Lane Johnson suspended 4-Games for PEDs. Rice Suspended 2 games for beating his wife. James Harrison fined $125,000 for knocking out Colt McCoy. Ray Rice fines $58,000 for knocking out his wife. Ben Roethlisberger suspended 6 games for conduct detrimental to the league (never charged or found guilty of anything.) Ray Rice suspended 2 games for admitting to beating his wife...or I'm sorry...making a mistake.
I Know All The Rules But The Rules Do Not Know Me.
I guess the bar is set when one of your employees stabs someone to death and doesn't miss a game. And you have a star running back who is a drug running cocaine. (both of whom are in the Raven's "Ring of Honor"). Well, when you look at it at that angle, I guess knocking out a woman and dragging her thru a casino really isn't that bad of an offense. A two game suspension is actually a harsh penalty.
Hell, if you play for the Ravens, setting a hobo on fire probably means you just have to sit out the first half of a preseason game.
What about the legal system's role in this? He wasn't charged with a crime. The wife is partly to blame for the light sentence because she wants her gravy train to keep rolling.
You guys do realize for someone to be suspended a year for weed/drugs, it's probably like the 100th time they've tested positive. Rules are rules and the players accepted them.
Peter King's article below.
The Ray Rice Fallout Ray Rice was suspended two games for his domestic-violence arrest and immediately the reaction was the Ravens running back got off light. Is this the 'wake-up call' some say he needed? Baltimore and the NFL are about to find out
By Peter King · More from Peter· 33
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Head bowed, Ray Rice went out to his first practice of his seventh NFL season Thursday morning. General manager Ozzie Newsome had just told him he’d be suspended for the first two games of the 2014 NFL season — important division games against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh at home — and Rice, still trying to digest the news, was reserved during the opening day of Ravens’ camp.
The Ravens caught a major break Thursday with the league’s announcement of a two-game suspension for Rice in the wake of his domestic-violence arrest last winter at an Atlantic City hotel. Rice, too, caught a break … except in the court of public opinion.
Rice and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who meted out the punishment (including docking Rice three game checks, or $529,000) got roasted in the wake of the sanctions, which is certainly light when compared to, say, recreational drug use. A third positive test for marijuana, for instance, nets a player a four-game suspension without pay. Compare it to some potentially performance-enhancers: A first positive test for Adderall is a four-game ban too.
But a physical confrontation with a woman in which the woman was knocked unconscious—in a league courting women as fans and consumers, and talking up the horrors of domestic violence—cost Rice half that time, and less of a fine. Thus the public outrage when the news broke at midday Thursday. When the incident happened last winter, hotel video surfaced that showed Rice dragging fiancé Janay Palmer, apparently unconscious, out of an elevator. And that’s the image American cannot get out of its mind.
. This is why Goodell was softer on Rice than a four-game suspension:
Rice’s wife, a source said, made a moving and apparently convincing case to Goodell during a June 16 hearing at Goodell’s office in Manhattan—attended by Rice, GM Ozzie Newsome, club president Dick Cass of Baltimore; and Goodell, Jeff Pash and Adolpho Birch of the league—that the incident in the hotel elevator was a one-time event, and nothing physical had happened in their relationship before or since. She urged Goodell, the source said, to not ruin Rice’s image and career with his sanctions. This was Rice’s first violation of any NFL policy—personal-conduct or substance-abuse—in his six-year NFL career. Rice was not convicted of a crime in conjunction with the incident, and the New Jersey prosecutor chose not to pursue a case against him last spring after he entered a pre-trial counseling program. Rice has been the Ravens’ leading player in volunteer work in the community. At the time of the assault, he led a Maryland anti-bullying campaign. At the Super Bowl last winter, he was part of an NFL player panel for a cable-TV anti-bullying show and spoke emotionally about needing to be vigilant on the subject. Rice admitted his mistake soon after the incident and went into counseling. Still, there’s no guarantee—and Goodell knows it—that he made the right call. If Rice makes one mistake and assaults one woman the rest of his career, this decision will appear a colossal mistake by a commissioner who has been very tough in player discipline during his eight-year NFL tenure. And if he assaults another person while in the NFL, the wrath of Goodell likely will be unforgiving.
