NFL-2014

[11bee]

Tell me you wouldn't want that freak playing for your team, though.

In a heartbeast. All you would need for an offense would be a center, a QB and Lynch. Think of the $ you would save...

[11bee]

The bad news - NE lost.

The good news - wife (girl friend?) beater Ray Rice will soon be working at a local McDonalds.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/08/us/ray-rice-new-video/

Sorry Rusty Welder.....

Edited September 8, 2014 by 11bee

[TaiidanTomcat]

The bad news - NE lost.

The good news - wife (girl friend?) beater Ray Rice will soon be working at a local McDonalds.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/08/us/ray-rice-new-video/

Sorry Rusty Welder.....

Thats awesome.

I do wonder though, because the NFL said they "saw the tape", and then gave judgement, and then this footage surfaced and suddenly the NFL was like "whoa we never saw the tape!"

http://deadspin.com/someone-is-lying-about-whether-the-nfl-saw-the-ray-rice-1631901404

...now the sad question. How long does he stay unemployed before a team that can "see beyond his troubled past" and "in America we believe in second chances" etc. and welcomes him aboard?

Edited September 8, 2014 by TaiidanTomcat

[rustywelder]

Well bee, I was wrong. And TT I don't think any one will be seeing beyond his past, suspended indefintely. Which I suspect in this case will mean life.

[TaiidanTomcat]

Well bee, I was wrong. And TT I don't think any one will be seeing beyond his past, suspended indefintely. Which I suspect in this case will mean life.

I hope so... but man I have been unpleasantly surprised in the past.

I hope the NFL can wear enough pink in October to make up for this scandal

[Johnopfor]

Its 4.45am, I'm still up and I'm still waiting for the Packers to turn up! Not the best start to the season for them, was it? Oh well, congrats to the Seahawks and bring on Sunday!

The jaguars had a great game! Then the Eagles showed up at the end of the third quarter, and than it all went to Hell....... :blink:

[Johnopfor]

Thats awesome.

I do wonder though, because the NFL said they "saw the tape", and then gave judgement, and then this footage surfaced and suddenly the NFL was like "whoa we never saw the tape!"

:tumble:/>/>

http://deadspin.com/someone-is-lying-about-whether-the-nfl-saw-the-ray-rice-1631901404

They saw the "rated G" version, with the knock-out edited out so that it wouldn't offend those with children. The one on TMZ is the "rated PG" version......

...now the sad question. How long does he stay unemployed before a team that can "see beyond his troubled past" and "in America we believe in second chances" etc. and welcomes him aboard?

Two to three years. Hell, the NCAA just lifted the Bowl Game suspension on Penn State, two years before the end of the sentence.......

[11bee]

Thats awesome.

I do wonder though, because the NFL said they "saw the tape", and then gave judgement, and then this footage surfaced and suddenly the NFL was like "whoa we never saw the tape!"

:tumble:/>/>/>

http://deadspin.com/someone-is-lying-about-whether-the-nfl-saw-the-ray-rice-1631901404

...now the sad question. How long does he stay unemployed before a team that can "see beyond his troubled past" and "in America we believe in second chances" etc. and welcomes him aboard?

Reading the papers today, it sounds like the fallout from "beating-gate" is going to spread beyond just Rice. The NFL is looking incredibly bad, many find it almost impossible to believe that the league never saw the 2nd tape, since there were many comments from the press and sources inside that league that described in detail what occurred on that tape. So someone besides the PD had eyes on the 2nd tape months ago.

Also, pretty amazing that the league never went to the hotel and simply asked for a copy of the 2nd tape. It almost appears that the league was going out of it's way to avoid this info since it would force them to take harsher action (maybe a three game suspension?), which would result in damage to the brand.

