to light last Monday, and the league has ordered an independent investigation.)
If that were not enough, the NFL admitted in federal court documents that it expected more than a quarter of its retired players to develop long-term cognitive problems. This, thanks to the rough-and-tumble violence that is the game's primary attraction.
Pro football couldn't get to Sunday soon enough. I wondered if fans like Fitzgerald found themselves questioning, if not justifying, their continued allegiance to the NFL shield.
Not a chance, Fitzgerald said.
"The game is the game," he said. "That's what it's about. It's the game that we're playing today."
He added, referring to last week's indictment of the Minnesota Vikings' star running back, Adrian Peterson, on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child: "What happened with Ray Rice, and Adrian Peterson, those are serious things. Those are things that had to be addressed. Women should not be smacked around by men. And as fathers, we should be more diplomatic in the way that we discipline our children. But on Sunday, the game is about the game."
Interestingly, many fans I spoke with were eager to talk about the Giants' fortunes but were clearly uneasy talking about any connection between Rice and the NFL and domestic violence.
"We've been talking about what went on in the last couple of days in the NFL, but he's an isolated man who hit his fiancee," Fitzgerald said. "Same thing with Adrian Peterson. Not everybody who is out there on that field has these issues."
I stopped Carl Gaynor as he walked into the stadium with his 12-year-old son, Kyle. They snapped photos of MetLife Stadium, seized by excitement and expectation.
Gaynor said he followed the Rice case and thought the NFL was culpable when it did not initially treat Rice harshly.
"The fact that the NFL was lenient on Rice, it blew up the whole issue," he said. "People began to think that maybe more should be done. But it doesn't make me not want to come to the games."
His son had also watched the video of Rice hitting his fiancee, now his wife, Janay Palmer Rice. "It's a terrible thing that happened, but it happens sometimes," Kyle said.
I asked how he would feel if it had been his sister being beaten and dragged out of an elevator.
"I would feel like he should get expelled from the whole NFL, and he couldn't even go the games," Kyle said, his tone sharp and certain. "If you put it like that, I know how it feels for her and her family."
Father and son went through security and disappeared into a sea of red and blue jerseys.
After initially being reluctant to comment, Sarah Krautkremer, who traveled from Florida to Sunday's game, said she was able to separate Rice's action from the league and from her enjoyment of the game.
"I'm a Giants fan. I'm an NFL fan," she said.
Rice's violence, she added, "doesn't have anything to do with the NFL; it's not the NFL's fault."
Rice's actions were "upsetting and disconcerting," she said, "but you can't look at it like he's representing the whole NFL because there are so many wonderful players who are doing amazing things out there."
She continued: "Why put all our focus on this guy? Don't give him the publicity he's getting. It's disgusting. And it's pretty sad that she stands by him like that. It's setting an example for little girls that it's OK to go back to him."
Rosalind Moore and Sue Adie were eager to get through security, but Moore wanted to get something off her chest. She loves pro football but not the way the NFL handled the Rice events, and she didn't think Goodell was truthful when he said the league had not seen the full security tape of the Rice incident until last week.
"I believe they had that film all along," Moore said. She also didn't like the way Goodell waffled on his punishment, initially giving Rice a slap on the wrist before suspending him indefinitely after the website TMZ released the full version of the tape.
"I'm not going to say it changed how I think about them," Moore said. "But what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong.'"
Nevertheless, the NFL's action did not turn Moore off from the league or the game. She also didn't think she was compromising her values by attending and by cheering on the Giants.
"You can't judge everybody by somebody else's mistake," she said.
"Life goes on," she added, laughing. "And we're going to the game now."
If the NFL is concerned that recent events have put a dent in its shield, the league can rest easy. The enterprise is in good shape.
That, perhaps, is the unfortunate news.
Sports on 09/16/2014