Janay Rice reportedly made an impassioned plea to the NFL as it considered her husband's punishment. (Patrick Semansky/AP) Janay Palmer reportedly made an impassioned plea to the NFL as it considered her husband’s punishment. (Patrick Semansky/AP) This has been a humbling experience for Rice, as it should be. He knows that no matter what precipitated the fight with Palmer, there’s never an excuse for laying his hands on a woman.
“Sometimes you need a wake-up call,’’ said a person with close ties to Rice, in the wake of the suspension. “That’s what this is for Ray. He’s a good person—people need to know that. But sometimes good people get off track. I can promise you this has gotten Ray back on track this off-season. He’s legitimately angry with himself for making this mistake. I know after it happened he was sick about it. Now he’s got to pay for it.”
Not that they compare, but Rice was already dealing with challenges in his football career. His 2013 season was a disaster. He weighed in too heavy for a 5-8 running back whose game was suppose to feature quickness, and his production plummeted. After averaging 4.7 and 4.4 yards per rush in 2011 and 2012, a heavier Rice crashed to 3.1 yards per rush and 660 yards total last year. It wasn’t all his fault, certainly. The offensive line was leaky and awful. But Rice was bothered tremendously about his production, and after some of his worst games, he’d text or call Ravens staffers asking them to review how he was playing.
The persona and professional crises, one Ravens’ source said, caused Rice to re-dedicate himself to football and his personal life this off-season—and to try to begin to repair his image. He’s gotten down to about 204 entering camp, his lowest weight since his rookie year, and new offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, who plans to make the Ravens more of a running team this year, thinks Rice can be the centerpiece of the running game.
Starting in Week 3, as it turns out. Whether Rice can be one of the NFL’s best multipurpose backs again this season—it was as recent as 2011 that he had 2,068 rushing-receiving yards—remains to be seen. He’ll be under the microscope, and rightfully so, more for what he does off the field, than his offensive production in the coming months. A nervous league office will be watching his every step.
Alright, alright, alright!
Tom O. "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
What about the legal system's role in this? He wasn't charged with a crime. The wife is partly to blame for the light sentence because she wants her gravy train to keep rolling.
Whether he was charged with a crime doesn't matter with the way King Goodell runs this league. Roethlisberger got 6 games and he wasn't even arrested. Rice was arrested but then they decided not to charge him for some reason.
And of course his wife gave some moving speech....you think she wants him to miss out on that much money if he got a long suspension?? The whole thing is a joke.
What about the legal system's role in this? He wasn't charged with a crime. The wife is partly to blame for the light sentence because she wants her gravy train to keep rolling.
Whether he was charged with a crime doesn't matter with the way King Goodell runs this league. Roethlisberger got 6 games and he wasn't even arrested. Rice was arrested but then they decided not to charge him for some reason.
And of course his wife gave some moving speech....you think she wants him to miss out on that much money if he got a long suspension?? The whole thing is a joke.
Pretty much this. I am one of those that saw how he dragged her out of the hotel and I have a family member who was a punching bag for a man she was with once and it is a sore spot personally. Fuck him, I am biased based on past history, but the message this sends is total bullshit. Peter King is someone I like to read, and have for years and years like many of us, but I also feel he is in the NFL's pocket. As Indy said -- the whole thing is a joke.
You could get busted with weed or coke for the millionth time and I dont care. Steroids? Dont give a fuck. Beating on other people, especially a woman, and I am exercising my right to be a judgmental fool.
What about the legal system's role in this? He wasn't charged with a crime. The wife is partly to blame for the light sentence because she wants her gravy train to keep rolling.
