Test of the NFL

Brian W

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Here's the big test for the NFL. Does a child beater get a pass because he's the greatest running back of his generation, or does he get fired like the aging running back wife beater?
 

Dave68124

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Saw a clip on College Game Day or something and sometimes we just talk nonsense. Do men who hit women or children belong in prison - absolutely yes. There is no excuse for spousal abuse of any kind. However, what ever happened to due process and willing to completely throw out the notion that someone is innocent until proven guilty based on the type of alleged crime they committed.

Ray Rice's video pretty much put the nail in his coffin and that is enough evidence for me to say he should be done. A.P. I think is riding a line and based on what I have heard he likely crossed it, but we should at least allow the facts do their talking rather than innuendo and unsubstantiated claims.

Regardless if you are an overpaid star athlete or the blue collar guy who goes to work 8-5 everyday or somewhere in between, I think we would all demand due process if it were us being accused.
 

Dr Zaius

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You know, the only problem is that Ray is still (apparently happily) married, and it's his wife and family who will be financially punished if he is permanently booted. She no doubt wrestled over what the right thing to do was, and for reasons of her own she decided it was better for her to stay with him. Remember they weren't married at the time, so she elected to forgive, move past it, and go ahead and marry him. If he now loses his job, they'll no doubt be forced to sell off most of their assets and will most likely lose their big house, etc.

I'm not saying that's a rationale for justifying what he did in any way, I'm merely observing that kicking him out now will have the net effect of financially ruining her as well. So she will get penalized twice.
 

Brian W

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Saw a clip on College Game Day or something and sometimes we just talk nonsense. Do men who hit women or children belong in prison - absolutely yes. There is no excuse for spousal abuse of any kind. However, what ever happened to due process and willing to completely throw out the notion that someone is innocent until proven guilty based on the type of alleged crime they committed.

Ray Rice's video pretty much put the nail in his coffin and that is enough evidence for me to say he should be done. A.P. I think is riding a line and based on what I have heard he likely crossed it, but we should at least allow the facts do their talking rather than innuendo and unsubstantiated claims.

Regardless if you are an overpaid star athlete or the blue collar guy who goes to work 8-5 everyday or somewhere in between, I think we would all demand due process if it were us being accused.
Well, Rice has had his due process in the legal system. AP has not yet, but has admitted to beating his four year old, just that he did so as a concerned father and not as a child molester. I doubt the child knows the difference.

I find it disturbing that so many people want Rice fired due to the video. Why not before the video? What do people think knocking someone unconscious looks like?

I think ESPN, NBC, ABC et al have behaved shamefully, far worse than the NFL. On one show this weekend an ESPN announcer, echoing the problem with loss of salary for the spouse, said that the NFL makes enough money and it should "pay". What hypocrisy.
 

Brian W

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I'm not saying that's a rationale for justifying what he did in any way, I'm merely observing that kicking him out now will have the net effect of financially ruining her as well. So she will get penalized twice.
The loss of employment is an issue in most domestic violence cases. However, in this case, why do you think the family will be financially ruined? Rice has been in the league for many years and was on the tail end of his career anyway. He may have enough investments never to work again, or he may have to find a job.

He has already earned more money in his life than I or most people ever will. If cutting his career a few years short is going to ruin him, then he was facing ruin in a few years (or less) anyway when he was tossed the curb by the NFL. NFL running back careers average less than four years. Rice has been in the league for six already.
 

Dave68124

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Another NFL player has been arrested for "Assault".

The NFL needs a good "cleansing" of the "un-controllables"......
The irony that we expect them to act in a completely violent way between the whistles and even cheer loud when they are extra-violent, but they are expected to bottle it up. And no, I am in no way defending any man who hits a woman, but the irony of it all is quite striking.
 

JOKippe

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After the commissioner of football solves the problem of domestic violence in the United States, perhaps he can move on to ensuring world peace and a cure for cancer as well.
 
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