UPDATE: Ray Rice was just released by the Ravens. Uh, see below. What did you think happened on the elevator?
Sorry, going on a rant here. With the release of more video of the title fight in a Las Vegas elevator a couple months ago between the 230 lb Ray Rice and his 105 lb fiancee, the blogosphere is abuzz with talk of revisiting and adding to the supposed punishment of Rice. While I have no idea if anything more comes of this, my question is, what the fuck did you think happened anyway? The NFL is disavowing any knowledge of the extra footage, but this matters? What do you think happened when 2 fully conscious people walk into an elevator, and moments later one is being dragged out of the elevator by her hair? You now have people coming out and saying “gee, this makes everything different.” I say, gee, get a fucking clue.
It goes part and parcel with the recent hooraw around Ray McDonald and his scrape with his pregnant girlfriend. Just taken at face value, you have a big party with a bunch of people there. At some point near the end of the party, a woman calls the cops because she feels threatened by her boyfriend. He just happens to be a football player. The cops show up, and notice bruises around her neck and on her arms. I imagine they check out RayMac for consistent injuries, but whatever. He gets arrested for suspicion of spousal abuse.
Here’s where the stupidity starts. Jim Harbaugh, in a dig at his brother, tells anyone and everyone in hearing distance that he would NEVER tolerate a player of his being an abuser of women. Remember, brother John welcomed back Ray Rice after his deal, and said we stand behind our player and will accept the NFL’s (fucking joke of a) punishment. When Ray McDonald gets dragged to jail, ol’ Jimmy is all of a sudden very interested in due diligence and letting the courts handle it.
How do the courts handle it? Well, look at Ray Rice. He and his (speed bag) fiancée promptly get married. And Rice has to attend some sort of anger management deal. In other words, no punishment. Was she under duress to marry him? No one knows that except for them. The NFL levies a huge 2 game suspension, and boom boom, everyone is happy. Except for the victims of domestic violence who rarely get any form of justice and usually get labeled as the cause of what they get. Will he continue to beat her? Another question we won’t get to know. Unless he’s stupid enough to get caught doing the same shit somewhere else, or worst case she eventually shoots him. Hey, just ask Steve McNair. Look, he may never do anything like this again, but if you believe the stats, most abusers don’t stop at just one. Like Lay’s potato chips.
The point being, no one seems to have trouble turning a blind eye to this. From the courts to the league to the owners, to their teammates. Which brings me to Jed York. And to a lesser degree, Trent Baalke. These are the guys who would be in the direct position to lay down some kind of suspension, sit-down, or punishment for RayMac’s alleged abuse. What does Jed do? Absolutely nothing. He has been as quiet is a church mouse. He and Trent Baalke are hiding behind the due process bullshit Harbaugh conveniently hid behind. Not a peep.
Would it kill Jed to sit down Ray McDonald for one game as the investigation proceeds? No. Plenty of other people in similar circumstances are suspended with pay pending an investigation into whatever the deal was. Everyone gets all bend over due process and ‘innocent until proven guilty’ but that all horseshit. What of the pregnant girl who was (apparently) strangled by her very large and very strong boyfriend? What of Ray Rice cold-cocking his fiancée with a punch that very well could have killed her? Lots of people come out and justify this behavior as if it’s boys being boys or whatever. I wonder what they’d say if they were the recipients of systematic and ongoing abuse as the rest of the world winked and laughed.
Forty Niners Forever 
Here’s our litmus test regard who does the PR work on this – the owner, GM or HC. It comes down to who has the final call, and it’s the owner because a bad call can have a devastating effect on the team, organization and community. The owner needs to be the one out front to protect his brand. The GM and HC don’t do that. Who’s here longer? This could be Jim Harbaugh’s last year and then what? If Jim steers the ship on this and screws up, Jed just looks like he allows his head coaches to do whatever with the team. The owner needs to protect his brand. This is why Jed York needs to be out front on this. Del will say it’s Harbaugh but we all know Del has a secondary motivation or agenda of Harbaugh hatred. Del will try to put this on Harbaugh, but in the end the owners are hiding behind their coaches. Jed York and Biscotti are cowards. And I hope this brings down Roger Goodell, too. That would be just too damn good to be true.
regarding*
Harbaugh is the face of the Team from the players’ perspective, any HC would be.
They’re the guys involved with the personnel on a daily basis.