Whether he was charged with a crime doesn't matter with the way King Goodell runs this league. Roethlisberger got 6 games and he wasn't even arrested. Rice was arrested but then they decided not to charge him for some reason.
And of course his wife gave some moving speech....you think she wants him to miss out on that much money if he got a long suspension?? The whole thing is a joke.
Peter King is someone I like to read, and have for years and years like many of us, but I also feel he is in the NFL's pocket. .
I hear ya. I love reading MMQB and most of the stuff that King writes. But like you said, you always get this feeling like he is in the NFL's pocket. The fact that he didn't disagree with the decision was surprising...he's usually one of these guys on the internet that gets all up in arms over nothing. And now it's something to actually be up in arms about, but he doesn't have much of an opinion.
Not a huge olbermann guy any longer (was years ago w/DP on Sportscenter) but I agree with his tirade this time and think it is justified.
I love the game but this makes a joke of all of the other punishments handed down by the league. Now they are the NCAA's infractions committee and deciding that the punishment fits the perp rather than the crime.
I am looking forward to the day when I have absolutely zero interest in the NFL. Don't think it is that far off.
As fucked up as the NFL is, I can never imagine that day coming. Nothing gets me more excited than football season.
At this point I am a giants fan. Will watch every giants game but could not care less about 90% of the games outside of that.
Much prefer college
There is a lot of this out there with "real" football fans who are older than 30 (not saying people not turned off arent real fans). It is a grind to watch games anymore. The commercials, all the pop culture BS. The pricing out of fans, the players themselves, the lawsuits, concussions, etc... Its just tiring and I find myself not really watching games unless I gamble on them and/or have a large fantasy football interest.... even fantasy football is getting old. All the teams are the same. Athletes, coaches, and trainers are so good they cancel each other out for the most part. If you dont have Sunday Ticket, you get to "choose" between one game or 2. And many times the game isnt the one you really want to see
NCAA Football is much more entertaining. Teams are all different, you get mismatches between players which creates a lot more excitement and unusual occurrences. Crowds are much better. There are many games on all day and night Saturday. If one game is a disappointment, there are others that may be heating up. You dont have nearly as much peripheral CRAP being shoved in your face for 3 hours+
Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
I am looking forward to the day when I have absolutely zero interest in the NFL. Don't think it is that far off.
As fucked up as the NFL is, I can never imagine that day coming. Nothing gets me more excited than football season.
At this point I am a giants fan. Will watch every giants game but could not care less about 90% of the games outside of that.
Much prefer college
There is a lot of this out there with "real" football fans who are older than 30 (not saying people not turned off arent real fans). It is a grind to watch games anymore. The commercials, all the pop culture BS. The pricing out of fans, the players themselves, the lawsuits, concussions, etc... Its just tiring and I find myself not really watching games unless I gamble on them and/or have a large fantasy football interest.... even fantasy football is getting old. All the teams are the same. Athletes, coaches, and trainers are so good they cancel each other out for the most part. If you dont have Sunday Ticket, you get to "choose" between one game or 2. And many times the game isnt the one you really want to see
NCAA Football is much more entertaining. Teams are all different, you get mismatches between players which creates a lot more excitement and unusual occurrences. Crowds are much better. There are many games on all day and night Saturday. If one game is a disappointment, there are others that may be heating up. You dont have nearly as much peripheral CRAP being shoved in your face for 3 hours+
The commercials used to drive me nuts, but the red zone channel took care of that for me.....one of the best things ever created.
In no way defending the NFL since they have a shitload of problems, but last time I checked the NCAA had a shitload of problems themselves....and plenty of commercials. As many problems as both have, I love watching football all day Saturday and all day Sunday in the fall. I have no college football allegiance so that's why I probably lean a little more to the NFL.
I am NCAA over NFL but am a freak about both, play fantasy football, gamble on football, think about football all year long.