The other party looking bad are the Ravens. Coach Jim in particular made some statements when the first tape came out that this "wasn't a big deal" and "Ray is a heck of a guy". The Ravens even put out a statement from Rice's wife on their official twitter feed where she apologized for her role in the assault. Really guys? We're not in the 1800's anymore. Women who are beaten are not at fault because they brought it on or made their man do it. Putting out a statement like that from an abuse victim to make their star player look better is disgusting. It's comical that it took the 2nd tape coming out for Harbaugh to say that "it changed things". I guess having an unconscious women dragged by her hair out of an elevator is cool, it's only he saw his buddy throw the punch that he decided Rice needed to go.

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Harbaugh and the Commish end up getting canned over this issue. Gonna be fun watching both parties going into full spin control over the coming days.

[Joel_W]

Watched the Giants take a beating from the Lions. My God, they actually look worse then last year. Absolutely no offensive line showed up.And the highly rated defensive secondary was just plain terrible. At least the Jets won.

Joel

[Tsubame]

The jaguars had a great game! Then the Eagles showed up at the end of the third quarter, and than it all went to Hell....... :blink:/>

I stayed up till 6.30am to listen to my Chargers lose to the Cardinals! I swear Kurt Warner locked Carson Palmer in his locker during the half time and put his gear on for the second half! How else would you explain that second half comeback? I wonder if we could persuade Dan Fouts to do the same thing to Philip Rivers during half time against the Seahawks! Actually, that's really not fair on Rivers, but can hardly dig up Junior Seau to bolster our defence now, can we? (Too soon?)

[TaiidanTomcat]

Reading the papers today, it sounds like the fallout from "beating-gate" is going to spread beyond just Rice. The NFL is looking incredibly bad, many find it almost impossible to believe that the league never saw the 2nd tape, since there were many comments from the press and sources inside that league that described in detail what occurred on that tape. So someone besides the PD had eyes on the 2nd tape months ago.

Also, pretty amazing that the league never went to the hotel and simply asked for a copy of the 2nd tape. It almost appears that the league was going out of it's way to avoid this info since it would force them to take harsher action (maybe a three game suspension?), which would result in damage to the brand.

I have to say its amazing.

The other party looking bad are the Ravens. Coach Jim in particular made some statements when the first tape came out that this "wasn't a big deal" and "Ray is a heck of a guy".

Maybe they cut off his quote and he originally finished with "Ray is a heck of a guy at beating helpless women. Oh crap. guys can you leave that last part off? thanks"

The Ravens even put out a statement from Rice's wife on their official twitter feed where she apologized for her role in the assault.

the elevator isn't blameless either here.

Really guys? We're not in the 1800's anymore. Women who are beaten are not at fault because they brought it on or made their man do it. Putting out a statement like that from an abuse victim to make their star player look better is disgusting. It's comical that it took the 2nd tape coming out for Harbaugh to say that "it changed things". I guess having an unconscious women dragged by her hair out of an elevator is cool, it's only he saw his buddy throw the punch that he decided Rice needed to go.

The Ravens staff and coaches have a lot to answer for, espeically as they say they got the "non sugar coated version" and the handling of the whole thing, which was dispicable then, and looks even worse now can be see here in full fury:

http://deadspin.com/why-your-team-sucks-2014-baltimore-ravens-1627040424

Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Harbaugh and the Commish end up getting canned over this issue. Gonna be fun watching both parties going into full spin control over the coming days.

I would get some serious Lulz from that. Very Awkward though hearing people like Ray Lewis and Cris Carter weigh in on this though.

Also, think any of this will be mentioned this Thursday night against the Steelers? It will be just past the elephant in that room next to the Gorilla...

[Don]

...Very Awkward though hearing people like Ray Lewis and Cris Carter weigh in on this though...

Boy isn't that the truth, especially Lewis <_<. Never been a Ravens fan whatsoever. Of course, being a 'Stillers' fan you can't help but despise the Ravens (and I am sure the feeling is mutual ;) ). But this is indeed very bad press for the Ravens and the League. There is no way anyone can sugar coat this or even remotely find some way of making excuses for Rice, the Ravens management and coaching staff...and it does make the League look extremely bad as well.

