Ray Rice

[Arctic Blast]

I doubt the League will let him back. Goodell already screwed the pooch with the 2 game slap on the wrist. The PR hit would be enormous if they let Ray Rice back in next season.

There are 24 active domestic abuse investigations going on right now in the NFL. I wonder how many will receive the same punishment?

If all 24 cases have a video showing a player cold cocking a woman, then I'd expect all of them.

Is that the bar, video?

The guy from Carlina was convicted in court of beating his girlfriend, dragging her by the hair to the bathroom and trying to break her arm by smashing the toilet seat on it while threatening to kill her. He started Sunday.

Greg Hardy appealed the conviction, meaning he's up for a new trial, this time in front of a jury (his choice). If he's found guilty again, dude is hosed, and he should be. Until the trial is over, there isn't a whole lot that's going to be done.

As for the rest, I don't know Rice. I don't want to know him, because I think he's a piece of sh*t because of what he did. He f*cked up. It's now up to him to fix his image. That's his fault, and it's his problem. 6 seconds of your life absolutely CAN and often DOES define you. Welcome to how the world works.

Using your examples, and in my opinion :
-I don't think Donte Stallworth is a murderer. I do think he's a guy who made an incredibly stupid and selfish mistake that cost someone else their life. It's kind of hard to like the guy much after that.
-Jamal Lewis is an unbelievably stupid human being.
-Robbie Alomar, on the other hand, HAS rehabbed his image...it took a long time, but he pulled it off. Others may feel differently, and that's fine.

[Staggerwing]

It's like Stockholm Syndrome.

[mirth]

when it may have just been something so out of character that what they did is unexplainable?

After watching that video, do you honestly think that was the first time Ray Rice abused a woman?

Having met them  both in social situations a few times, yes. I agree with the punishment but I don't think that is who Ray Rice is.

There has never been a hint of anything like this in his past, no calls from neighbors about loud arguments, no previous charges that were dropped, no mysterious bruises or long periods of time where his wife/girlfriend was MIA. I think he was drunk, they got into a nasty argument and he made a stupid mistake.

Okay. Continue to socialize with him then. I don't care what a good guy he actually is, not after watching a video of him lay out his girlfriend and then react as though he swatted a mosquito.

[Barthheart]

Men don't hit women. No excuses. Drunk or not. First time or not. It's despicable act. The guy is a piece of shit. Period.
Up here the police don't need the abused to file a complaint. If they have evidence of an assault they can lay charges and arrest the POS.
Rice would be rotting in jail up here with that video.....

[mirth]

Is that the bar, video?

It's a bar. It's enough to kick Ray Rice out of the league.

The guy from Carlina was convicted in court of beating his girlfriend, dragging her by the hair to the bathroom and trying to break her arm by smashing the toilet seat on it while threatening to kill her. He started Sunday.

He should be gone from the league as well then.

[Steelgrave]

6 seconds of your life does not define you.

In 6 seconds you can decide if you are going to jump into the water to save a drowning person or if you are going to pull out your Iphone and film it instead.

In 6 seconds you can decide to pull a trigger or not, steal from your employer, return the extra change the fast food cashier gave you by mistake or just drive off, help your neighbor struggling with a heavy load or shut your blinds.

In 6 seconds you can slam your fist into the cheek of the woman you outweight by 100 pounds and claim to love, knock her unconscious, then drag her limp body off the elevator or you can turn away from her anger and be a man.

Damn right six seconds can define who you are!

Listening to Baltimore sports radio yesterday was one excuse for Rice after another....words like "scapegoat", etc.... It's enough to gag a maggot.

And as for having met Rice socially, I've met Hall of Famer Earl Campbell on more than one occasion (HoF...words which will never be in front of Rice's name). Earl's a helluva nice guy and it's worth noting there has never been a hint of scandal attached to his name. But do I know him? I know the guy I've met in social settings. Who you are in public, among your fans and well wishers, doesn't mean that's who you are in private. Bottom line is you just don't do that to a woman, then claim that's not who you are. Because when the pressure was on....that's exactly who you were.

[Marty Ward]

Greg Hardy appealed the conviction, meaning he's up for a new trial, this time in front of a jury (his choice). If he's found guilty again, dude is hosed, and he should be. Until the trial is over, there isn't a whole lot that's going to be done.

So it's not the evidence that matters, it's if you are convicted of something?

[Marty Ward]

This sums it up pretty well.

"Maybe I'm more scared of everyone having the same opinion than most, maybe I don't like the typecasting of any individual as entirely good or evil, but the entire absence of context in social media mobs is downright terrifying to me. Social media mobs take complex issues and dumb them down into individualized dramas. RAY RICE IS EVIL! FIRE ROGER GOODELL! Pitchforks, angry words, but the end result is they often miss their targets and trivialize the larger issues at stake — why does it take a video of an athlete punching his wife to make us care about domestic assault?

Ray Rice isn't a saint, but he's not the worst player to ever play in the NFL either. Not even close to it. Every NFL team has players who have been accused of more serious crimes than Rice. Demonizing Rice or Goodell ignores the larger issue here, that the prosecutor's office watched this video and chose to allow Rice to entre a pretrial diversionary program. Doesn't that say much more about our society's views on domestic assault than what Goodell does? That's the story here, not the drama surrounding Rice."

