Ray Rice

[Fosco33]

I think Czabe's assessments are nearly spot on (go read his post).

Rice admitted to hitting his girlfriend. His fiance acknowledged and sat up there confirming it. The league and police reviewed and provided their punishments.... but since there's a video - you suspend him indefinitely? Rice didn't lie about any of it. It now appears the NFL has, though.

I'm sick of even watching ESPN because it's turning into the 'Days of our NFLives'.

If some schmuck at NFL HQ hid the tape from Rodger - I'd have to guess it's the case for 'plausible deniability' - to me, a sign of weak culture/leadership. And if every punishment is warranted based on video... where's the actual morality/fairness. A crime isn't worse if it's on tape. It MAY be worse for public opinion and therefore the NFL makes a sacrificial lamb.

Imagine if we saw Josh Brent's actual crash (or slamming drinks before hand) instead of still photos. 10 games for killing a teammate! 'Lifetime' for hitting someone.

Bunch of hypocrites.

[pbmax]

I think Czabe's assessments are nearly spot on (go read his post).

Rice admitted to hitting his girlfriend. His fiance acknowledged and sat up there confirming it. The league and police reviewed and provided their punishments.... but since there's a video - you suspend him indefinitely? Rice didn't lie about any of it. It now appears the NFL has, though.

I'm sick of even watching ESPN because it's turning into the 'Days of our NFLives'.

If some schmuck at NFL HQ hid the tape from Rodger - I'd have to guess it's the case for 'plausible deniability' - to me, a sign of weak culture/leadership. And if every punishment is warranted based on video... where's the actual morality/fairness. A crime isn't worse if it's on tape. It MAY be worse for public opinion and therefore the NFL makes a sacrificial lamb.

Imagine if we saw Josh Brent's actual crash (or slamming drinks before hand) instead of still photos. 10 games for killing a teammate! 'Lifetime' for hitting someone.

Bunch of hypocrites.

Brent might be a bad example, though video might have affected his criminal prosecution. He was probably punished according to the Drug and Alcohol Policy by the NFL and it did not have options under than policy, its controlled by the CBA.

Which is precisely why the Personal Conduct Policy has backfired so tremendously in Rice's case. Because Roger is judge, jury and executioner he has virtually unlimited discretion. And almost no one to back him up except by personal testimonial. The Policy is unpopular with the players so they won't help. So when his 2 game decree was met with near universal derision, he immediately began to backtrack.

Remember, the NFL is always looking for new revenue streams and women are one demo they are targeting. The reason the owners like Rogers is that he has been helping increase revenue by leaps and bounds. This incident is a threat to that. Pink clothes and all.

So while Roger is in retreat, they are vulnerable to other revelations or bad PR. When the tape leaks, they are in a full fledged panic. Yes they are hypocrites, but they are hypocrites because this was never about justice, it was about potential football revenue.

Had Goodell experience outside of football, or had he listened to Tagliabue's critique, he would have a similar system to Personal Conduct that they had for Drugs and Alcohol. He would have had a system to rely on and back him up, plus arbitration or access to courts. Retreat wouldn't have been necessary, They could have changed the policy to issue harsher suspensions to satisfy critics and been done with it.

[Fosco33]

Brent might be a bad example, though video might have affected his criminal prosecution. He was probably punished according to the Drug and Alcohol Policy by the NFL and it did not have options under than policy, its controlled by the CBA.

Which is precisely why the Personal Conduct Policy has backfired so tremendously in Rice's case. Because Roger is judge, jury and executioner he has virtually unlimited discretion. And almost no one to back him up except by personal testimonial. The Policy is unpopular with the players so they won't help. So when his 2 game decree was met with near universal derision, he immediately began to backtrack.

Remember, the NFL is always looking for new revenue streams and women are one demo they are targeting. The reason the owners like Rogers is that he has been helping increase revenue by leaps and bounds. This incident is a threat to that. Pink clothes and all.

So while Roger is in retreat, they are vulnerable to other revelations or bad PR. When the tape leaks, they are in a full fledged panic. Yes they are hypocrites, but they are hypocrites because this was never about justice, it was about potential football revenue.

Had Goodell experience outside of football, or had he listened to Tagliabue's critique, he would have a similar system to Personal Conduct that they had for Drugs and Alcohol. He would have had a system to rely on and back him up, plus arbitration or access to courts. Retreat wouldn't have been necessary, They could have changed the policy to issue harsher suspensions to satisfy critics and been done with it.

Totally agree. With his conduct policy, he's now creating a 'moral standard' by measuring games suspended.

2 games for a hit to a head in a game designed to hit an opponent can now be compared to hitting your wife/gfriend/etc, raping a girl at a club, or ranting on the league via social media

What's he to do about Ray McDonald? (jeez, I'm not sure I'd draft anymore Rays... Lewis, Rice, McDonald).

[pbmax]

I think Czabe's assessments are nearly spot on (go read his post).

Rice admitted to hitting his girlfriend. His fiance acknowledged and sat up there confirming it. The league and police reviewed and provided their punishments.... but since there's a video - you suspend him indefinitely? Rice didn't lie about any of it. It now appears the NFL has, though.

At this juncture, Czaban's observation is both correct and has been explained.

The NFL had to overreact after it under reacted at the Raven's (and Rice and Wife's behest). The Ravens were worried about the M&T Bank sponsorship. They should have been more worried about possession of the tape and their cover up of their knowledge of it (they knew it wasn't only a slap gone horribly wrong).

If Goodell had any actual power, he would fine the team and suspend Raven's officials for covering up what they knew. He would fine his own NFL Security staff. And then he would reduce his salary or resign for getting so thoroughly played by amateurs. The Ravens got this over the League Office only because he hadn't seen the video.

The only question is whether Goodell participated or was just incompetent and happy to spout platitudes.