Second chance dance

Of course someone signed him. What, you were under the impression pro football was just a game?

And so the inevitable has happened: Kareem Hunt has a new home. Last seen on a security video  kicking a woman as she lay on the floor in a Cleveland hotel, the erstwhile running back for the Kansas City Chiefs has been welcomed back into the fold by, ironically, the Cleveland Browns. They took a deep breath and signed him, saying all the things a team says when it signs someone  radioactive.

"My relationship and interaction with Kareem since 2016 in college was an important part of this decision making process," Browns GM John Dorsey said, right on cue. "But we then did extensive due diligence with many individuals, including clinical professionals, to have a better understanding of the person he is today and whether it was prudent to sign him. Here were two important factors: one is that Kareem took full responsibility for his egregious actions and showed true remorse and secondly, just as importantly, he is undergoing and is committed to necessary professional treatment and a plan that has been clearly laid out."

Hit all the requisite marks cleanly there, Dorsey did. "Relationship and interaction," check. "Extensive due diligence," check. "Full responsibility," "true remorse," "professional treatment" ... check, check, check.

The classic Second Chance Dance, with all the proper steps. And who knows? Maybe Kareem Hunt really won't wind up kicking another woman when she's down, although the track record for guys who've beat on women suggests otherwise.

This is not to say Kareem Hunt doesn't deserve a second chance. Everyone does. It's why the most untrue thing ever said is that there are no second acts in American life. There are a million, and they're everywhere.

But the Browns taking that deep breath and signing Hunt illustrates the essential truth of professional sports -- namely, that they are professional. Kareem Hunt, see, is a hell of a running back. Running backs as good (and, more importantly, still as young and fresh) are at a premium in the NFL. So signing Hunt, despite all Dorsey's pro forma pretty words, was not about redemption. It was about return on an investment.

In other words, Hunt was likely a sweet little deal, given the diminishment of his bargaining power. So undeniably he will be valuable well beyond the price Cleveland will pay for him. And that's a powerful inducement when you're thisclose to being a playoff team, as the Browns seem to be right now.

So, Hunt's a Brown, although the NFL could still punish him. And, yes, that says something about the NFL's values as an organization.

After all, Colin Kaepernick remains blackballed for the crime of calling attention to racial inequality. But Kareem Hunt is safely back in the fold with his second chance.

Guess Kaepernick should have just smacked a woman around instead of committing the unpardonable sin of kneeling at a time some people considered inappropriate. He'd probably still have a job, considering the dearth of quality quarterbacking in the league these days.

What a world. What. A. World.