Ray Rice joins a long line of other douchebags that we glorify and make rich because of their athletic achievements. Entertain me Ray, dont beat on your wife.
I am looking forward to the day when I have absolutely zero interest in the NFL. Don't think it is that far off.
As fucked up as the NFL is, I can never imagine that day coming. Nothing gets me more excited than football season.
At this point I am a giants fan. Will watch every giants game but could not care less about 90% of the games outside of that.
Much prefer college
There is a lot of this out there with "real" football fans who are older than 30 (not saying people not turned off arent real fans). It is a grind to watch games anymore. The commercials, all the pop culture BS. The pricing out of fans, the players themselves, the lawsuits, concussions, etc... Its just tiring and I find myself not really watching games unless I gamble on them and/or have a large fantasy football interest.... even fantasy football is getting old. All the teams are the same. Athletes, coaches, and trainers are so good they cancel each other out for the most part. If you dont have Sunday Ticket, you get to "choose" between one game or 2. And many times the game isnt the one you really want to see
NCAA Football is much more entertaining. Teams are all different, you get mismatches between players which creates a lot more excitement and unusual occurrences. Crowds are much better. There are many games on all day and night Saturday. If one game is a disappointment, there are others that may be heating up. You dont have nearly as much peripheral CRAP being shoved in your face for 3 hours+
I agree with a lot of this and listen, I get it that the NFL is the most popular sport in America so I don't knock anyone for loving it. I just feel very similar to much of what you said. The commercials in the NFL are brutal. Those games feel sooooo long.
And to Indifference's point. NCAA has a ton of issues, but none of them are quite as big as the issues I have with the NFL, at least to me.
I am looking forward to the day when I have absolutely zero interest in the NFL. Don't think it is that far off.
As fucked up as the NFL is, I can never imagine that day coming. Nothing gets me more excited than football season.
agreed.
why are people acting like domestic violence amongst athletes only happens with nfl players? there is a looooong list of mlb players who have done the exact same thing and haven't faced much of a penalty either.
around 2006 or so brett myers (phils pitcher) beat his wife on the curb of downtown boston street in front of multiple people. he did not get suspended and the phillies didn't even sit him for one game and baseball did not suspend him at all. his wife later did not press charges. same fucking thing. a year later he was on the mound when the phils clinched their first division in 15 years. everyone loved him again.
all of these guys are scumbags but it happens in all walks of life and spans across all sports.
Also, good chart included in the article. I guess if you accidentally shoot yourself, you're more likely to get a bigger suspension than beating a woman and having it caught on tape.
Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
When Aaron Hernandez was arrested there were small groups of Pats fans at his house and the courthouse cheering him on. I couldn't believe how foolish these people were. It was embarrassing and disappointing.
I'm getting there are fans in Baltimore feeling the same way tonight.
Also, good chart included in the article. I guess if you accidentally shoot yourself, you're more likely to get a bigger suspension than beating a woman and having it caught on tape.
You go to jail for 2 years for shooting yourself. As if you need 2 years to dwell on the fact that you shot yourself. I think the message of not shooting yourself in ingrained in your memory several seconds after you shoot yourself.
Knocking your wife out and draging her thru a casino gets you some time on a road crew. It will be interesting when the video from inside the elevator leaks. Supporters of Rice claim she just passed out ... I'm thinking if she just passed out that the video would have been leaked by now. Instead it now probably resides with the fishes, near the burnt remains of Bill Belichick's old VHS tapes.
Comments
Hell, if you play for the Ravens, setting a hobo on fire probably means you just have to sit out the first half of a preseason game.
You guys do realize for someone to be suspended a year for weed/drugs, it's probably like the
100th time they've tested positive. Rules are rules and the players accepted them.
Peter King's article below.
