Amazing what having a nice chat with your boss can do for your job. According to reports, because Ray Rice had a “good” meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, his suspension for domestic abuse and third-degree assault is only two games and a $58,000 fine. Rice will also be in a diversion program to avoid jail time.
Fantastic. Considering a quote from the NFL’s Head of Human Resources, Robert Gulliver: “We just simply don’t tolerate instances of domestic violence.”
Well, apparently you do. You do not tolerate Robert Mathis using a pregnancy drug to possibly mask performance-enhancing drug use (4 games), you do not tolerate the use of pot (16 games for Josh Gordon), but when someone is caught on camera punching their fiancé and dragging their body on security cameras at a casino, I guess a meeting can let that slide.
I have heard the excuses for Rice. “She was attacking him too” is a popular one. Okay? What is your point exactly? He is a 206-pound professional athlete. Somehow I really do not think his life was in any kind of danger. Even if she did attack him, that is still zero excuse to knock her unconscious and drag her body around like a caveman.
This sends a horrific message to the fans of the league: we have a zero tolerance policy on weed, but are willing to be lenient on domestic abuse. We want to change rules to prevent injuries in the NFL, but we will not do squat to help the brain damage Rice’s fiancé (now wife) may have suffered.
Rice’s quote after the incident is disturbing: “I won’t call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down; it’s not getting up.”
Awesome. Turn this incident of you punching a woman and knocking her out into a personal struggle that you need to overcome. If he is saying things like that in a prepared statement to the media, it really makes you wonder what he said behind closed doors to Roger Goodell.
If anyone who did not have access to Rice’s money and connections did what he did, they would be fired and in prison faster than Rice’s 40-yard dash time. Yet he got diversion. A friend of mine got diversion for shoplifting $24 worth of CDs from Wal-Mart. If he had taken $50, diversion would not have been an option. But third-degree assault, shoplifting, those are totally comparable.
This is nothing short of a farce considering the supposed zero tolerance regime Goodell has been presiding over. Goodell made himself judge, jury, and executioner of incidents related to damaging the NFL’s reputation. I would say that by giving Rice a slap on the wrist, he has damaged it more than most.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
