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 curran12 wrote:
And now an indefinite suspension for Ray Rice from the NFL. Talk about a disaster for the NFL in how they handled this issue.

The real disaster here will be the total sh*t show that comes from the inevitable lawsuit Rice will file against the NFL. No double jeopardy. Rice was already serving an approved punishment (which was a total crap deal, he should have been banned in the first place) and several legal consultants are saying that should Rice decide to challenge Goodell on being permabanned, Rice would win the case due to the fact that this incident was already handed through the court system or some such. Basically, Goodell has no legal leg to stand on to ban him. If Ray Lewis can stand trial for murder and return, Michael Vick can do prison time for dog fighting and come back, Big Ben rapes a few women and comes back, then Rice will certainly try to make it back in. But I highly doubt any team will want anything to do with him for at least a few years.

This whole thing is a fiasco and frankly, as much as I LOVE NFL FOOTBALL, this just proves that Goodell is an ass-clown with no business running the league. Rice should have been banned in the first place.

Also, Broncos FTW...barely lol! What a game!

Pretty much my sentiments exactly, Murdius.

So... wait... I'm confused.

He only got cut/suspended because you can see that he knocked her out?

How'd the feth did you think he did it before this video????

No he was cut and banned because of the outrage surrounding the whole thing. Goodell got caught trying to take it easy on a star. Of course they knew about the video. The problem was that it got released and there has been so much outcry about Rice's two game slap on the wrist that Goodell had to act and try and save face. Ravens did so because they too were in the line of fire. Rice should have had at least a one year suspension WITHOUT PAY just on the premise alone in the first place. They only cut him because they were starting to look REALLY, REALLY bad for keeping him around after video surfaced. They should have cut him in the first place.

 Murdius Maximus wrote:
No he was cut and banned because of the outrage surrounding the whole thing. Goodell got caught trying to take it easy on a star. Of course they knew about the video. The problem was that it got released and there has been so much outcry about Rice's two game slap on the wrist that Goodell had to act and try and save face. Ravens did so because they too were in the line of fire. Rice should have had at least a one year suspension WITHOUT PAY just on the premise alone in the first place. They only cut him because they were starting to look REALLY, REALLY bad for keeping him around after video surfaced. They should have cut him in the first place.

Personally, I think what it is, is that YES, the team and league knew *something* happened in the realm of Domestic violence/abuse. Without any real evidence, they said, "OK, we don't stand for, or tolerate this behavior, here's a couple games' suspension"... Fast forward to a couple days ago, or however long it was, and now it's public record, the actual footage of what exactly went down... So, before we had a punishment with no real evidence, and now we have evidence where neither the Team nor League want to say "well, what our players do on their off time is their own business" and if they want to actually show themselves as being tough on things like DV, as they are a VERY public group, they absolutely had to get rid of the clown.

TMZ is reporting that the NFL new of the existence of the video, but did not see it? I think I've got that right. They also said they'll reveal evidence confirming as much tomorrow.

 Alfndrate wrote:
TMZ is reporting that the NFL new of the existence of the video, but did not see it? I think I've got that right. They also said they'll reveal evidence confirming as much tomorrow.

Lol, basically an online tabloid, that's rich.... Also, I believe that the official stance on the evidence is that both the Team and League knew about it (because it was reported as such when the story broke that there was video evidence), but the video "released" today was not available to be viewed by either party.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
TMZ is reporting that the NFL new of the existence of the video, but did not see it? I think I've got that right. They also said they'll reveal evidence confirming as much tomorrow.

Lol, basically an online tabloid, that's rich.... Also, I believe that the official stance on the evidence is that both the Team and League knew about it (because it was reported as such when the story broke that there was video evidence), but the video "released" today was not available to be viewed by either party.

I literally cannot believe the league didn't see this. Seeing as both peter king and Chris mortenson described the exact events in the video in question in articles MONTHS ago. Peter king has since bumblingly refuted his own article but mortenson who described the events exactly(1punch, janay's head hit railing) has not done that yet. There is literally ZERO chance the league/ravens didn't see this unless they chose to not view it, which IMO is far worse.

Chancetragedy wrote:
There is literally ZERO chance the league/ravens didn't see this unless they chose to not view it, which IMO is far worse.

