Ray Rice Fiasco

Who has the statistics for domestic violence caused by people with violent jobs like football players, cops, prison guards, etc.? One would assume it is exponentially higher than the general population, but I haven't seen an actual study.

Continue to unfold, how? Running off your theory the NFL had seen it, why not destroy the tape or buy silence about it rather than leave a copy out there that could damage their reputation?

Because there was a possibility that he was just getting a spider off of her. (referencing SNL's Jay-Z Solange skit)

I think there's an outside chance that Goodell steps down after this. This is such an unreal debacle.

Also, Deadspin ran a compilation video of ESPN's coverage of the situation from before the new footage came out, and it's just embarrassing on every level. Dudes talking about how the woman needs to not provoke the man and that she played a role. Holy shit. There is nothing that she could POSSIBLY say that could warrant what he did. Shit was straight out of a boxing ring.

This wasn't more of an severe charge cause the fiancé didn't press it and now that they are married she won't testify.

Also, if you punch someone at the bar and they have no serious injuries you'd get the same slap on the wrist. I'd imagine the courts are looking at it in the same vein.

Not sure why anyone is shocked. Like I assume everyone in the NFL had a rap sheet. Raw Lewis killed a dude.

Traded him for someone from the waiver wire just yesterday; good timing on my part

Yah, this could Fuck up someone's fantasy.

Okay....

Lets look at some things here.

First - on the side of the Prosecution, they saw the tape and they made a deal with a First Time Offender. That changes the entire scope of what the prosecution can do, especially on a third degree misdemeanor. Legally, the prosecutor was in the right to offer a Pretrial Intervention Program. This is not an uncommon thing to do, particularly given the degree of the crime and that the offender had no prior issues with the law. What the State of NJ and the Atlantic County prosecutors office were well within their rights to enter into such an agreement. The entire idea of Pretrial Intervention/Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition is that it serves as a means of rehabbing a first time offender without requiring prison/etc. This response isn't out of the ordinary at all, I might add. It's a standard response and offer made by the prosecutors office for first time offenders without any charges on their rap sheet to begin with. The prosecutors did what they thought was the right option and I don't blame them for that. They understand the nuances of the law better than most do, and if it was made in light of the fact that he was Ray Rice and not some shmuck, an issue I seriously doubt, then by all means it is what it is.

Second - I think the NFL knew about what happened and didn't give a damn until the media backlash and the tape being leaked. I think they knew what happened and, if you believe many of the Sports Writers out there who have trusted sources in the NFL such as Adam Schefter, Jane McManus, Pete King, Chris Mortensen, then someone's lying to cover up the shitty penalty as a result of the backlash and give the NFL the cover of legal protection for their indefinite suspension of Rice. Likewise, I think the higher ups in the Ravens organization knew and thought they'd be fine unless the video came out. They just didn't care given the various other offense and crimes committed by players across the league.

Third - I honestly believe things get interesting at this point. Where's the NFLPA in all this? I think this is also where lawsuits will happen. My question is how much of this will fall under the NFLPA's collective bargaining agreement's equivalent of a Double Jeopardy issue (read: Fifth Amendment violation), a Clause 46 Violation. Depending on what actually comes out (who knew what, who saw what, etc.), there may be more than just issues with the suspension here. This is the intriguing stuff.

Either way... drafting Ray Rice was a fucking bust this year.

Rice DQ helped me get a win first week.

This will blow over in a season. He'll go on a PR campaign and the Union will fight to have this overturned. Gotta love how it took a video for people to be faux shocked. Like what did you think a punch from a pro football player would be like.

Did anyone else notice the wife's outrage that Rice won't be playing this year? In case you were wondering she isn't entitled to past earnings and I don't think he's earned anything this year, so she won't get anything from a divorce.

Maybe it's my cynical nature but I think she's pissed her meal ticket isn't getting paid anymore. I'd bet money that had they been married for a few years (therefore entitled to some money in divorce) she would be outraged at his behavior and taking his ass to divorce court the second that taped got leaked.

