By now, everybody knows what happened with Ray Rice and the woman who is now his wife.
If you don’t, I’ll give you the short rundown: Rice was caught on video in February dragging his then-fianceé out of a casino elevator in Atlantic City, where he was arrested.  In May, Rice pleaded not guilty and entered a diversion program to avoid prosecution. On July 27, the NFL suspended Rice two games, and then this past week, the full video was released of Rice hitting his fianceé, he was suspended indefinitely, and the Baltimore Ravens cut him.
This is a move that should’ve been done in July. The NFL really dropped the ball on the situation, and when the league announced that he was only going to be suspended two games, the outcry was tremendous. Nobody, and I mean nobody, thought that was a reasonable punishment. Well, loudmouth ESPN clown Stephen A. Smith thought it was reasonable as he blamed Rice’s fianceé and said she could’ve prevented it.
A few weeks after the laughing stock of a punishment was handed down, the NFL changed its stance on domestic violence. The league made it where the first offense would result in a six-game suspension and the second would be a removal from the league forever.
But the real question here is why did the NFL suddenly change its punishment? The league claims it was in the dark on not seeing the video until this week. The NFL claims it was in the dark on not seeing the video, but celebrity gossip website TMZ had it. Come on. That sounds like some classic BS.
What it sounds like is that the NFL and the Baltimore Ravens (who are worse than the NFL) played dumb and said they didn’t see the video, hoping that everybody else wouldn’t so they wouldn’t have to suspend one of their prized running backs.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has been slowly backpedaling since the announcement, so when this video came out he had to make up for the bad image he has had for the past month.
I have no problem with Rice not being in the league. I actually embrace it. I’m glad that he’s finally getting what he deserves. What I have a problem with is the fact that this took so long. The fact is Rice beats his wife and would’ve been suspended just two games, but Josh Gordon gets a year suspension for smoking a joint. I’m no legal expert, but I’m pretty sure domestic abuse is a little bit more extreme than smoking a joint. The NFL had to make a decision that would take the heat off its PR team that was getting flak.
The NFL messed up. League officials were cowards and didn’t have the guts to suspend someone who makes them money. I hope the NFL has learned from this and won’t continue to be less lenient on star players, and that regardless of how much money you make, if you do something as stupid as beating your fianceé, then you should be punished.