I just hope that Rice doesn't find a way back into professional football at some point or in some capacity. Right now I think we can all agree that there is no chance in heck. But fans can have short memories. One or two years from now...who knows? If not the NFL perhaps the CFL...? I hope not.

GO STEELERS!

[11bee]

Very Awkward though hearing people like Ray Lewis and Cris Carter weigh in on this though.

Also, think any of this will be mentioned this Thursday night against the Steelers? It will be just past the elephant in that room next to the Gorilla...

If ever there was a time for jocks to just shut up, this is it. Even if you love the guy like a brother, no good can come out of weighing in on the issue in his favor. It just reinforces the stereotype that half of these guys are either brain damaged or are animals.

I'm sure the NFL is already calling (they'd never be stupid enough to put it in writing) the networks and going over their "suggested" approach to dealing with this issue during the upcoming week. My guess that it's either going to either be

A- Ignore it completely

or

B- Just have a 15 second blurb at the beginning of the broadcast where all the commentators agree how "unfortunate" the entire situation is. Once your 15 second spiel is concluded, revert to Plan A.

[Tracy White]

It will be interesting to see what happens with Rice. His wife is obviously not happy about this either and I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and say it's as much the affect flushing his career has on someone she she loves (as she said) as it is her financial loss from her husband flushing their financial well being down the toilet. Michael Vick came back - does it mean anything that they were held to different standards or is this just a reflection of the NFL's tougher protection of its image?

And can we get some freakin' common sense alignment on the rules regarding drugs? I happen to agree with My link this post, but even if they don't, I wish the penalties were more in line with other offenses like beating up on anyone, driving intoxicated, etc.

[vince14]

A- Ignore it completely

or

B- Just have a 15 second blurb at the beginning of the broadcast where all the commentators agree how "unfortunate" the entire situation is. Once your 15 second spiel is concluded, revert to Plan A.

That's the way it should be - with the exception of the Steelers/Ravens match (where Option B should apply), all the match commentary for the coming weekend should follow A. Otherwise, what do you want? Live updates from outside the Rice household after every play, at every game, for the rest of the season?

The wider media should (indeed, must) cover the Rice story, but I'm afraid that when the ball is kicked off, all I want to hear commentary abut is what's going on on the field.

Vince

Edited September 9, 2014 by vince14

[TaiidanTomcat]

Boy isn't that the truth, especially Lewis <_</>. Never been a Ravens fan whatsoever. Of course, being a 'Stillers' fan you can't help but despise the Ravens (and I am sure the feeling is mutual ;)/> ). But this is indeed very bad press for the Ravens and the League. There is no way anyone can sugar coat this or even remotely find some way of making excuses for Rice, the Ravens management and coaching staff...and it does make the League look extremely bad as well.

I just hope that Rice doesn't find a way back into professional football at some point or in some capacity. Right now I think we can all agree that there is no chance in heck. But fans can have short memories. One or two years from now...who knows? If not the NFL perhaps the CFL...? I hope not.

GO STEELERS!

Its not like the Bengals were some year back -- whoa nelly! I think there are a few things that make this a little exceptional. One is the video evidence is extremely definitive and we don't usually get that benefit. any kind of doubt (and pre video) we saw lots of attempts at sowing doubt, like RR's punching bag admitting fault. and a huge spin campaign.

The next thing is all the claims that they had seen it, and were sticking by him. For as unpalatable as it would have been, with the Ravens forearmed knowing what was going to take place (video hits the public in 6 months) they could have voluntarily suspended him for the season, or at least half the season (that would be 6 games, effectively tripling the NFLs punishment). or traded him in the offseason. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but even adding to the NFLs 2 game with additional games from the Ravens would have been helpful in the public eye.

Its unpleasant, and being a Steelers fan aside (we aren't perfect angels by any stretch) The Ravens just blew it so badly the President is commenting on this story. It hurts the NFL pretty badly too, because most people don't bother to differentiate teams and players.