Just an aside, but both parties were charged with assault when thus happened...

It's certainly possible... but I find it improbable that the NFL did not see the footage of the surveillance video until yesterday. The league claims in a statement made today (9/9) that, "Security for Atlantic City casinos is handled by the New Jersey State Police ("NJSP"). Any videos related to an ongoing criminal investigation are held in the custody of the state police. As we said yesterday: We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us." In response to this, the New Jersey State Police said the statement from the NFL is not accurate. "Investigations of incidents on the casino floor are handled by the NJSP, but this occurred in the elevator and was handled by the Atlantic City Police Department," an NJSP spokesman said. "We never had the video."

Why the discrepancy in the two accounts?

Obviously, something is not right here, and like I said at the beginning, while its certainly possible that the league and the Baltimore Raven's head office/owner were in the dark the whole time, I find it improbable that they did not see the footage of Ray Rice attacking his wife until it was on CNN yesterday.

They might claim that they were not aware of the extent of the brutality/viciousness of the attack. They would give you the excuse that they were only aware that Ray Rice did in fact hit his wife, and admitted to doing so. Does that make him any the less guilty? Maybe the NFL and the Raven's head office didn't know the details, but if they didn't know, it was because they didn't want to know.

In all likelihood, what happened is they saw the footage and decided that the incident did not warrant totally ruining Mr. Rice's life, so they dished out a less harsh punishment of suspension for 2 games... however, after TMZ Sports leaked the video and major news outlets got a hold of the footage, the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL had no choice but to change their stance as a form of damage control to lessen the media nightmare.

from a NFL standpoint, I personally think it's not a big deal. if the Ravens are worried about the PR mess, they fire him (which they did) similar to Hernandez being fired from the Pats. he's hired to carry a ball, not be a model husband. just like we hire plumbers to get the shit out of our toilets, not because they go to church every Sunday. if someone like a guidance counselor, a baseball coach, scout master, or priest did something like this, I agree, grounds for being exiled, those people hold themselves out as role models. but for goodness sake, he's a FOOTBALL PLAYER, and a pretty damn good one. I firmly believe that if this video never came out, as soon as he got 20 fantasy points after his 2 game suspension, no one would give a damn.

I hate the fact that the NFL has turned into a separate judicial system. I agree with fining people for mouthing off to refs, PEDs, spygate, bounties, flagrant hits (Suh anyone?), or any violence towards fans, those affect the course of the game and don't make it a level playing field. football related instances should be handled in football court. personal instances should not get penalties from a parent organization that's not the employer of the accused. again, if someone's employer wants to fire them, they have that prerogative, just like if I get a DUI or drug charge, my bank has the prerogative to fire me, but unless it's a securities related offense, FINRA has no right to ban me, and any other firm is free to hire me if they want to. if someone beats their wife, smokes weed, drives drunk, whatever, those are all illegal. I acknowledge, and domestic violence is a serious issue, but that should be handled by the judicial system already in place.

on another note, I feel this way about a lot of things, if you can do the job you're hired for in a clean way and you're not one of my associates, I don't care about the rest. if you're a good politician and you cheat on your wife, so long as you're not funneling taxpayer money to keep your slampiece quiet, who gives a damn (yes that was a reference to Clinton)? if you're a great hedge fund manager, as long as you aren't doing any ponzi schemes, you can worship the devil, smoke crack, and have face tattoos, I don't care! I think people are too quick to flame someone because they aren't a model citizen. I admit, Ray Rice is a dick, you should never put your hands on a woman, period, but this is not grounds for a lifetime ban like some people are saying.

and let the angry rebuttals begin.....

One, I don't cheer for any football team. Two, I wasn't talking about the Ray Rice video being fake. I was talking about the ISIS video.

I could care less if some idiot knocked someone out cold, much less if it hurts some football team.

Goodell might get fired for this shit show he has caused by being completely negligent and then trying to cover up the negligence.

