November 28, 2014
by Dakota Antelman
The NFL was the subject of headlines today when former Ravens running back Ray Rice won his appeal of an indefinite suspension given after a TMZ video surface showing him knocking out his then girlfriend, now wife Janay Rice.
The Rice appeal process, which was moderated and judged by U.S District Judge Barbara S. Jones, concluded earlier this week with its verdict being announced Friday.
Jones ruled the suspension “arbitrary because it lacked evidence” after commissioner Roger Goodell, Ravens GM, Ozzie Newsome, Rice and Janay Rice all testified. The general consensus was that Rice never lied to Goodell about his hitting and subsequently knocking out Janay in a casino elevator back in February while Goodell and the NFL also never actually provided enough evidence to justify calling Rice on an infraction of their player conduct polices.
In the end, the simplest outcome of this decision is that Rice will be eligible to play immediately. As of November 28th, 2014, an NFL team with a need for a running back and with the guts to sign Rice could ink a contract with him and have him play in any game.
That is not okay.
Regardless of the process, regardless of Jones’ statement that the indefinite ban is “arbitrary”, there should be no way that Rice could play this Sunday or on any subsequent Sunday. This statement is built off of a greater one that has been repeated time and time again since February. Yet still, the NFL seems unable to comprehend it. Men who beat their wives should be allowed to sustain jobs, much less ones that involve their image being broadcast on TV and their words being syndicated across the internet.
That is that.
What Ray Rice did that night in February was a criminal act! Regardless of his relation to Janay, knocking someone out like he did is considered assault and battery, a crime punishable with up to 20 years in prison.
The short and long is that no matter what the process dictates, no matter what the final answer is, the NFL and its executives should not be able to, with good conscience, proceed with daily football operations while they do not have people fighting to keep a man like this out of their organization.
Their leniency with this case is reprehensible.
The NFL needs to fight this decision as ferociously as Rice fought the initial suspension. This is the kind of situation where a multi-billion dollar organization that the NFL is, needs to use its financial and political power to quash Rice’s ability to associate with them.
But they have done nothing of the sort. In the immediate wake of the suspension repeal, the NFL has laid down and accepted it all.
In the end, Ray Rice got off on a few technicalities. Ms. Jones found enough small discrepancies in the witness testimonies to say that the NFL’s suspension unfairly barred Rice from play.
Though, it is unlikely that any team will sign him this season, the ease with which the NFL was beaten in this case is worrisome. A league like this, with the unthinkable cultural influence that it exacts on the nation and the world, that also has a history of criminal activity by its players as documented as is currently true, should not in any way shape or form let a man like Rice be available to its teams.
There should be no second chances for batterers in the NFL.
0 comments:
Post a Comment