Ray Rice and #TISMO

We're back! NFL Season is underway. The sport we love to hate/hate to love is finally here. Time only registers for us in Weeks till late December. Bring back the pizza deals, wings and cold light beer. Football is back ladies and gentlemen. Hard-hitting action, crazy long juke-filled runs, jaw-dropping catches etc. Week 1 is almost over and we're just getting over the highlights from the weekend. Touchdowns galore. Trash talk between fans is already in mid-season form. Fantasy owners are groaning and moaning. Too many injuries already to list. And then this morning we get hit with the new footage of Ray Rice...

Back in February, the all-seeing eyes of TMZ caught wind of an altercation involving one of the NFL's biggest stars, former Ravens running back, Ray Rice. They got their hands on the video of the incident, and uploaded it to their website getting the millions of hits and internet traffic that's needed to run websites as big as theirs these days. The public was shocked to watch Ray Rice dragging his unconscious fiancée, Janay Palmer out of an hotel elevator in Atlantic City. Official reports said Rice knocked his fiancée out after she spit on him and referred to the situation as a "very minor physical altercation."

Rice and Palmer were charged with simple assault in February. In March, Rice's charges were upgraded to third-degree aggravated assault and Palmer's charges were dropped completely. He plead not guilty and he got a year's worth of probation. The NFL gave Rice a two-game suspension and thought hopefully that would be the end of the matter. Rice was welcomed back to M&T Bank Stadium with open arms by fans and the organization. Janay herself even apologized for any part she played that night.

I listed all that because surely any normal human being can look at that and definitely realize something doesn't seem right.

Earlier this morning, the Monday after the first Sunday of NFL play, TMZ dropped some more unreleased footage of the "very minor altercation" in the elevator. Rice hit a woman with a jab and a left hook and she was out cold. He didn't even flinch once. Then he dragged her body out like she was a trash bag. It was disgusting to say the least, but honestly it wasn't anything that we didn't know before. Because no matter what she may have done, nothing excuses a man from hitting a woman.

However, all this still raises a few issues... You can't tell me that the Commissioner and the Ravens didn't see that video. I don't care what you tell me. They saw that video and said "Two games sounds about right." They dropped the ball and now they're backtracking and trying to clean up the incident and have honestly made a bigger mess. Ray Rice is suspended indefinitely and has been cut by the Baltimore Ravens.

I've watched the fallout from afar and I've stated my views once or twice on his suspension. I've seen the stupid comparisons made in relation to Josh Gordon and other NFL players who have served or are currently serving multiple game suspensions in accordance to the NFL's drug policy. Let me stop you right there. It's not about them. It's about Ray. I've always felt that the NFL and Roger Goodell missed an opportunity with this incident to make a stance on domestic abuse. To say that they did not tolerate this in their organization. That a two-game suspension was not enough. They didn't have to burn Ray Rice alive, but definitely use him as an example for a problem that persists today. It really looked like they were trying to just sweep it under the rug and hope everyone forgot. It took almost SEVEN months for an amendment to be made to their policy that involved domestic violence. Better late than never right? Cool. At least they did something right? Sure.

But there's something else that also bothers me. Domestic violence is a big issue. It's nothing to be joked about and it's a problem that affects families throughout the world. Whether it's between a married couple or parents and children. It's disgusting. But as a whole it's treated cavalierly as can be seen with the aftermath of this very incident. It bothers me that people are just realizing that now though because they saw a video of it happening live and why they want so much blood for it. He's not the first athlete to get in trouble for it. He's not even the first NFL player. Robert Sands for the Cincinnati Bengals got arrested just last year for domestic violence against his wife. The list can be found in this report below. It's just weird that it takes all of us watching a video on the interweb of it actually happening to remind us that hey this is a pretty big deal. It's a crazy phenomenon, or as a friend of mine likes to call it, #TISMO (Today in Social Media Outrage).


On the other side of the spectrum, it's also sad that we feel we can judge a man's worth and the entirety of his life based of a 5-minute video clip. I am by no means defending Ray Rice or his actions, but some of the stuff I've seen today is just plain malicious. Why does it take us having to watch a video of a man hitting a woman or listening to a recording of a racist NBA owner to act as a whole? Why is Brandon Marshall still playing? What about Ray McDonald who hit his pregnant girlfriend just last week? This is my love/hate relationship with the social media and media outlets alike in general. Trends are what dictates issues these days. I don't understand it and I wish I could explain it. Because today trends bring money. Or cause you to lose money. 

Donald Sterling had had several allegations of racism made against him in the early 2000s and even went to court for refusing to rent to non-Koreans in in the Koreantown sector of Los Angeles. He was sued by Elgin Baylor for wrongful termination also stating that he was underpaid and treated "as a token because of his own race". It took a recording that we all listened to. Which brought about the outrage and the 24-hour media cycles as well as social media talked about it constantly. This caused the owners who were privy to Sterling's history to finally react because they saw their money was at stake. I promise you that if we hadn't actually heard those disgusting words come out of Sterling's mouth, he'd still be an owner today.

The same thing can be said for the NFL. For a league that abhors scandal but has allowed an alleged murderer to compete, win a Superbowl and have an analyst job. A league in which it always feels its members (players and owners) are being prosecuted for one thing or the other but hands out 1-6 game suspensions as a slap on the wrist. I don't completely agree with Rice losing his job or being suspended indefinitely mainly because it doesn't feel right. It came too late. It was a response to the outrage from fans in a league whose fan base is 45% women. My point is since Rice had to go, especially this late, something needs to be done about the leaders of the NFL because their actions in the past months have been egregious.

Janay was the real victim here. Abused physically and emotionally. We don't have any real inside knowledge on what goes on in their home. They might be reconciled. She might still be suffering. Either way, I don't know if it's alright to have to relive that moment again seven months after the fact and for that I blame TMZ and the NFL. The truth should have gotten out a long time ago and dealt with appropriately.

This scandal shows just how much the NFL cares about protecting its own image as opposed to real issues. Roger Goodell shouldn't be allowed to get away with this because this smells of either gross incompetence or a major cover-up. Because I find it very hard to believe that Harvey Levin could get his hands on that hidden footage and the most powerful sports industry in the world could not. That's ridiculous. 

So at the end of the day, it all comes down to money. How bad of a hit are we going to take if we let this racist owner stay in charge. How much money are we going to lose if we don't try and fix this mess that we've initially made? What if women stop going to games? What if we stop watching games? We'll try to push it to the limit to see just how much they can take but if it's going to cost us money then it's not worth it. How much money are we going to make if we hold on to this tape and drop it Monday morning after NFL opening weekend? 


Ray Rice didn't get cut or suspended indefinitely because the NFL felt it was the right thing to do. Those things happened to him only because we all watched that video.




NFL Arrests http://www.utsandiego.com/nfl/arrests-database/?appSession=783121413903786&RecordID=&PageID=2&PrevPageID=&cpipage=7&CPISortType=&CPIorderBy=

The Rate of Domestic Violence Arrests Among NFL Players (http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-rate-of-domestic-violence-arrests-among-nfl-players/)