September 9, 2014: Rice

I don’t usually write about this type of stuff, but I will today.  With the video exposed across the internet yesterday, Ray Rice turned into a scumbag all over again.  I have some thoughts.

First of all, what Ray Rice did that night was inexcusable, before or after I saw the video.  To raise your hand to a woman, let alone knock her out, is something that shouldn’t happen.  With the revelation of the inside the elevator video, everyone was horrified to see how bad it was.  The thing is, this is exactly what Ray Rice said happened the first time around.  Yes, the video came with “be careful graphic content” labels, but to actually watch it made it worse.  What did everybody think happened?  Everybody saw him dragging her out of the elevator.  He told everyone he knocked her out with a punch.  Did we have to actually see the video to realize that it was a horrible thing?  This is where I have a problem.

The NFL totally botched this situation.  They made a horrible thing even worse by the way they handled the investigation.  When the news first broke, and the investigation was done, and Ray Rice admitted to slugging his fiancée, Rice should have been suspended indefinitely… not 4 months later.  He should have been suspended indefinitely while the NFL, the MIGHTY NFL, did more research.  Do you believe that the NFL never saw that video?  I don’t.  And if they didn’t, that’s still bad.  Why wouldn’t the MIGHTY NFL be able to attain a video when TMZ could?  The NFL wanted to sweep this under the carpet as quickly as possible.  OK, give him a 2 game suspension, and call it a day.  Regardless if they ever saw the video, did they never think this video would get leaked?  Do they know the times we are living in, where everything is on video, and everything finds its way on the internet?  Rice should have been indefinitely suspended while the NFL FULLY researched the incident.

Part two of the screw up involves the 2 game suspension.  Although claiming this incident was unprecedented, the NFL should have made a policy for this type of event BEFORE they doled out a 2 game suspension.  Again, just slapping him with 2 games is like saying make this go away as quickly as possible.  Well it didn’t, it’s back, and now it’s 10x worse.  It’s easy to look back and say what should and shouldn’t have happened; that’s the same for anything.  However, this is the NFL.  This is one of the most powerful “companies” in the country.  We live and breathe this stuff, so everything that happens with the NFL and its players is under a microscope.  By handling this half assed, they really screwed up.

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It’s easy to sit back and judge people for their mistakes.  I do it, we all do it.  With Twitter and Facebook, people are even quicker to judge, with the words at their fingertips, hiding behind a PC.  Rice deserves more than a 2 game suspension, this is for sure, however, what he and his fiancée (NOW WIFE by the way) have to go through is even worse.    I think the NFL needs to really make a league wide change here.  Currently, you get suspected for murder and get a statue put up outside a stadium, you get convicted for dog fighting and you’re hated for life, while you get suspended an entire year for marijuana use and only 2 games for domestic violence.  Something ain’t right here.  The NFL needs to revamp their whole discipline system.  They need to bring in an outside firm to create policies for their company and stick to them.  You can’t just go by the seat of your pants NFL…  This needs to happen now, and be in place by the start of the next season by the very latest.  The NFL is looking unprepared and disorganized while they try to save their brand and sweep stuff under the carpet.  Although, a lot of us are probably the same way, this is the NFL… they can’t afford to be this way.

I think Rice should get the 6 games that is stated in the new policy UNLESS the NFL revamps the entire policy.  Domestic violence is horrible in any form, and should be punished appropriately.  It shouldn’t take a video to sway decisions.  SHE WAS BEING DRAGGED OUT OF THE ELEVATOR UNCONSCIOUS… what did we think happened?  Rice admitted as much.  What is appropriate punishment?  I really don’t know the answer to that, but the NFL needs to figure something out and put something in place across the board, not just single out this individual who made a horrible mistake and ban them for life.

Hopefully, Rice and his wife are in a better place now.  Hopefully, this was a one time event that will never happen again.  Hopefully, Rice and his wife can get through this.  Hopefully, this is what is more important to Ray Rice than whatever decision the NFL makes.