If Jed remains silent post Court date regarding RayMc then he definitely needs to be called out.
Guilty or innocent, he needs to speak directly to the situation, no argument.
Domestic violence will rage on no matter who gets on the soap box against it. It’s the dirty little secret that oozes everywhere.
Nip – There are so many ills in this world that it overloads the soul.To me personal issues are way down the line, jealousy, self-esteem, and money, seem to be what fuel most domestic problems and as i see it there’s not a lot to be done if people stay in their same situation. Violence to anyone should not be tolerated. If you want to see some real heartbreak go to the Stanford Hospital Children’s ward and do some volunteer work.
You know what was telling to me was seeing John Harbaugh as the guy who faced the media in Baltimore. No owner, no GM, no President. The head coach. The guy who has the least amount of say regarding the status of Rice.
Again, the whole galling thing is everyone knew what happened and they all chose to let it slide. From the prosecutor (who’s head should be on a plate right about now) to the league to the team.
Now Rice’s wife is on the air blaming the media for this. My poor husband lost his livelihood because of the media coverage.
And another funny thing. Under the new rules instituted by Jolly Roger, shouldn’t Rice be suspended for 6 games? Not ‘indefinitely’?
The big issue is Goodell knew. I hope like hell it’s proven he knew. I’m sure he’s in ultra cover-up mode.
The city of Philly’s about to decriminalize weed. Dejax is pissed he left.
Hey Unca and Del…. check this out and answer the question…. “Now who’s the asshole?”
http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/jed-york-ray-mcdonald-not-ray-rice
Personally, if I was the kind of guy to get caught up in the idea that fans should look to the NFL for justice and accountability (which I’m not), then I’d be outraged by Jed York’s comments. If it was my team, I’d have sat McDonald for one reason only….. if you’re arrested there’s enough to suspect you of the crime of domestic violence, and even being in that arena makes sitting you down for a game or two necessary. But then again, I’m not that kind of guy. I think they’re all crooks. And I think Jed York is a weasel who first hid behind Harbaugh and is now hiding behind the legal process. This is why I don’t look to the NFL for accountability or justice. It simply isn’t there.
Jed must have been reading his twitter feeds telling him DO SOMETHING!
What really shows what a weasel Jed York is that he didn’t come out and go on KNBR until Ray Ratto called out York last night. What a weasel. That’s not a coincidence. Not by a long shot. And then York says, “I know my reputation is going to take a hit.” But Jed was all too willing to let Harbaugh take a ton of grief for starting McDonald. It wasn’t until Ratto called out Jed that Jed started taking the heat off Harbaugh. If I was Harbaugh, I wouldn’t coach for Jed York. That little douche bag is a cock sucking weasel.
The team should be leading the way. Not the league, obviously. Someone has to set the tone that this shit won’t get swept under the carpet.
Yeah, right. Good luck with that. If York is such a coward that he’s got to hide behind his head coach all last week, only to make a statement after Ray Ratto calls York out, this team won’t have the courage to lead the way on anything. You want to lead? You need men. Jed York is a child. Good luck with the 49ers leading the way.
Total BLEEP!
Right. Aaron Hernanez’s deal was much harsher, but it took the Pats all of 2 minutes to cut his ass. They didn’t wait for due process.
Oh we3ll. I’m through with this topic. For now.
I’ll just bug the shit out of Skeebers.
Here’s an interesting article.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/roger-goodell-lose-job-maybe-163753797.html
Unlikely Goodie will get fired, but he might get suspended for a “show” feeling of pique by the owners at his failure to properly discipline Rice, aka his failure to contain the Rice PR problem and keep the video out of circulation. However, if there’s a smoking gun that he actually saw the video before “sentencing” Rice, that’s more problematic for him. If that could be proved, the hypocrisy and the NFL-doesn’t-really-give-a-S-about-domestic-violence meters for him blow through the roof, and that would be a hard shot to deflect…
All it takes is a shit storm of people saying Goodell should be fired. Mad props from my end to Keith Olbermann. He started this lynching party and it’s the only lynching party worth attending. Pigs get fat, Goodell should be slaughtered.
Yeah, pinning that on him is the problem. But it’s nigh impossible to think the NFL was outwitted and outgunned by TMZ in getting the video. Now there’s apparently another video coming out. This one with sound.
Look at the CEO of Centerplate. He roughly handles a friend’s dog for all of 15 seconds and loses his job.
