It's the Response, Stupid
There's some sad irony in the Ray Rice conundrum as far as the National Football League is concerned.
The NFL is a league that has a legacy of toughness and images of "real men" doing battle on mud-strewn gridirons, snow and other unfavorable elements.
It's a league whose players like to throw around the word "respect," whether it's not getting enough or giving too much.
"Real men" and "respect" don't fit Rice, the ex-Baltimore Ravens running back who was caught red-fisted via security camera, cold-cocking his fiancee in an elevator last February.
This blog is expressly for my non-sports rantings, but just because the first several paragraphs have been littered with NFL references, the Rice situation has nothing to do with pro football, per se.
Real men don't hit women. And that's not how you gain respect. It is, however, all about not having any of the R-word for your fellow human beings, let alone the woman to who you are now married.
Rice's wife, Janay, has publicly asked to call off the dogs when it comes to the playing of the video that shows Rice punching her so hard that she was knocked out cold from slamming her head against a metal railing inside the elevator.
She could have been killed, had she hit her head on the rail in a different way.
Janay Rice, understandably, wants us to know that her life with Ray is theirs and this horrible incident is theirs to deal with, privately.
She's right, of course, but good luck with that.
It's not for any of us to judge Janay Rice on her decision to stand by her husband despite the disgusting act of violence he perpetrated against her for all the world (it turned out) to see.
She has her reasons and they ought to be respected. There's that R-word again.
The most troublesome part of the Rice saga is not that Janay chose to stay with her fiance and marry him.
The focus right now, as it should be, is on the NFL and its handling of the Rice situation.
There have been several missteps along the way.
First was the ridiculously meager two-game suspension that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell levied on Rice, based (supposedly) on the original video, which showed Rice dragging an unconscious Janay out of the elevator.
Even without the much more damning second video, sitting Rice for two games based on the original video was even too lenient. A slap on the wrist for a direct punch to the face.
Then the second video emerged, courtesy of those busy beavers over at TMZ.
The second video shows the harrowing images of Rice as his fiancee approaches him in anger. He slugs her and she hits her head on the rail before collapsing, unconscious.
No one knows what goes on behind closed doors? Thanks to our "cameras are everywhere" society, not always.
The second league miscue, an unforced fumble, was Goodell's office claiming that the league never saw the second video until last week, although a law enforcement person has proof (via a voicemail) that someone within the NFL received the video five months ago---a DVD copy that the law enforcement person sent, acting on his/her own sense of obligation.
This is where the NFL is going off the rails, potentially.
If it is indeed proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the league viewed the second video before metering out the feeble suspension, then this moves directly to the "cover up" category without passing GO and without collecting $200.
The NFL seems to be riding a technicality already; in other words, it seems like their defense is going to be that, yes, we may have received a video a long time ago, but that doesn't mean that anyone viewed it.
This is malarkey, of course, and it's on its way to be proven false because the voicemail in question includes this comment from a female voice who confirmed the video's receipt: "You're right/ (The video)'s terrible."
Why would you call a video terrible if you'd never viewed it?
Goodell switched Rice's suspension from two games to indefinite after the second video came to light. A cynic would tell you that Goodell switched gears only after proof of the second video's existence was revealed to everyone.
Big difference between the two sentences above this one.
In Watergate lexicon, "What did the commissioner know and when did he know it?"
That question---the one of what did a power-to-be know and when was it known---is the question that frequently is the first domino that leads to resignations or firings.
When will people of authority realize that it's not the first act of misdeed that will bring your organization to its knees; it's the attemped covering up of said act of misdeed that will do it.
Maybe the NFL is filled with real men of respect, after all. Quite a few of the league's players have taken to social media to express their anger and disgust over Rice's actions.
But let's see how the players respond if it turns out that the league was derelict in its handling of this matter.
The NFL is a league that has a legacy of toughness and images of "real men" doing battle on mud-strewn gridirons, snow and other unfavorable elements.
It's a league whose players like to throw around the word "respect," whether it's not getting enough or giving too much.
"Real men" and "respect" don't fit Rice, the ex-Baltimore Ravens running back who was caught red-fisted via security camera, cold-cocking his fiancee in an elevator last February.
This blog is expressly for my non-sports rantings, but just because the first several paragraphs have been littered with NFL references, the Rice situation has nothing to do with pro football, per se.
Real men don't hit women. And that's not how you gain respect. It is, however, all about not having any of the R-word for your fellow human beings, let alone the woman to who you are now married.
Rice's wife, Janay, has publicly asked to call off the dogs when it comes to the playing of the video that shows Rice punching her so hard that she was knocked out cold from slamming her head against a metal railing inside the elevator.
She could have been killed, had she hit her head on the rail in a different way.
Janay Rice, understandably, wants us to know that her life with Ray is theirs and this horrible incident is theirs to deal with, privately.
She's right, of course, but good luck with that.
It's not for any of us to judge Janay Rice on her decision to stand by her husband despite the disgusting act of violence he perpetrated against her for all the world (it turned out) to see.
She has her reasons and they ought to be respected. There's that R-word again.
The most troublesome part of the Rice saga is not that Janay chose to stay with her fiance and marry him.
The focus right now, as it should be, is on the NFL and its handling of the Rice situation.
There have been several missteps along the way.
First was the ridiculously meager two-game suspension that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell levied on Rice, based (supposedly) on the original video, which showed Rice dragging an unconscious Janay out of the elevator.
Even without the much more damning second video, sitting Rice for two games based on the original video was even too lenient. A slap on the wrist for a direct punch to the face.
Then the second video emerged, courtesy of those busy beavers over at TMZ.
The second video shows the harrowing images of Rice as his fiancee approaches him in anger. He slugs her and she hits her head on the rail before collapsing, unconscious.
No one knows what goes on behind closed doors? Thanks to our "cameras are everywhere" society, not always.
The second league miscue, an unforced fumble, was Goodell's office claiming that the league never saw the second video until last week, although a law enforcement person has proof (via a voicemail) that someone within the NFL received the video five months ago---a DVD copy that the law enforcement person sent, acting on his/her own sense of obligation.
This is where the NFL is going off the rails, potentially.
Ray and Janay Rice
If it is indeed proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the league viewed the second video before metering out the feeble suspension, then this moves directly to the "cover up" category without passing GO and without collecting $200.
The NFL seems to be riding a technicality already; in other words, it seems like their defense is going to be that, yes, we may have received a video a long time ago, but that doesn't mean that anyone viewed it.
This is malarkey, of course, and it's on its way to be proven false because the voicemail in question includes this comment from a female voice who confirmed the video's receipt: "You're right/ (The video)'s terrible."
Why would you call a video terrible if you'd never viewed it?
Goodell switched Rice's suspension from two games to indefinite after the second video came to light. A cynic would tell you that Goodell switched gears only after proof of the second video's existence was revealed to everyone.
Big difference between the two sentences above this one.
In Watergate lexicon, "What did the commissioner know and when did he know it?"
That question---the one of what did a power-to-be know and when was it known---is the question that frequently is the first domino that leads to resignations or firings.
When will people of authority realize that it's not the first act of misdeed that will bring your organization to its knees; it's the attemped covering up of said act of misdeed that will do it.
Maybe the NFL is filled with real men of respect, after all. Quite a few of the league's players have taken to social media to express their anger and disgust over Rice's actions.
But let's see how the players respond if it turns out that the league was derelict in its handling of this matter.
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