This is how Ray Rice can get back into the NFL.

1. Disappear from the spotlight

2. When he appears in the spotlight its for doing charity.

3. Let a year go by, apply for reinstatement

Then after the American ADD kicks in:

4. Hit the TV circuit. When interviewed by coaches and players on TV, man up and admit mistakes, when interviewed by 60 minutes cry and take responsibility. Cry a lot

5. Make sure to get the Mrs. out there, saying she forgives at every opportunity and if she forgives, why can't you America?

6. Get the former players and sports talking heads to talk about "redemption" "second chances" and "we've all made mistakes" "nobodies perfect" He has "payed enough" make it about America and a come back story Etc. reference the interviews

7. Get one of the "good" franchises interested:

Allow me to explain what a "good franchise" is. Now I am trying not to offend but there are certain teams that are considered pillars, or models, or better franchises that are considered credible-- this has nothing to do with on the field performance. this is about owners the NFL loves. Some of you may already have your suspicions that some teams seem to have more respect from the NFL office than others.

Examples:

Steelers

Patriots

Giants

Cowboys

And not the "bad franchises"

Raiders

Bengals

And that other New York team.

These are teams that have the "dirty dozen" "just win baby" "rough around the edges" and "we take castoffs, and criminals too" edge to them. That wouldn't look good.

The mere fact that Ray Rice could be "brought into a good home" by people who "know how to do it right" will be very appealing. and putting him into a "good system" (The Patriot way!! The Steelers Tradition! America's team!) will help people forget. Then again maybe he goes somewhere no one really cares, like Buffalo.

[Tsubame]

Tbh, I haven't really been following the Rice story, its not a news item here whatsoever, but what I can gather from my American friends it sounds like bigger news than Ukraine and Syria put together! All I can say is if he does manage to worm his way back into the NFL and ends up at the Chargers I'll be jumping ship so fast I'll end up in Cleveland lol! I'd let him go to the Raiders tho, then I can hate them even more than I do now! Those Dolphins better do a Patriots on them at Wembley this month!

[Don]

A- Ignore it completely

or

B- Just have a 15 second blurb at the beginning of the broadcast where all the commentators agree how "unfortunate" the entire situation is. Once your 15 second spiel is concluded, revert to Plan A.

A variation of option B will no doubt occur on Thursday. Its pretty hard not to say something...especially with the Ravens being involved in the game, and with a huge viewing audience tuning in to watch to see how the whole situation is handled (not to mention tuning in to watch the rivalry between the Steelers and Ravens). Then I agree that option A should be followed.

But...sadly, this is far to juicy for Bob Costas not to go on one of his long winded irritating rants on SNF halftime. Unless he is expressly told not to, be prepared for Costas to get preachy...again.

[Johnopfor]

But...sadly, this is far to juicy for Bob Costas not to go on one of his long winded irritating rants on SNF halftime. Unless he is expressly told not to, be prepared for Costas to get preachy...again.

Yeah, I'm still waiting for that self-righteous trogladite to give his self-important opinion so that I can have an easier bowel movement..........

[rustywelder]

Do with this what you will, not sure I believe all of it my self.

Sept. 9, 2014

Dear Ravens Stakeholder:

You deserve an explanation.

What happened with the Ray Rice incident? How could it come to this? Why didn’t we act earlier?

As a PSL holder, suite owner, sponsor and supporter, you have a stake in us. You have invested in us – emotionally as well as financially, trusted us, and believed in us. We value that trust and owe you full disclosure.

First, let us say that we did not do all we should have done and no amount of explanation can remedy that. What we can do now is share with you everything that occurred and vow to learn from all that has happened.

Here is how the situation unfolded, and here are our thoughts behind the decisions we made.

On the morning of Feb. 15, we learned that Ray and his then fiancé, Janay, had been arrested at an Atlantic City casino, and both had been charged with “simple assault” resulting from an altercation with each other. After the couple was taken to police headquarters, and after a report was written, they were allowed to leave together.

