On May 23, 2014, millions of sports fans around the country watched as Ray Rice, along with his fiancée Janay, sat at a podium, tears welling in his eyes, and apologized to the nation for his actions one fateful February night in Atlantic City.

How many times have we seen this before? The star athlete, accused of a crime ranging from betting on his own games to lying about his usage of PEDs, offers his “sincere” apology, sprinkled with sincerity and dipped in disappointment? Perhaps more shockingly, how many times have we welcomed him back with open arms and a desire to “forgive and forget”?

What began innocently enough as a gesture of humanitarianism and goodwill has evolved – or devolved – into the practice of valuing athletic ability over moral righteousness. People cheer for Michael Vick every Sunday because he can play quarterback in the NFL, despite the fact that he is also notorious for his previous abusive behavior towards animals. Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers the world has ever known, also happened to cheat on his wife. Many critics found his thirteen minute televised apology “rehearsed” and insincere, yet he still remains the biggest attraction the sport has to offer these days. Also, many baseball fans agree today that Pete Rose, who was banned from the game after betting on his own games during the 1987 season, should be granted a return back to the game and, ultimately, into the Hall of Fame. If you Google “Should Pete Rose’s ban be lifted”, you’ll need to wade through the flood of results from casual bloggers and sportswriters alike calling for his resurrection from the baseball dead.

English poet Alexander Pope once wrote: “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” This, of course, holds truth to an extent, because any athlete claiming not to have made a mistake in his/her lifetime is just lying. It’s true that some mistakes should be forgiven, most notably ones involving PEDs. As long as the athlete accepts responsibility and doesn’t lie about his usage (see: Mark McGwire, Melky Cabrera, Ryan Braun), fans usually give the player a second chance because his mistake didn’t hurt anybody. But at what point do we have to draw the line? When do we, as fans of these competitors, have to turn our shoulders against those who have wronged not only themselves, but others in the process?

It is hard for anyone to say definitely, because the truth is sports have grown larger than life in today’s society. Instead of being held to a higher standard because of their place in the public eye, athletes simply seem to receive more “Get Out of Jail Free” cards because, God forbid, they don’t play in next Saturday’s big game. The better the athlete is, the more free passes he/she will receive, because the league thrives not on the popularity of the long relievers and fourth-string cornerbacks, but on the superstars. Without these mega-icons, ticket sales plummet, TV ratings free fall, and fan interest wanes. Sports today are a business, and shunning our most gifted athletes is like firing the top employee in a factory. Consider this: according to “FiveThirtyEight’s” Benjamin Morris, the top three crimes committed by NFL players include domestic violence, gun-related charges, and sex offenses. If the league were to start cracking down harder on both the bench warmers and superstars who commit these kinds of inexcusable crimes, the popularity would wane and the business would suffer.

For this very reason, the probability that Ray Rice plays in another NFL game in his career is actually quite high. Not that I hope he does. In today’s society people simply seem to value talent over character, and until we change this, we’ll continue to see the likes of Ray Rice on the field, Sunday after Sunday, being cheered on by thousands of spectators not because he is a good person, but because he can run faster or throw a ball better than most of us.