The Ray Rice Fallout
Ray Rice was suspended two games for his domestic-violence arrest and immediately the reaction was the Ravens running back got off light. Is this the 'wake-up call' some say he needed? Baltimore and the NFL are about to find out
By
Peter King
· More from Peter·
33
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Head bowed, Ray Rice went out to his first practice of his seventh NFL season Thursday morning. General manager Ozzie Newsome had just told him he’d be suspended for the first two games of the 2014 NFL season — important division games against Cincinnati and Pittsburgh at home — and Rice, still trying to digest the news, was reserved during the opening day of Ravens’ camp.
The Ravens caught a major break Thursday with the league’s announcement of a two-game suspension for Rice in the wake of his domestic-violence arrest last winter at an Atlantic City hotel. Rice, too, caught a break … except in the court of public opinion.
Rice and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who meted out the punishment (including docking Rice three game checks, or $529,000) got roasted in the wake of the sanctions, which is certainly light when compared to, say, recreational drug use. A third positive test for marijuana, for instance, nets a player a four-game suspension without pay. Compare it to some potentially performance-enhancers: A first positive test for Adderall is a four-game ban too.
But a physical confrontation with a woman in which the woman was knocked unconscious—in a league courting women as fans and consumers, and talking up the horrors of domestic violence—cost Rice half that time, and less of a fine. Thus the public outrage when the news broke at midday Thursday. When the incident happened last winter, hotel video surfaced that showed Rice dragging fiancé Janay Palmer, apparently unconscious, out of an elevator. And that’s the image American cannot get out of its mind.
.
This is why Goodell was softer on Rice than a four-game suspension:
Rice’s wife, a source said, made a moving and apparently convincing case to Goodell during a June 16 hearing at Goodell’s office in Manhattan—attended by Rice, GM Ozzie Newsome, club president Dick Cass of Baltimore; and Goodell, Jeff Pash and Adolpho Birch of the league—that the incident in the hotel elevator was a one-time event, and nothing physical had happened in their relationship before or since. She urged Goodell, the source said, to not ruin Rice’s image and career with his sanctions.
This was Rice’s first violation of any NFL policy—personal-conduct or substance-abuse—in his six-year NFL career.
Rice was not convicted of a crime in conjunction with the incident, and the New Jersey prosecutor chose not to pursue a case against him last spring after he entered a pre-trial counseling program.
Rice has been the Ravens’ leading player in volunteer work in the community. At the time of the assault, he led a Maryland anti-bullying campaign. At the Super Bowl last winter, he was part of an NFL player panel for a cable-TV anti-bullying show and spoke emotionally about needing to be vigilant on the subject.
Rice admitted his mistake soon after the incident and went into counseling.
Still, there’s no guarantee—and Goodell knows it—that he made the right call. If Rice makes one mistake and assaults one woman the rest of his career, this decision will appear a colossal mistake by a commissioner who has been very tough in player discipline during his eight-year NFL tenure. And if he assaults another person while in the NFL, the wrath of Goodell likely will be unforgiving.
Janay Rice reportedly made an impassioned plea to the NFL as it considered her husband's punishment. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
Janay Palmer reportedly made an impassioned plea to the NFL as it considered her husband’s punishment. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
This has been a humbling experience for Rice, as it should be. He knows that no matter what precipitated the fight with Palmer, there’s never an excuse for laying his hands on a woman.
“Sometimes you need a wake-up call,’’ said a person with close ties to Rice, in the wake of the suspension. “That’s what this is for Ray. He’s a good person—people need to know that. But sometimes good people get off track. I can promise you this has gotten Ray back on track this off-season. He’s legitimately angry with himself for making this mistake. I know after it happened he was sick about it. Now he’s got to pay for it.”
Not that they compare, but Rice was already dealing with challenges in his football career. His 2013 season was a disaster. He weighed in too heavy for a 5-8 running back whose game was suppose to feature quickness, and his production plummeted. After averaging 4.7 and 4.4 yards per rush in 2011 and 2012, a heavier Rice crashed to 3.1 yards per rush and 660 yards total last year. It wasn’t all his fault, certainly. The offensive line was leaky and awful. But Rice was bothered tremendously about his production, and after some of his worst games, he’d text or call Ravens staffers asking them to review how he was playing.
