It’s the first Sunday of October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month), and National Football League teams across the country are donning pink gloves, cleats and uniform accents. This year, however, I noticed the addition of pink whistles, shoelaces, chinstraps and hats. Because professional football is comprised almost entirely of men, this glitzy support of a pertinent women’s issue is a noteworthy cause. Teams across the league fundraise large amounts of money, distribute breast cancer ribbons to their players, coaches and fans and involve themselves with breast cancer foundations, such as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure – a major partner with the NFL’s breast cancer based efforts.

With such a public, hot pink display of “support,” even as a big fan, I cannot help but question the NFL’s motive. Ostensibly, the athletes couldn’t seem to be any more committed to curing breast cancer, a disease that, in 2009, took the lives of over 40,000 women. However, what about the NFL players take awareness about breast cancer in their private lives? Does the NFL really care, or is this month of fuchsia just an attempt to heal what has become a public relations nightmare?

Since July of 2008, Steelers Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been accused twice of sexually assaulting women (once in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and a second occasion in Milledgeville, Ga). Roethlisberger was not criminally charged in either case, and little information regarding the incidents has been made public. According to the accuser of the Georgia incident, Roethlisberger sexually assaulted her in the V.I.P. room of a Milledgeville club while the two had been partying and drinking with a group of friends.

Throughout the entire legal process, Roethlisberger, his attorneys, Commissioner Roger Goddell and the NFL have done their best to push these problems under the rug and out of the public eye. Roethlisberger, who brought the Steelers to Superbowl titles in 2006 and 2009, was initially suspended for six games, but Goodell recently reduced the suspension to four games.

Seattle Seahawks Linebacker LeRoy Hill, currently facing a one-game suspension for substance violations, is also facing domestic abuse charges. New England Patriot Tackle Quinn Ojinnaka was suspended for only one game for committing battery against his wife.

Things don’t get much better once the players get married, as the reported divorce rate in NFL players is somewhere between 60 and 80 percent.

Before the 2010 season, players on the New York Jets were accused of harassing Inez Sainz, a reporter from TV Azteca, a sports channel in Mexico. The league responded, but many criticized Sainz for the way she dressed, almost as if she was provoking the Jets players, and that they were not at fault. (Sainz’ tag line, however is that she’s the “hottest reporter in Mexico” so maybe she was culpable in the eyes of some.) Regardless, how can the NFL take such a loud stance on a women’s issue like breast cancer, while simultaneously hushing stories of other issues concerning women behind closed doors. In the United States, an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of domestic violence each year, as compared to about 200,000 new cases of breast cancer.

Bear in mind that none of this support is really the product of the players. It’s not as if Tom Brady, Ray Lewis and LaDainian Tomlinson were all sitting at lunch one day and decided that they’d all like to wear pink sweatbands for three games in October. The NFL’s support of breast cancer was the work of some clever public relations officials who decided that they could bolster the image of the NFL, and support a good cause all at the same time. The NFL identifies as a league of players, but this campaign has very little to do with them. An equipment manager drops off boxes of pink at each player’s locker before the game, containing an “Instant Breast Cancer Support Kit.” After that, an NFL representative shows up and tells the players that they are expected to wear the new gear because the NFL troubled itself to get specialty pink Nike and Reebok cleats for its members. After all, no good deed was going to get in the way of those endorsement deals. Some of the players may protest the wearing of stereotypically feminine color. Others may have a sister or mother who battled breast cancer and will gladly wear the pink. Most players, though, are just there to play, and couldn’t care less what color cleats they’re wearing. The bottom line is, the athletes only agree to do this because they know that they have a terrible reputation when it comes to relations with women. What better way to take the public’s attention from a QB guilty of assaulting women twice than with bright pink cleats for breast cancer research.

Like I said, I will always be a big fan and supporter of the NFL. All of the money that’s raised in support of breast cancer is a great thing, and for many people the support means a lot. The NFL does all it can do to hide it’s player’s intimate affairs, but once October rolls around it suddenly becomes women’s number one advocate. The NFL, after continuous issues with women, has latched onto a high profile cause to boost its image. Any money for breast cancer research is a good thing, but do they have to be so loud about it? To quote St. Matthew, “But when thou doest alms, do not let thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” Even if thy hands are wearing bright pink gloves.

Nick Lyons is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].