Just goes to show that you never know when you are on camera.
Goodell saw the whole video and covered it up. No question in my mind.
Pigs get fat, Goodell should be slaughtered.
Here is the problem with the Rice and well as the MacDonald issue, and really it is about being a someone who can be in the press. If it was me this would be in the C, D, or E section of the police log in the newspaper. Have any of you seen Rice’s wifes instagram post. She basically asked people to leave her and her family, including her spouse alone. This is between Ray and her and their families. SHE has to press charges against him for this to go to the courts. Which it does not seem she is going to do that. So this is no longer worthy news in my opinion. The NFL and Teams are not the Supreme Court. The NFL should do nothing. The Team is the Employer, they should do something and they did. Unfortunately they did so with out a conviction by the courts. I am no lawyer but if I was Rice and I was not convicted of a crime, I would surely look into wrongful termination. Unless the team has something about being charged for a crime verse being convicted. I AM NOT ADVOCATING FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. I am only showing how the courts work. Now being charged with a crime takes very little evidence. Being convicted of a crime takes a shit load of evidence. Certainly Ray MacDonald should be suspended till he is or is not convicted of a crime. That is on the 49ers not the NFL.
I think you’re totally wrong. Mrs Rice would have to cooperate ONLY if there wasn’t any other evidence. There’s more than enough evidence to convict without her cooperation. The DA could bring charges against Rice based on the video alone.
In addition, Ray Rice has two employers – The NFL and the Ravens. One is a smaller sample of the other. If the Ravens were the only employer, Goodell would never discipline Ravens’ players. Put another way, if the teams were the only employers of the players, teams would be souly responsible for suspensions, which they aren’t. The NFL absolutely has to do something to protect their brand. And what’s the number one rule in PR? Don’t make it worse. Goodell made it a lot… A LOT worse to the point he could lose his job over it. Not because the NFL owners would be disappointed with Goodell, but because Goodell fucked it up so bad it suggests Goodell’s grown too fat, dumb and happy and is asleep at the wheel.
Fuck it, we should just string Goody’s ass up right now, and where’s that fucking Jed.
Unfortunately, the DA can’t press charges against Rice again. He let that fish off the hook.
Besides, he’s too busy trying to get 5-10 for a single mom with no criminal record who drove into Jersey with her PA-licensed gun (real case going to trial).
I understand the double jeopardy angle, I’m just saying the girl doesn’t need to cooperate, or wouldn’t have, for the DA to bring charges – because of the video. Now with Ray McDonald, because there’s no video, the gf will need to cooperate. However…. news that there was another phone call in May might not make the gf’s cooperation as necessary IF the DA knows the May call was also for a domestic disturbance. Two incidents, one with marks or bruises might not require the gf’s cooperation for McDonald’s DA to bring charges. But my thought still is consistent that the 49er have already conducted their own investigation and deemed this unworthy of charges so they let Ray play.
Or you could be more cynical and say the 49ers concluded after they finished their investigation they’d cut McDonald, but because he only plays like 20 games a year, the 49ers want to get the most out of their investment before he’s cut…. and then when Jed is faced with cutting McDonald, but playing a wife beater before McDonald’s judgement day, Jed will do what Roger just did – play dumb and hope the shit storm doesn’t overwhelm him.
MacDonald will play and without cameras domestic violence be damned! That’s the Niners policy…..get used to it.
If the first time cops were called to the house in May was because of domestic violence, not a domestic dispute, the DA might feel he has strong enough evidence to get a conviction regardless if McDonald’s girlfriend cooperates. No video necessary.
The women here are in a tough position because if they sing, it hurts their pocketbooks. And any NFL wife who’s seeing Janay Rice’s future (of a man without a paycheck) is seriously thinking twice about calling the cops the next time her man raises his hand. I know this is why good police work is necessary, but I think Goodell’s actions will have a reverse effect of the intended (deterrence) on NFL women getting beaten.
Yeah the earlier call was a 415. Pretty much a catch-all phrase for some shit going on at someone’s house. Partying too loud, fighting, rowdiness, or dv.
So, they (the team) either felt it wasn’t worth investigating, or felt they could control the situation and bury it. Which seems to be Jolly Roger’s MO, and his dictum to his owners.
Liar!!!!!!!!!!!! Fire that fuckin’ bum.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/09/nfl-roger-goodell-ray-rice_n_5793466.html