The persona and professional crises, one Ravens’ source said, caused Rice to re-dedicate himself to football and his personal life this off-season—and to try to begin to repair his image. He’s gotten down to about 204 entering camp, his lowest weight since his rookie year, and new offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, who plans to make the Ravens more of a running team this year, thinks Rice can be the centerpiece of the running game.
Starting in Week 3, as it turns out. Whether Rice can be one of the NFL’s best multipurpose backs again this season—it was as recent as 2011 that he had 2,068 rushing-receiving yards—remains to be seen. He’ll be under the microscope, and rightfully so, more for what he does off the field, than his offensive production in the coming months. A nervous league office will be watching his every step.
Tom O.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
And of course his wife gave some moving speech....you think she wants him to miss out on that much money if he got a long suspension?? The whole thing is a joke.
As Indy said -- the whole thing is a joke.
You could get busted with weed or coke for the millionth time and I dont care. Steroids? Dont give a fuck. Beating on other people, especially a woman, and I am exercising my right to be a judgmental fool.
I love the game but this makes a joke of all of the other punishments handed down by the league. Now they are the NCAA's infractions committee and deciding that the punishment fits the perp rather than the crime.
Much prefer college
NCAA Football is much more entertaining. Teams are all different, you get mismatches between players which creates a lot more excitement and unusual occurrences. Crowds are much better. There are many games on all day and night Saturday. If one game is a disappointment, there are others that may be heating up. You dont have nearly as much peripheral CRAP being shoved in your face for 3 hours+
http://www.theonion.com/articles/roger-goodell-to-nfl-players-murdering-your-wife-w,36542/
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
The commercials used to drive me nuts, but the red zone channel took care of that for me.....one of the best things ever created.
In no way defending the NFL since they have a shitload of problems, but last time I checked the NCAA had a shitload of problems themselves....and plenty of commercials. As many problems as both have, I love watching football all day Saturday and all day Sunday in the fall. I have no college football allegiance so that's why I probably lean a little more to the NFL.
Ray Rice joins a long line of other douchebags that we glorify and make rich because of their athletic achievements. Entertain me Ray, dont beat on your wife.
And to Indifference's point. NCAA has a ton of issues, but none of them are quite as big as the issues I have with the NFL, at least to me.
"I am sorry and apologize that my view that women provoke beatings was misunderstood, what I was trying to say was the women provoke beatings"
why are people acting like domestic violence amongst athletes only happens with nfl players? there is a looooong list of mlb players who have done the exact same thing and haven't faced much of a penalty either.
around 2006 or so brett myers (phils pitcher) beat his wife on the curb of downtown boston street in front of multiple people. he did not get suspended and the phillies didn't even sit him for one game and baseball did not suspend him at all. his wife later did not press charges. same fucking thing. a year later he was on the mound when the phils clinched their first division in 15 years. everyone loved him again.
all of these guys are scumbags but it happens in all walks of life and spans across all sports.
also--stephen a smith needs to go away.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24640598/ravens-rb-ray-rice-loudly-cheered-at-monday-practice
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24640031/nfl-vp-adolpho-birch-calls-ray-rice-discipline-appropriate
Also, good chart included in the article. I guess if you accidentally shoot yourself, you're more likely to get a bigger suspension than beating a woman and having it caught on tape.
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
I'm getting there are fans in Baltimore feeling the same way tonight.
"...I changed by not changing at all..."
Knocking your wife out and draging her thru a casino gets you some time on a road crew. It will be interesting when the video from inside the elevator leaks. Supporters of Rice claim she just passed out ... I'm thinking if she just passed out that the video would have been leaked by now. Instead it now probably resides with the fishes, near the burnt remains of Bill Belichick's old VHS tapes.
"...I changed by not changing at all..."