The Ray Rice Elevator Video

So can I presume the answer is yes, I do feel I am above the politics rule?

 

I think that somewhat mischaracterizes my outrage here. I'm outraged because John Harbaugh and others were saying outrageous things about domestic violence, things straight out of an SNL skit about what an NFL coach would say about domestic violence. We had a blow-by-blow going here. It was there for the world to read. And nobody cared. Sports columnists didn't even care.

I'm not outraged about Brandon Marshall or Greg Hardy or Brett Myers, and the lack of attention on their stories.

I'm outraged about pack punditry.

And, as far as the '90s go, you'll also note that part of my prediction about how the Rice story would play out wasn't just about video, but timing. This shit was brushed off 5, 10, 20 years ago in a way that I didn't think it would be today, given the right circumstances.

I can be a total fucking idiot, I know, and abrasive to a fault.

But I'm right about a lot of things, too.

 

@MarkMaske: League insiders see "no chance" of Roger Goodell resigning as NFL commissioner even as pressure mounts.

 

I'm sorry you didn't like my answer. I stand by it. It wasn't political.

 

Well said. Give the man a cigar.

 

On March 28, I sent the following to at least 10 publications and Web sites - the ones that today are just flabbergasted over this whole thing.

Maybe it's shittily written. I hope that's why I didn't even get a single courtesy rejection email, let alone a taker:

H: Latest show of indifference to domestic violence an embarrassment for NFL

In the wee hours of February 15, soon after Valentine's Day's official end at the stroke of midnight, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was caught on surveillance video dragging his unconscious fiancee, Janay Palmer, out of an elevator at the Revel Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City.

According to police documents filed at the time, Rice had earlier struck Palmer with his hand, knocking her out. One witness told the sports Web site Deadspin.com that Rice had thrown an "uppercut" at Palmer, with another telling the same site that the running back hit her "like he [would punch] a guy." A Sports Illustrated report indicated that Atlantic City police had footage of the punch. Initially charged with mutual simple assault, Rice was this week indicted by a grand jury of aggravated assault, with the charge against Palmer dropped. His offense is defined as "attempting to cause significant bodily injury, and/or purposely or knowing causing such injury, and/or recklessly causing such injury under extreme indifference to the value of human life."

These are, it should go without saying, serious allegations. And they should doubtless be taken quite seriously by the National Football League, an entity positively drowning in bad publicity over the bad behavior of its players in recent seasons. The biggest story of the most recently completed season was not the Seattle Seahawks mauling of the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl. Rather, it was a dead heat between the first-degree murder arrest of New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez and the pervasive atmosphere of hurtful bullying within the Miami Dolphins locker room, reportedly led by lineman Richie Incognito.

And, of course, it should be lost on no one that, when it comes to athletes acting badly, no one takes a backseat to Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson. His murder trial was the media event of the 1990s, and, for all its sensationalistic qualities, shined a long-needed light on the seriousness of domestic violence in America. If anyone should understand the seriousness of the charges against Rice, it should be, at this point, the NFL and those under its umbrella.

You would think, right?

A few days after the Rice summons was issued, reporters caught up to Ravens head coach John Harbaugh at the NFL's annual scouting combine in Indianapolis. Asked about Rice, Harbaugh faced some options. He could have simply said he intended to let the facts play out. He could have declined to comment entirely. Instead, more than two decades after the brutal murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, John Harbaugh, like a proud papa, told everyone to rest assured, the happy couple were talking things out.

"The two people," Harbaugh said, "they've got a couple of issues they have got to work through. They are both committed to doing that.

"That was the main takeaway for me from the conversation. They understand the issues. They're getting a lot of counseling and those kind of things. That's very positive. That was the main takeway."

Around the same time, Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome also addressed Rice's situation.

"Right now," Newsome said, "I feel very good about his side of the story, but I also feel very good about what he has done since that to help himself to not allow himself to get in a situation like that again."

Owner Steve Biscotti, far from reprimanding his high-profile employees, pledged that "Ray will be here" when camp opens this fall. And that he understood "how embarrassing it is for" both Rice and, unbelievably, Palmer.

First thing first: Neither Harbaugh or Newsome are remotely qualified to speak about how two persons, after such an incident, should go about working things out, unless perhaps the answer is some version of, "they shouldn't." According to Safe Horizon.org, a domestic violence victim advocacy site, women experience 4 million assaults or rapes a year at the hands of their partner. One in three female homicide victims are killed by their partner. A late 1990s report by the U.S. Department of Justice noted that domestic violence accounted for 110,000 emergency room visits by women per year.

This is not to say that Rice is a murderer, or anything close. But he is alleged to have struck Palmer so hard that she lost consciousness. If true - and Rice's lawyer conceded that the video evidence was authentic - that is revolting. In a nation in which domestic violence against women is nothing short of a public health crisis, in which women frequently feel like hostages in their own homes because of the monster living within, the two faces front and center in the Baltimore Ravens organization offered a 19th century solution: Talk it through.

It's unbelievable, really. Until a few decades ago, police were advised, almost universally, to calm down domestic squabbles as best they could, but to understand that couples were ultimately responsible for ironing out their own dispute. Finally, in the 1980s, police departments began enforcing mandatory arrest requirements when probable cause existed to believe a domestic assault had taken place.

In light of all this, it is troubling that Harbaugh's and Newsome's comments have gone largely unnoticed and, certainly, unpunished by the typically image-conscious NFL. Now that Rice has been formally indicted, the time to act has, if it did not weeks before, arrived. A suspension for the three principles would be great. Some kind of verbal reprimand, maybe accompanied by a fine or sensitivity training, would at least be something.

This week, there was at least some sign that the Ravens were starting to get it. Rice's indictment did not spur another round of testimonials about his impeccable character, or friendly advice for Palmer on repairing her damaged relationship. Instead, a bloodless, likely lawyered press release read: "This is part of the due process for Ray. We know there is more to Ray than this one incident."

The guess here is that, when Week 1 kicks off, Ray Rice will not be anyhere near the Baltimore sideline, at least for a few weeks. Perhaps his owner, coach and general manager, to send a message about neanderthal callousness toward domestic violence, should join him in his absence.

 

More unnamed sources. BFD.

 

Is there anything better than attributing a this non quote to "league insiders" at this moment?

 

Jeeeeesus.

 

Yeah. I found that pretty funny, too. I really hope the source is Goodell.

 

Would add a nice piece of biscotti to go with the coffee