A number of Ravens’ representatives talked with Ray during the course of that day. His explanation was that after he and Janay had consumed a great deal of alcohol, they had had an argument and that they struck each other.

We at the Ravens organization issued a statement to the media that we were aware of the incident, that we had talked with Ray, and that he deserved the due process of law.

We then began our own process to discover as much as we could about what happened. We talked with representatives of the casino, the police who arrested the couple, the prosecutor and a lawyer who represented both Ray and Janay in the case. Soon after, the video of Janay and Ray coming out of the elevator became public.

We contacted the casino management and asked if there was video of the incident from inside the elevator that we could see. The casino would not share such video. We asked the local New Jersey police and the police refused as well. We asked the prosecutor’s office and that office refused. It was our understanding at that time that Ray’s attorney had not yet seen the video. NFL officials had been informed, and we know they were also trying to retrieve and/or see the video.

Assessing the situation at of the end of February, this is what we knew: A player who had been a model citizen in the community and terrific teammate for six seasons had been charged with simple assault against his fiancé. At that time, his fiancé Janay had been similarly charged.

Ray and Janay both told us nothing like this had happened before. He was showing great remorse; they were meeting regularly with our team chaplain and were diligently attending couples counseling.

In March, the prosecutor dropped the case against Janay, but elevated the charge against Ray from simple assault to aggravated assault. At this point, we decided to defer action until completion of the court proceedings. We stopped seeking to view or obtain a copy of the video. We halted our fact-finding. That was a mistake on our part.

In May, the prosecutor recommended, and the judge agreed, that Ray should be accepted into a pre-trial intervention program that will eventually have the assault charge dismissed from his record, pending a year of good behavior.

The police had seen video from inside the elevator. The prosecutor and the judge, who had also seen such video, allowed Ray into the program that would eventually clear him of the assault charge.

On June 16, Ray and Janay met with Commissioner Roger Goodell, who then announced on July 27 that Ray Rice would be suspended for the first two games of the season. Ray subsequently met with the media and answered questions.

Yesterday morning Sept 8, all of us saw the video from inside the elevator. It is violent and horrifying. I immediately came to the office and called a meeting with Dick Cass, Ozzie Newsome, John Harbaugh and Kevin Byrne. The meeting was relatively short. The decision to let Ray Rice go was unanimous. Seeing that video changed everything. We should have seen it earlier. We should have pursued our own investigation more vigorously. We didn’t and we were wrong.

We are moving forward and believe we can help put more of a spotlight on intimate partner violence, while increasing education and awareness to this issue to all in our organization. Our recently announced partnership with the House of Ruth is a start.

We view ourselves as a family. Like families, we have used tough love in the past (fines, benching and releases) with repeat offenders. Because of his positive contributions on and off the field over the last six years, Ray had earned every benefit of the doubt from our organization. We took everything we knew and decided to support Ray Rice until we could not.

We hope that Ray will continue to work to be the best husband, father and person he can be, and he will turn this awful situation into something positive. We also have learned a great deal and will continue to strive to be an organization and team you and Baltimore will be proud of. I am sorry we let you down.

Sincerely,

Stephen J. Bisciotti

Owner, Baltimore Ravens

[11bee]

Its not like the Bengals were some year back -- whoa nelly! I think there are a few things that make this a little exceptional. One is the video evidence is extremely definitive and we don't usually get that benefit. any kind of doubt (and pre video) we saw lots of attempts at sowing doubt, like RR's punching bag admitting fault. and a huge spin campaign.

The next thing is all the claims that they had seen it, and were sticking by him. For as unpalatable as it would have been, with the Ravens forearmed knowing what was going to take place (video hits the public in 6 months) they could have voluntarily suspended him for the season, or at least half the season (that would be 6 games, effectively tripling the NFLs punishment). or traded him in the offseason. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but even adding to the NFLs 2 game with additional games from the Ravens would have been helpful in the public eye.

