It's been impossible to ignore the controversy surrounding the National Football League regarding domestic violence in recent weeks. Without a doubt, the Ray Rice case illustrates not only how poorly the NFL has handled domestic violence, but specifically the lack of leadership from Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Given that it was unveiled that the league knew about Rice's incident with his wife and the video that showed him striking her, the fact that the NFL kept this information before releasing a measly two-game suspension shows that the league needs to be taking domestic violence much more seriously.

The commissioner is the face of the league and while Goodell has certainly received deserved criticism in the past, he's never dropped the ball this badly. Rather than immediately taking responsibility he has tried to make a villain out of Ray Rice, a man who made a terrible mistake and who is doing everything in his power to take responsibility and save his family and marriage.

Prior to his press conference, Goodell made it seem like he wanted to keep the NFL off the hook here and keep the focus on Rice. But terminating the running back's contract does not detract from the fact that Goodell and the NFL handled this incident in one of the worst ways possible, which is baffling.

The other major sports have to take notice and provide a strong campaign of their own against domestic violence. It's not like this is an NFL problem or just a sports problem. This is about people and families getting hurt without much accountability. Thus, as sports and their institutions represnt some of the most iconic and powerful leaders and role models, they owe it to families and men and women everywhere to step up and set a strong example.

On the topic of commissioners, the NBA's new commissioner Adam Silver will be an interesting figure to follow this year following Goodell's blunder.

Although it lacks domestic violence headlines with star players like Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson, the NBA has still had several players run into problems with the law. Unfortunately, these cases have been rarely highlighted, merely mentioned and tossed to the side.

Luckily for the NBA, their new commissioner Adam Silver is the right man to set a strong precedent for not only his league but all others, after his display of strong leadership in handling Donald Sterling and the sale of the Los Angeles Clippers. He's the antithesis of Roger Goodell.

According to hoop365.com, there have been 12 seperate arrests in the NBA on charges of domestic violence since 2010. In comparison, Sports Illustrated has stated that 14 NFL players have been arrested in the last two years for domestic violence against women. Those numbers are startling so why is it just now that they're being brought to light?

The most surprising part of those statistics is that hoop365.com reported that in 14 cases against NBA players since 2003, the punishments have resulted in a suspension of 11 total games for all the players.

Eleven games...

Most of the subjects were either handed fines, forced to partake in community service or take classes to deal with their issues. If players are getting off like this it's unlikely they're ever going to learn. For many of these players, they love the game of basketball and this is the only profession they can have. Therefore the only way to get through to them is to threaten to take those privileges and job security away. 

In the same very article, hoop365.com makes a great point that players are suspended for on-court incidents so frequently, so how can off-the-court issues merit a lesser punishment? The Ray Rice suspension is probably going to force Adam Silver's hand, especially with the league having a 10 game suspension policy for domestic violence that is supposed to be coupled with counselling. To this day it's not apparent that these regulations have ever been put to use.

Karen Crouse of the New York Times wrote a piece last week on the issue of domestic violence in sports and noted that since 2012 you could make a starting lineup of NBA players charged with domestic violence, again with little to no consequences. Boston Celtic's power forward Jared Sullinger received a one game suspension and Los Angeles Lakers center Jordan Hill only had to pay a $500 fine and go to counselling. The list goes on and on including Nuggets star point guard Ty Lawson and the new Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd. 

Unfortunately now we have the case of Greg Oden, the former number one pick of the 2007 draft. In ESPN's Michael Wallace's story on Oden, he notes that back in August, Oden was arrested for attacking an ex-girlfriend. According to court documents, he hit her at least three times, "causing a laceration across her forehead, a swollen eye and a nasal fracture."

The former Blazer is expected in court in November. He may not be a star in the headlines, but he's a former number one pick. Regardless, it exhibits how serious domestic problems are in the lives of professional athletes.

It's dishearteneing to constantly see headlines on Sports Center related to violence with some of our sports' favorite players on our favorite teams. Sports Center and all sports shows should be enjoyable for the highlights of the games and heartwarming stories, not animalistic attacks on defenseless women.

This problem and this conversation isn't going anywhere any time soon and it will be fascinating to see how Commissioner Silver handles Oden and the league going forward.

Without a doubt the NBA is in good hands; the NFL may not be able to say the same.

Contact Staff Reporter Max Holm via e-mail here and follow him on Twitter here.