Goodell Fumbles...

Ray Rice knocks his wife unconscious and he gets a 2-game suspension from a commissioner who has given out such suspensions as five games to Terrell Pryor for breaking memorabilia violations IN COLLEGE and four games to Big Ben for being accused of sexual assault in a bathroom, whole season suspension to Sean Payton for being the coach of a team that promoted bounties against other players and an indefinite suspension of the defensive coordinator. Now I am not saying these suspensions were unjustified. Rather, that the nature of the offense seems to pale in comparison to what Ray Rice did. I was raised in a home where my father beat my mother. I know of plenty of men who chose to violently “discipline” the women they have relationships with. I was taught that you don’t know what she may have said or done to him that led to her being beaten, etc. I subscribe to none of the above. I have had my share of encounters with girlfriends and my wife that could have resulted in my resorting to the last bastion of my manhood, the fact that I am bigger and stronger. However, I view such a reaction as childish, small-minded, and proof of a lack of manhood.

I am not stating that Ray Rice deserved a harsher punishment, necessarily. Only that Roger Goodell should have maintained the precedent he has set for offenses that are not quite on the level as what Ray Rice did. If it is all about protecting the shield and integrity of the NFL then a much harsher punishment should have been levied. I don’t believe in getting involved in relationships between a man and a woman except when their relationship becomes public, as was the case with Ray and his then fiancé. Once that happens all bets are off and you have chosen to include public opinion and views into your relationship.

I am one of those men who feel that you shouldn’t put your hands on a woman under any circumstances other than protecting your life or the lives of those you love. I say this even though I did hit a woman before in my life. She was not a girlfriend or family member. It was a random woman I happened to meet on a night where I was not at my best, things got out of hand, guns were drawn, etc. And yet I know I completely overreacted and not only threatened the life of the young woman but the lives of the people I was with, as well as my own.

I am sure the fact that Rice and his fiancé got married and that she made an impassioned plea that the league not ruin his career, and the fact that Rice has an otherwise exemplary record, played a huge role in Goodell’s decision to go about the punishment in such a light-handed fashion. And were it not for his precedence as such a hardass and intolerant commissioner makes this “slap on the wrist” seem all the more inadequate. He backed himself into this corner and now he will suffer because of it and I believe his tenure as commissioner will have the famed “asterisk” associated with it. And I imagine there is going to be ongoing backlash with each subsequent case that arises where a player crossed the line and Goodell has to yet again “protect the shield”. At what point is human well-being more important than the shield??