On Monday, TMZ released the video from last February of Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiancé (now-wife), Janay Palmer, in an Atlantic City casino elevator.
On Monday, the NFL claimed that it had not had access to that same video until TMZ released it.
On Monday, the Ravens organization claimed that it likewise did not have access to that video until TMZ released it.
On Monday, the entire world collectively cried, “BS!†Or at least it should have.
On Monday, the Ravens released Rice and the NFL, which had previously suspended him for two games, imposed a new indefinite suspension.
On Monday, the entire world collectively cried, “It is about damn time!†Or at least it should have.
Let’s pretend for the next little bit that in fact neither the Ravens nor the NFL, a multi-billion dollar organization with its own security service and access to just about whatever it wants, could not get access to a video that TMZ, a semi-reputable news source, could.
Then why would they let some of their most senior and most respected reporters say that in fact they did have access to that video?
Peter King of Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s Chris Mortensen both reported that at least NFL officials and probably Ravens authorities had access to the video prior to the NFL’s initial two-game suspension.
And on Monday, Jane McManus of ESPN reported that she was told the NFL had the same evidence that police had access to, which certainly would include the video.
And yet, it was only on Monday that King heard that the NFL had not had access to the video.
Why would the NFL, which has a vested interest in not making itself look any stupider than it already did while handing out a tame initial suspension to a domestic abuser, not have corrected King’s inaccurate information?
(King took the blame for not having contacted the NFL for comment on what his source had told him.)
But let us backtrack even further and pretend that we had not seen this video Monday. You know, NFL (and specifically commissioner Roger Goodell), there was another video.
No, to be sure, it was not direct video of Rice going after his fiancé with the left hook we saw Monday. But it was video of him dragging her unconscious body out of the elevator.
He claimed she provoked him. There she was at the press conference with him, supporting the ridiculous story and even taking blame.
Goodell waffled and came down with a two-game suspension. And the Ravens publicly supported Rice.
And only after the disgusting video of the actual punch was widely released and there was public outcry did the NFL or the Ravens do what they should have in the first place.
That, in my mind, makes them just as cowardly as Rice himself.
Tim Carroll
Senior Sports Editor
Twitter
@TimCarroll_XAV
About Post Author