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/outkick-the-coverage/ray-rice-story-shows-the-power-of-a-tape-090914   

[Marty Ward]

when it may have just been something so out of character that what they did is unexplainable?

After watching that video, do you honestly think that was the first time Ray Rice abused a woman?

Having met them  both in social situations a few times, yes. I agree with the punishment but I don't think that is who Ray Rice is.

There has never been a hint of anything like this in his past, no calls from neighbors about loud arguments, no previous charges that were dropped, no mysterious bruises or long periods of time where his wife/girlfriend was MIA. I think he was drunk, they got into a nasty argument and he made a stupid mistake.

Okay. Continue to socialize with him then. I don't care what a good guy he actually is, not after watching a video of him lay out his girlfriend and then react as though he swatted a mosquito.

I will if the opportunity comes up again though I think he may leave Baltimore, he's not the most popular guy here now.

You probably socialize, and even like, people who do far worse but you don't know about it because there are no tapes or accusations you know of. You make think different if it comes out that someone you KNOW is not that type of person actually made a mistake.

[Marty Ward]

Using your examples, and in my opinion :
-I don't think Donte Stallworth is a murderer. I do think he's a guy who made an incredibly stupid and selfish mistake that cost someone else their life. It's kind of hard to like the guy much after that.
-Jamal Lewis is an unbelievably stupid human being.
-Robbie Alomar, on the other hand, HAS rehabbed his image...it took a long time, but he pulled it off. Others may feel differently, and that's fine.

I agree, they all made a mistake and then went on to show that they were not defined by it, that that is not who they are. I hope that Rice can do the same thing. He did a lot of good things.

[Barthheart]

Punching a woman in the face is not a mistake! Punching anyone in the face is not a mistake. It's a deliberate act of violence. How can you call it a mistake?!?

Having had women in my life that have been the targets of domestic violence, including my mother at the hands of her second husband, this is just that black and white to me. Men who hit women should be in jail.

[mirth]

I will if the opportunity comes up again though I think he may leave Baltimore, he's not the most popular guy here now.

Go figure .

You probably socialize, and even like, people who do far worse but you don't know about it because there are no tapes or accusations you know of. You make think different if it comes out that someone you KNOW is not that type of person actually made a mistake.

Actually, I'm a very good judge of character and generally give scumbags a wide berth.

If it did come out that someone I KNOW cold-cocked his girlfriend, I would completely reevaluate my opinion of and relationship with him. It's unlikely I would delude myself into thinking it was a one time incident and I should give him a pass because he's an otherwise good guy. And even if I did choose to go that route, I'd totally get it if the guy lost his job because a video was released showing him punching a woman in the face and then acting like it was no big deal. I'd also get it if a lot of others seeing that video thought the guy was a woman beating scumbag.

[Martok]

Heh.  Trust ProFootballMock to make their point in a way no one can miss...   

49ers Ray McDonald Sure Glad No Secret Footage Exists Of That Time He Punched His Fiancée


ANTA CLARA, CA – In the wake of the sudden release of Ravens RB Ray Rice, whose shockingly violent domestic assault on his then-fiancée was captured in February via a security camera in an Atlantic City casino elevator and subsequently leaked to the press early Monday morning, embattled 49ers DE Ray McDonald told reporters today that he, “sure is glad” that no secret video footage exists of that one time when he allegedly punched his pregnant fiancée in a horrifying fit of rage during an Aug. 31st birthday party at his San Jose residence.

“Whew, there but for the grace of God go I, y’know?” McDonald reportedly said while reading the news of Rice’s termination by the Ravens. “What happened to Ray is sad and all, but it’s a cautionary tale for all men: under no circumstances should you ever, EVER lay your hands on a woman in anger, if you think there might possibly be a security camera rolling nearby somewhere. That applies to pretty much any public place: parking lots, malls, elevators, etc. Part of being a mature NFL player means only striking your lady in the comfort of your own home, where your privacy can be assured.”

Added McDonald: “I mean, it’s just good business sense, career-wise. Roger Goodell has made it clear that he will NOT tolerate abuse of women. At least, not if any video footage that could embarrass the league is released to the public, anyway. And that’s a chance that we as players just can’t afford to take. If some hidden camera somewhere gets a good angle of you punching your chick when she starts getting mouthy, then your career could be FINISHED, man. That’s why I try to mentor the younger players by reminding them that they’re much better off smacking their girls in private, where all they’re risking is a much more sensible two to six week suspension, at the most.”

When shocked reporters suggested to McDonald that perhaps the better course of action would be to not strike women at all, under any circumstances, EVER, regardless of the existence of video cameras, McDonald tensed up for a moment, narrowed his eyes, then raised a hand as if to strike the assembled media pool while snarling, “You think you know better than me? I think maybe it’s time I give you a lesson in not talking back.”

[Marty Ward]

Punching a woman in the face is not a mistake! Punching anyone in the face is not a mistake. It's a deliberate act of violence. How can you call it a mistake?!!

So if someone who has never hit a women before is stone drunk, gets into a heated argument and punches a woman they didn't make a mistake, it was some calculated move, some hidden inner desire?

[Marty Ward]

Actually, I'm a very good judge of character and generally give scumbags a wide berth.

So even before this happened you thought Ray Rice was a scumbag because you knew he hit women?