Hang your head in shame, NFL, then fire it

I don’t need to see an actual video of a member of ISIS decapitating an innocent victim to know that the organization needs to be wiped off the face of the earth. Their bragging about it is more than enough to convince me.

Ray Rice

In February, Baltimore Ravens star running back Ray Rice knocked his then fiancée, Janay Palmer, unconscious in an elevator at an Atlantic City, N.J., hotel. We know that it is true because (1) surveillance video cameras outside the elevator captured on film Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer from the elevator and (2) Rice subsequently admitted in court rendering the punch that knocked her out.

In July, the NFL handed Rice a two-game suspension, displaying to the whole world how little it regarded the seriousness of domestic violence. In the wake of the ensuing uproar among all decent individuals, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell backtracked, admitting the suspension was way too lenient and adding that from henceforth and forevermore any NFL player found to have committed any form of domestic violence (i.e., causing bodily harm to a woman) would be faced with a five-game suspension.

Janay Palmer

Today, TMZ.com, which discovered the initial video, released a copy of the above
video taken from a camera positioned inside the elevator in question, graphically showing Rice delivering the blow that knocked Palmer out. Baltimore Ravens officials said they were so aghast at the video that they were thowing Rice off the team and the NFL announced it was suspending Rice indefinitely.

What???? Just because you now see the video of the actual incident? How does seeing it change anything? You already knew exactly what happened inside that elevator on that day? And what happened has not changed simply because you can now see it for yourself.

The latest Roger the Dodger

Plus I am convinced the NFL is lying – that’s right, lying – when it claims that today was the first time they had seen the video from inside the elevator. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen said he spoke to NFL officials who had seen the tape and who had told him what happened inside that elevator "wasn’t pretty." On July 29, Sports Illustrated NFL guru Peter King wrote:

There is one other thing I did not write or refer to, and that is the other videotape the NFL and some Ravens officials have seen, from the security camera inside the elevator at the time of the physical altercation between Rice and his fiancée. I have heard reports of what is on the video, but because I could not confirm them and because of the sensitivity of the case, I never speculated on the video in my writing, because I don’t think it is fair in an incendiary case like this one to use something I cannot confirm with more than one person. I cannot say any more, because I did not see the tape. I saw only the damning tape of Rice pulling his unconscious fiancée out of the elevator.
The NFL has acted shamefully in this matter. It is, without question, the most embarrassing moment in the history of the league. And Ray Rice should not be the only one punished because of it. Roger Goodell must go. He must tender his resignation immediately. Then, and only then, will the NFL be able to begin to remove the tarnish it applied to itself today.