1-hit ko in real life

true pokemon baller status

He will return when the money brought in by him playing > cost of him on the team. Nothing but a financial decision.

In case you were wondering, Steven A. Smith is still a giant, festering piece of shit: http://deadspin.com/stephen-a-smith-doesnt-think-the-nfl-has-a-domestic…

Also, this is pretty damning: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FBN_RICE_VIDEO?SITE=AP&SECTION=H…

We should just lynch Goodell. I mean Fuck waiting for the facts. He didn't summarily execute rice for committing the most heinous of crimes. Bros got to go.

The press honestly is the greatest enemy in this country. Does nothing but whips the dumbest people up into a frenzy and ruins lives.

TNA:

The press honestly is the greatest enemy in this country. Does nothing but whips the dumbest people up into a frenzy and ruins lives.

This x10000. I'm starting to realize how dangerous the press is. With power comes responsibility. Ppl are mindless sheep basically just sitting around waiting to have their opinions handed to them. It's fascinating. Numerous stories of black gangs jumping a white person in confirmed hate crimes- pass them up, no one would care. One story of white cops shooting a black person- shows potential so they run with it -> chaos. Numerous confirmed cases of domestic violence in sports- pass them up, no one would care. The ray rice case shows potential so they run with it -> he gets sacrificed. The Rice sacrifice will do NOTHING to fix domestic violence, just like the Sterling sacrifice will do NOTHING to fix racism. These are nothing more than examples of the media picking their spots, the ensuing circus drumming it up to a whole other level, and the towns people consequentially grabbing their pitchforks. Nobody gives a FUCK about this story if it's back page news, that's not opinion it's fact. I just looked it up and there's been 83 domestic violence ARRESTS on NFL players since 2000 (that's only the NFL, AND only those that have been reported). Media must have been sleeping at the wheel to have not told the sheeple to lynch all those guys too. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/arrests/

And just to be clear, I don't condone what happened in any way. I'm merely pointing out that this is nothing more than a media directed sacrifice. If you want to fix a problem, fix the problem. But sorry for thinking that publicly shaming someone who's a microcosm of the actual problem isn't the best way to go about it. These cases will continue, and like everything else the media will continue to pull out of their hat which ones to run with. On the bright side, we only got (checks watch) about 16 hours til this story is gone and the media's chosen the next one.

Now reports are coming out that police sent video of the punch to the NFL back in April. If it's revealed that Goodell tried to turn a blind eye to this, he's fucked.

TheKing:

I disagree. I think that, if anything, it's a wake-up call to the league and everyone involved. When you read a police report, it's a lot easier to ignore. When you see the visceral nature of the violence, you simply can't ignore it and it pushes people to take it more seriously and not just turn a blind eye.

I get your point but wouldn't you agree it's a bit (dare I say) unfair that Rice gets chosen as the whipping boy for this when it is clearly a MUCH bigger problem. All for why? Because there was a camera there for his but not for anyone else's? My point is basically just that if you want to enact stricter DV penalties in the NFL, do so because it's the right thing to do. Not because you were held hostage by the media induced mob. Same shit with Sterling. Can anyone honestly say that his being forced to sell the team is going to actually accomplish anything? No, but the NBA HAD to make a move, why?.... because again, the media induced mob demanded action. I don't even know anymore. Just seems a bit much the way they can chose their spots like this. Idk.

The press is nothing but a tool. We don't learn anything. They dry hump ratings and move on. Bunch of ignorant, know nothing Losers. I don't want a government controlled press, I want no press. Let's have in depth analysis and the mouth breathing morons watching weather and the lotto read out.

And am I the only one that hates espn becoming MSNBC?

We've reach the point where the US is worse than any fascist country. At least in Iraq, Libya, etc the people knew the news was trash. US citizens still think this crap is informative.

TheKing:

What is your alternative here? Your basic argument seems to boil down to "well, we've always looked the other way, so why start doing the right thing now?" That's not compelling at all.

