Fallout from Ray Rice decision: What happens to discipline?
- Fallout from Ray Rice decision: What happens to discipline?
A day after Ray Rice was reinstated and made eligible to play in the NFL, no team had jumped to secure his services.
Rice, a former Baltimore Ravens running back, is a free agent. On Friday, an arbiter decided the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell had erred in levying an indefinite suspension on Rice for cold-cocking his fiance in a shocking instance of domestic abuse caught on video.
The problem? Rice already had been suspended two games for the incident. The longer banishment was deemed double jeopardy.
What remains is for the league to pick up the pieces from its mistake, as well for Rice to get on with his life with or without football. Slate.com ran a story with the headline "No, seriously, the NFL does have a domestic violence problem." It appeared in December 2012 and is as poignant today as it was then.
First things first: Goodell was roundly pilloried after his decision was overturned for overreaching in NFL discipline. In Rice's case, Goodell acted in July with the two-game ban, and again with September's indefinite suspension when another, longer video emerged of the events in a casino elevator.
Arbiter Barbara Jones, a former U.S. district court judge, agreed with Rice in his grievance that Goodell had punished him twice for the same infraction. That's forbidden by the NFL collective bargaining agreement. Sports Illustrated laid out the decision and examined why Jones sided with Rice.
Jones criticized Goodell for his handling of domestic abuse incidents. Consider this sentence:
Describing the commissioner as arbitrary is a damning critique because it suggests Goodell operated without any rational rhyme or reason and in violation of the NFLs own rules.
Clearly, Goodell is on the defensive. If he overstepped, which it appears he did, Goodell should be criticized. But now, will that criticism take down the NFL's disciplinary system? Will it take down Goodell? If it forces a change for the better, making league justice more fair and equitable under terms set down by the collective bargaining agreement, fine.
But do we really want to see the next video of a pro football player punching a woman and dragging her from place to place?
Second, the victim in the assault was quoted in a lengthy story by ESPN , in which we're told a reporter met with Janay Rice and conducted follow-up phone calls. This was a good story for a party able to attain access to a victim.
What's troubling to observers might be Janay Rice's ability to forgive, albeit with reservation, her now-husband's physical assault. Hitting her was just part of the matter. They had been arguing for some time, according to her story, and Rice had been abusive to her before the fateful elevator ride.
Janay not only reconciled with Ray after he knocked her out cold, she married him a short time later. She has been at his side during fallout from the February 2014 incident, including his arrest. And now comes an interview in which she stands behind him once again.
If Janay Rice can live with Ray Rice after what happened, more power to both of them.
The question to ask now is not what team will sign Rice. It's which direction sports might take in regard to domestic abuse.
We don't need another incident like the one in which Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend and took his own life .
We don't need any more incidents like Adrian Peterson beating his child with a switch, which led to his indictment.
We don't need another Quincy Enunwa , another Greg Hardy , another A.J. Jefferson . Those three cases plus the Peterson indictment took place within the past year.
And those are just domestic abuse cases. Take a look at the San Diego Union-Tribune's list of NFL player arrests , numbering 771 in the past three years. The instances of substance abuse and anger response leave one to wonder about the state of athletes who behave badly enough to require police and/or court action. That's one case every 36 hours.
Nor do we need any of these instances in other professional sports or in the lives of everyday citizens.
Ray Rice blew it. Roger Goodell blew it. And now the NFL is left with the problem of wondering what happens now.
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A day after Ray Rice was reinstated and made eligible to play in the NFL, no team had jumped to secure his services.
Perhaps it's my imagination, but it seems that is every picture of Janay,her body language shows, fear of her hubby. I'll never understand why she married him after what he did to her...
First off - I have no problem with professional athletes that abuse illegal substances, engage in domestic violence, engage in violence against a child or are convicted of any other felony being banned for long periods or even permanently.
But let us remember that football (or basketball or baseball) is their employment - are we also prepared to accept that a lawyer or a baker or carpenter or a steel worker that is guilty of the same things will be banned from employment in his field forever?
Zero tolerance on domestic violence, violence against a child, sexual assault, use of illegal drugs, etc are all acceptable to me, but the workplace penalties for workers who happen to be athletes should be on par with the penalties with workplace penalties for those in other professions.
Equal protection.....
I could care less what happens to him. I feel bad for her, especially if she married out of fear of him. She must be in absolute fear! If a man EVER laid a hand on me in anger, that would be the last time...there is no second time.