“Newly released video calls NFL action on Ray Rice into question … again; Update: NFL says they never saw it,” Ed Morrissey writes at Hot Air:
Earlier this year, we took a look at the oddly mild two-game suspension given to Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for domestic violence, while at the same time the NFL handed out much longer suspensions for substance abuse and PEDs. One player got threatened with an indefinite suspension just for tweeting derogatory comments about Michael Sam during the draft, but Rice just got two weeks off with no pay for what he and his now-wife described as a mutually violent episode. At the time, the only video publicly available showed the aftermath, with Rice dragging his unconscious girlfriend out of the elevator. — video that Roger Goodell’s office saw before handing down the much-criticized punishment:
As Ed notes, “TMZ has now published the video from the elevator camera.” It’s ugly stuff, but click over to Hot Air to see it to get an up close look at the nature of the 21st century NFL in action. And purely coincidentally, the timing of the video, released as the Ravens unveil a statue to Ray Lewis, whose role in a 2001 murder is still being debated adds yet another reminder of the increasingly thuggish nature of pro football, along with the all-too-obvious inability of higher education to install character and impulse control in the men it’s training for the future. (Rice downed a couple of cups of coffee at Rugers before deciding to enter the NFL draft rather than graduating college.)
No wonder the sports media is obsessing over the name of the Washington Redskins, despite polling indicating that a majority of fans don’t care. (At yesterday’s game against the Titans, a whopping six protestors turned out in front of the stadium in Houston.) Far better to waste ink and pixels on that topic, than write about an increasingly out of control professional sports league.
QED:
By the way, it was already gone before I hit publish on this post, but when I went into Wikipedia to check Rice’s college record, this was at the top of his profile:
This is far from the first time someone has edited Wikipedia to share with the world his low personal opinion of a pop culture figure; ahh, the “fun” of open-sourced media.
Update: You stay classy ESPN: “Ray Lewis will discuss the Ray Rice video tonight on Monday Night Countdown. The show airs at 5:00 pm ET leading into the MNF opener.” Ahh, the wonderful corporate world of Disney.
Update (11:53 AM PDT): “Breaking: Ravens terminate Ray Rice’s contract after elevator video emerges,” Allahpundit writes:
I wonder what the waiting period here is before the media “redemption” narrative begins building and other NFL teams start looking at him. Over/under is six months.
Sadly, in today’s NFL, that’s a remarkably prescient observation.
More: Greg Aiello, the NFL’s longtime spokesman tweets, “Roger Goodell has announced that based on new video evidence that became available today he has indefinitely suspended Ray Rice.”
I’m sure an hour on Oprah’s couch can get that waved, right? Just ask Michael Vick.
Meanwhile, back in academia:
Ray Rice released, people celebrate justice, integrity in football. But wait! NCAA forgives Penn for sexual abuse: https://t.co/ppd07ffSZ9
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) September 8, 2014
Update: The Allahpundit-inspired obligatory exit quote: “I won’t call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down. It’s not getting up.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member