As for Sterling, he's a major piece of shit and I blame David Stern for looking the other way all those years while a racist slumlord owned a team. What the NBA did is within its charter and it took a new commish to get it done.

Like I said, if you want to enact stricter DV penalties do so because it's the right thing to do, NOT because you were held hostage by a mob. At this point we've clearly established that the media is a massive force that can merely move the chess pieces around by telling the sheep where to go and the ramifications that follow from doing so. Whether you think THAT'S a good thing or a bad thing is a separate discussion entirely. I personally think it's a very dangerous thing. To each their own. Anyone who thinks that the modern person can read/ watch the news and form their OWN opinions, is being farrrrr too kind. They're going to take what they're fed. Anyway, I'm only tangentially even discussing the rice case at this point so I'm out.

I have completely given up on ESPN (outside of some games they televise like MNF, the occasional decent College football game). Their website is becoming completely obsolete as there are now way better outlets for sports information depending on what you're into such as Profootballtalk, rotoworld, hardballtalk, bleacher report, SB Nation, many great blogs for local or national coverage, etc. The worst thing in my opinion about their website is that every link is a video or an insider only article. I am not retarded, I can read words on a screen without a problem.

I don't think I've watched a full sportcenter or baseball tonight since I was like 18.

The only place I'll give them some credit is for some of the E60, 30 for 30 type shows which can be interesting. I love documentaries though, so this type of show is total wheelhouse for me.

Harsher penalties for domestic violence ARE the right move. Sometimes, or oftentimes, people don't do things because they are the "right thing to do," and need an extra push. And I'd hardly call people being appalled by a video of a guy knocking his fiance the fuck out and then acting indifferent to her unconscious body a "mob."

Would any news outlet host this story if they felt like they would loose money doing so? No, they wouldn't.

Have you guys seen the 2 fake beheading videos made by ISIS's cgi experts?

I wonder if rays wife is going to be banned from football also since she was arrested for assault for hitting and spitting in his face?

I think the people on here who are taking this weird "Rice's punishment is too harsh because of the media or something, whatever" stance need to think about how they'd feel if the woman Rice knocked unconscious in the elevator was their sister.

I think you'd be calling for much worse to happen to Rice. I think you'd blame the media for not doing enough. And I think you'd be looking for Goodell to step down.

My issue is with bias, plain and simple. This isn't a case of Ray rice coming home drunk and kicking his wife's ass because his cosi bread wasn't included in his order. Both parties were drunk, talking shit and assaulting each other. I think he's generally remorseful and going through therapy.

I mean people are calling for his head as if Goodell watched a snuff film. Dude assaulted someone, is paying the price and shouldn't be crucified.

Furthermore, I live in a post racial and post sexism world. I'd be just as upset if rice hit my sister OR my brother. I am both gender and race blind.

I'm against assault in all cases.

The media is the enemy of truth. Flat out. Like absolutely worthless. They are soulless vampires.

I get that people are upset about this, but I cant help but think that this is just another way of sportscenter finding a hot button issue, slapping a big name on it and broadcasting it 24/7 until people cant stop talking about it. Look at the most recent "big" sports stories -Tiger was infidelity, Sterling was racism, Michael Sam was homosexuality, even Tebow was more religon/virginity than anything. I can't remember a sports story that ESPN blew up that was actually about their performance since Jeremy Lin. And he was just famous because they thought it was funny that he was an asian nerd clowning the likes of the NBA for but a brief moment.

I blame it on the crab cakes. Ray Lewis and now this.

Ray Risis

Adrian Peterson was just indicted for child abuse. Let's see how this pans out in the media and the court of public opinion...

His wife needs to buy a gun or better yet divorce the guy. Also there should be a presumption of self-defense if your husband has a history of physical abuse, weighs twice as much as you, and you have a bunch of bruises on you when the police arrive.

Does anyone give any weight to the fact she spit in his face?