Ray Rice cut/suspended indefinitely

Which was good enough for the victim and the justice system.

But not near good enough for the public.

Not saying he should not have been punished. Not even saying the NFL has to base the punishment off of the legal punishment.

I'm saying that the punishment has absolutely nothing to do with teaching the player a lesson. It has everything to do with telling the public "Hey! We also don't think this is ok". So the smaller the outcry, the smaller the punishment. And vice versa. The NFL should base its punishments off of reason and precedence, not at how loudly people screamed at them. How would you feel if you were accused of your crime, and your punishment was decided by how many people showed up to throw stones at you. That is philistine.

That is the problem I have with all of this.

 

NFL hired an "independent" investigator to look into the issue.



Okay

 

Goodell promoted that very idea with his "protect the shield" approach to conduct policy administration. In your words, it was Goodell himself who supported the "court of public opinion" supersedes our judicial system. Why? Because the "court of public opinion" is linked to NFL revenues.

His "cover-ups" and his permutation of justice has finally caught up with him. The NFL will be better with a new commissioner.

It is laughable what the NFL response has been.

 

This hiring of an "ex-FBI" director as an independent investigator makes the owner's look really stupid. It is rife with conflict of interest.

1. The guy works at a law firm that represents many NFL owners.
2. Mara and Rooney (Giants and Steelers owners) have been appointed to oversee the "independent investigation. Mara has been on public record as stating he felt Goodell conducted the affair in the correct way.

I can only suspect this "independent investigator" is the guy (or his "firm") who advised Goodell the concept that without the video the story goes away.

This situation is escalating to a point that is becoming a threat to the livelihood of the NFL. If the owners continue this farce the stand to lose a lot. This latest move is an insult to the intelligence of anyone with a double digit IQ. It also begs the question why are they so reluctant to replace Goodell? Has Goodell threatened them he will roll over and disclose even more damage information if they don't support him?

 

Roger G. got them some pretty real good TV contracts

 

Yeah- but so will the next guy. They appear intent on going down with him with these stupidly obvious moves. They keep throwing chit against the wall to see what sticks.

 

true, but your not a 109 year old man who is askerd of change

 

I'm beginning to think it is more than change of which they are scared. Most of these owners are very bright minded business men. Or at least that is what I thought. Now they appear stupid or like they themselves have something to hide in all of this.

 

Actually, I think that the "outcry" is over the precedent for penalty in this type of violation....and that started well before the second video came out. The second video added fuel (lots of it) to the fire here.

One good outcome from this has been the increase in punishment for this violation moving forward.

What is happening now appears (to me, anyway) to indicate more of a potential systemic problem with league management and the owners. It has very little to do with Ray Rice beyond the point that the video of his action, and how it was handled, has exposed a potential systemic issue.

 

It's time the NFL gets knocked down a rung or two, it's getting too big and greedy. Ratings for the opening weekend were down this year. Good. That's the only way to send the message that fans aren't happy with the direction the league is going. Now a cover-up scandal to protect a woman beater will turn away female fans they have been coveting by making everyone wear pink for a month.