That is, IMO debatable, since guys like Mortenson and King are journalists of some variety, so they probably have more freedom to acquire this sort of information as opposed to a person's employer.

The NFL employs ex-FBI and the like as investigators for league security. If a journalist can call in a favor and get to see a video, an entity with the wealth and resources of the NFL CERTAINLY can. Don't be naive.

@whembly -- People wanted to believe it went down more like he said...that she freaked out on him, he defended himself by pushing her away, and her head hit the elevator. Horrible and wrong...absolutely. But you kinda hoped that there was even the smallest accidental component.

However, what the video showed was much different, and worse. It's not just that he hit her. It's stuff like him standing over her calmly after it happened, never really checking to see if she was okay, and then coldly using her as a door stop. It wasn't a crime of passion...it was something closer to psychopathic and really makes you think that wasn't the first time he's hit a woman.

 gorgon wrote:
The NFL employs ex-FBI and the like as investigators for league security. If a journalist can call in a favor and get to see a video, an entity with the wealth and resources of the NFL CERTAINLY can. Don't be naive.

Journalists can get FOIA requests in, but an ex-FBI guy, I doubt could "call in a favor" to get information on an active/ongoing investigation... As ESPN has been repeating the overall timeline, it has brought up again, that Rice was entered into a "pre-trial intervention program" which suggests to me that criminal charges may still come forward, regardless of whether the wife wants them too... ESPECIALLY with the video evidence being made public now (and good luck finding a fair and impartial jury with this)

@ensis - So in an investigation isn't it the NFL's obligation to get all relevant information? If they were able to obtain the video outside the elevator why couldn't they get the video from inside? It's from the same source who was obviously willing to divulge it. Unless they decided they didn't want to see it. In which case they were either morally corrupt deciding it didn't matter or they're lying and they saw it and were hoping it wouldn't get out.

No opinion on the Rice thing.... let it play out.

Every team from the NFC East started out horrid. These were the scores at half time....
NYG were down 14-7
Wash was down 14-6
Dallas was down 28-3
Eagles were down 17-0
Two teams were able to recover.... as seen in the final scores... Only one managed a win.
NYG lost 14-35 (Det)
Dallas lost 17-28 (SF)
Wash lost 6-17 (Hou)
Philly Won 34-17 (Jax)

Eli managed a whopping 53 QB rating. RG3 got the best rating of the four, 96.7, but his team just couldn't find the endzone. Philly and Dallas Def both stiffened up for the second half, but Dallas couldn't get the SF Off off the field fast enough.

As an Eagles fan I like the outcome but really, that was just a poor showing from the once powerful NFC east.

Yeah, he was in such distress and so threatened with bodily harm that he just had no other choice than to clock her one.

Who is even arguing that meanD? I think we are all in pretty heavy agreement Rice is a scumbag for this...

sar·casm
ˈsärˌkazəm
noun
the use of irony to mock or convey contempt.

Just throwing in my 2 cents to support the mocking of RR.

Ok. Guess I didn't get it, carry on ;p

It's morning, I'll forgive you

* * *

Some news outlets are reporting that the casino has said that the NFL did *not* request the video of RR's incident.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2192202-nfl-reportedly-didnt-request-ray-rice-domestic-violence-video-for-investigation

Yeah....if they didn't SEE it, it must NOT have happened.

@chance I get what you're saying, but based on everything we have to go by, the NFL did not see, nor have access to see, the interior of the elevator until monday.


Now, the Ravens are not making the same claims as the League is, but Harbaugh did say in his interview that he hadn't seen the video because it "wasn't available" to him.

Obviously, this situation will continue playing out, but for the moment I feel that I have to take the word of the team and league when they say they hadn't seen the video until monday.




@helgrenze there was some talk on sports radio yesterday about how "dumb" the Cowboys play calling was. There was a feeling that Murray was running all over the 9ers defense, but they almost never really took advantage of it... As soon as they got closer to the endzone, they tried passing it, when it was clear that SF wasn't really able to stop the running game.

