The NFL just keeps digging that hole. They keep attempting to remedy the Ray Rice situation by pressuring the victim and claiming to conduct an internal investigation. All of this could have been dealt with many months ago. The NFL only cared about its bottom line, and it shows.
All of the recent domestic violence arrests have been met with little discipline. There’s also the new case of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. On Friday, he was indicted by a grand jury and processed on child abuse charges. The Vikings benched Peterson for the Patriots game. Peterson is arguably a bigger football star than Rice. It will be interesting to see how the league deals with his case.
This affair has dragged on for months. Ray Rice and Janay Palmer entered that fateful elevator in February. Until last week, I’ve felt that ESPN was somewhat complicit with the NFL in their treatment of Rice. No longer. ESPN anchor Hannah Storm (mother to three daughters) has had enough. She unleashed a barrage of questions on Sunday’s SportsCenter. Take it away, Hannah:
“On Monday morning, I was genuinely excited to come to work and break down what I thought was a fascinating first weekend in the NFL. Instead, I kicked off ESPN’s coverage of the horrific Ray Rice elevator video.
“Meanwhile, one of my daughters has her first fantasy football team this season. But at breakfast this week, instead of discussing how her team was doing, we watched the Ray Rice video play out again, in all its ugliness.
“I spent this week answering seemingly impossible questions about the league’s biggest stars: Mom, why did he do that? Why is he in jail? Why didn’t he get fired? And yesterday: Why don’t they even have control of their own players?
“So here’s a question: What does all of this mean for the future?
“What does it mean for female fans whose dollars are so coveted by the NFL — who make up an estimated 45 percent of the NFL’s fan base?”
“What exactly does zero tolerance mean to the NFL?”
“What about the NFLPA [NFL Players Association]?”
“Will the NFL, in all its power, take the lead on the issue of domestic violence?
“The central question: What exactly does the NFL stand for?”
[From ESPN's Sportscenter]
Yes. Yes. Yes. I can easily answer her final question. The NFL stands for money.
FYI: Rice made his first public appearance since last Monday’s video release. He visited his alma mater and watched New Rochelle High beat Rampapo on Saturday. He did not speak with the media, but they were watching him.
Photos courtesy of WENN
