List of Sins – Wednesday
The NFL scoreboard does not lie, about the games, the stats, or off the field, the players rap sheets.
Raging is about the only word to describe the cross-section of emotion around the NFL, and in cities and from fans and the media the last 48-hours.
Upon further review, the replay term, the video of the Ray Rice incident is ugly, irresponsible and forever staining.
The Associated Press now has audio as part of the video, and it shows the Baltimore Ravens running back and his then fiancé cursing each other, shoving each other, he made five threatening gestures to her, she spit on him. Then the NFL player knocked her out with a left-handed punch to the jaw. Upon further review, it is pretty gross.
The non-stop stream of criticism has come from every direction. Condemnation of Rice, from teammates and opposing players. Criticism of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for not gaining access to the damning video and the meager 2-game suspension. Heat directed at the Ravens owner Steve Biscotti and GM-Ozzie Newsome for not making themselves available to discuss the suspension-then release.
Now his wife has gone public condemning the media for the way they have reported the story, the intrusion of their life, the picture they have painted, after the pictures shown on the grainy video.
Ray Rice puts his name right up there with other NFL players, who have done horrible things. The list of sins is significant.
Somewhere in the Carolinas, ex-Panthers receiver Rae Carruth is serving a long sentence for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend. Josh Brent of the Cowboys just finished a 90-days prison sentence for a (.18) drunk driving manslaughter conviction in which a teammate died. We remember Dontae Stallworth’s suspension for a drunk driving death of a jaywalker, and the ex-Ram Leonard Little’s one year suspension for running a red light, drunk, killing another woman, who was also driving drunk.
The NFL has its hands full. The Rice crisis is just one of the items on the checklist of problems the league has.
The concussion lawsuits, the pain killer lawsuits, the still to be implemented HGH drug testing plan, the New Orleans Bounty Club, Miami’s Hazing Gate scandal, and the fact a record 38-players (Rice is the 39th) suspended to start the season. All that comes on the heels of player suicides, an owner’s arrest, possible Congressional intervention in the Blackout law.
Of course people will say the PR-type of things, about the player being a family member, and the support we will give him. They will issue generic answers about not wanting to go into private matters of players, as if a new day will make you forget yesterday. It’s a flaw the NFL has about its talented players.
Some say money-corrupts and the NFL cares only about the almighty dollar. The bill on their credibility is coming due. Some say the NFL leadership is tone deaf. Many believe the NFL has lost its moral compass.
Hard to argue with all that, considering what we have just witnessed, and what we have had to report on the last couple of years. NFL instant replay, it’s here, and upon further review, the Ray Rice video is just awful, and another dent in the so-called NFL Shield.
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