Roger Goodell and the NFL knew Ray Rice knocked out Janay Palmer in the elevator BEFORE this latest video emerged. Rice admitted to it plus the initial video (outside the elevator) tells the story. Rice gets a 2 game suspension after admitting he knocked out his wife/girlfriend in the elevator. So why is everyone acting so alarmed when a video is leaked showing everything we already knew and what Rice already admitted to? Admittedly, Rice's inititial punishment should've been a indefinate suspension but why did his punishment change after seeing a video of what everyone already knew? It's like watching a porn video and pretending to be shocked at all the nudity. This feigned outrage is nothing but PR and damage control by the NFL. The NFL is only concerned about two things: money and image. If there's something out there that tarnishes the NFL image - burying it. If it doesn't create a new revenue stream - sue it.

Quite a good summation by one of the BR posters. Credit to him!

Truly is the National Felon League

@Ensis

So let's say the NFL and the Ravens truly did not see the video (I think they did but that's neither here nor there), what difference does it make, exactly? Does not seeing the video absolve them from the woefully, tragically inadequate response to this?

Willful ignorance is not an excuse.

 curran12 wrote:
@Ensis

So let's say the NFL and the Ravens truly did not see the video (I think they did but that's neither here nor there), what difference does it make, exactly? Does not seeing the video absolve them from the woefully, tragically inadequate response to this?

Willful ignorance is not an excuse.

No, it isn't. My personal thinking on their line of thinking/reasoning is that "well, we saw the video from the outside of the elevator, so something happened, and so we need to do something... But it probably isn't that bad, I mean, guys say things are worse than they really are, so when he says he "knocked her out" he probably means he just hit her, which is bad, but isn't *really* that bad" But then they see the video and say "damn, when he said he knocked her out, he really meant it... this is much worse than we thought, we need to do more"


It does bring to light certain societal issues that are still relevant to today's world, and makes people who have not, or do not experience it realize that something like DV is VERY ugly, which hopefully leads to better awareness of help/help programs for people.

The problem in that is that it is not just Ray Rice saying "I knocked her out." There's also the video of him dragging her unconscious body out of an elevator and dumping her on the floor.

This is not a matter of interpreting one man's words for the truth. We saw exactly what happened. Even just the exterior video implies a huge amount of activity, how can you POSSIBLY be surprised at the content of the interior video?

Not surprised at all... But I think there's an element of actually seeing it, as opposed to only having to imagine it that brings that sick feeling to the stomachs of many who have seen it.

I think we all have to admit that, prior to this, there was some level of denial about how bad DV is (unless you've lived through it, or currently live in it)... seeing things like this probably don't really surprise people, but it shocks them because they are having their "blinders" taken off and can actually see how bad it really is.


During the Monday Night games halftime shows, they showed numerous interviews with players from around the league, and I think it's a good thing they got rid of RR, because a lot of guys would have been targetting him.... When there are players visibly choking up due to their past experiences with this (the one Pittsburgh player they interviewed said his mom actually died because of DV), and you combine this with an already violent game, it's just not a good recipe for the players involved.

Of course, that has absolutely no bearing on WHY the league and Ravens cut RR (as was mentioned earlier its all about $ and image with the League)

I'd agree with that entirely. It's one thing to read the stories and statistics, it's quite another to see it happen on camera.

That said, I think that was the bigger reason for the league's and Raven's lack of action on it. They saw the whole video, and just locked up in a bit of panic. Ignorance to domestic violence is rife in their reactions to it, such as Commissioner Goddell interviewing Mrs. Rice...with Mr. Rice, her abuser, in the room with her. Basically got her testimony with the gun right to her head if she spoke out.

Do I think Goddell intended that? No. But it shows a huge degree of ignorance and incompetence.

LOL... was this ever called a penalty?

Yes whembly. He was slapped with an "Unnecessary Roughness" 15 yard penalty.

 TheMeanDM wrote:
Yes whembly. He was slapped with an "Unnecessary Roughness" 15 yard penalty.

LOL... okay... because that looks kinda, sorta accidental.

Also, the next commish??

She couldn't do any worse than Goodell has.

I think during the "quiet" times he has done fine...but when the gak hit the fan, well, he kind of fell apart.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And I agree, I honestly think it was completely accidental that he connected with his face. I believe Brown thought that the punter was going to go low, and so he was leaping....but the dude didn't go anywhere and when he was coming down, well, foot...meet face...