This is how Ray Rice can get back into the NFL.

1. Disappear from the spotlight

2. When he appears in the spotlight its for doing charity.

3. Let a year go by, apply for reinstatement

Then after the American ADD kicks in:

4. Hit the TV circuit. When interviewed by coaches and players on TV, man up and admit mistakes, when interviewed by 60 minutes cry and take responsibility. Cry a lot

5. Make sure to get the Mrs. out there, saying she forgives at every opportunity and if she forgives, why can't you America?

6. Get the former players and sports talking heads to talk about "redemption" "second chances" and "we've all made mistakes" "nobodies perfect" He has "payed enough" make it about America and a come back story Etc. reference the interviews

7. Get one of the "good" franchises interested:

To that, I would just add "find religion". Not the private, spiritual type that's just between you and your chosen deity but the public type where you mention it at least 2-3 times during every interview.

I was also going to also add - arraign a meeting with Oprah. You glanced on this with Item 4 but truly, a meeting with Oprah deserves it's own number. It's a critical step on one's way back into the good graces of the American public. Of course one still should follow the rest of the sub-steps in Item 4. I assume Oprah is still on TV?

It's sad but I think the guy has a chance at coming back. If he follows your plan for redemption, gives it some time and stays out of future trouble, I think he'll pull it off. The only thing holding him back will be himself. Lets see how well he handles the stress over the next year. If he can restrain himself from further wife beating (or at least wife beating in public), we'll see Ray back on the gridiron in no time at all.

Edited September 10, 2014 by 11bee

[Tsubame]

Having just seen the episode of Hard Knocks where the Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff goes for a proud and happy bike ride with that drugs cheat Lance Armstrong I'd say Rice will be back in no time! All will be forgiven no doubt if that's anything to go by!

Edited September 10, 2014 by Tsubame

[WymanV]

Watched the Giants take a beating from the Lions. My God, they actually look worse then last year. Absolutely no offensive line showed up.And the highly rated defensive secondary was just plain terrible. At least the Jets won.

Joel

I didn't tune it in until the 4th quarter (work...). I thought the Giants fielded lepers at first.

(I'm sorry-that's not fair to lepers...)

I stayed up till 6.30am to listen to my Chargers lose to the Cardinals! I swear Kurt Warner locked Carson Palmer in his locker during the half time and put his gear on for the second half! How else would you explain that second half comeback? I wonder if we could persuade Dan Fouts to do the same thing to Philip Rivers during half time against the Seahawks! Actually, that's really not fair on Rivers, but can hardly dig up Junior Seau to bolster our defence now, can we? (Too soon?)

I've been sayin' it for years-wanna beat the Chargers? Fluster Rivers. Once the pressure is on him, he goes wild, throws the football everywhere and gets mad about it. Get under his skin and the game is yours.

Ken

[Tsubame]

I didn't tune it in until the 4th quarter (work...). I thought the Giants fielded lepers at first.

(I'm sorry-that's not fair to lepers...)

I've been sayin' it for years-wanna beat the Chargers? Fluster Rivers. Once the pressure is on him, he goes wild, throws the football everywhere and gets mad about it. Get under his skin and the game is yours.

Ken

Rivers should play the first half as a quarterback and the second half as a centre cos he's quite the beast n loves to get in the thick of it when he can get away with it and lets face it he doesnt have the greatest second half rating as a quarterback!

Edited September 10, 2014 by Tsubame

[Spectre711]

Also, think any of this will be mentioned this Thursday night against the Steelers? It will be just past the elephant in that room next to the Gorilla...

I was thinking the same thing. I'm sure they will mention him being suspended and not being in the game but I'm sure they will pretty much pussy foot around it and not harp too much about it.

Being a Pittsburgh fan I don't mind seeing him not play but why didn't they (everone) react like this when the first video came out? Everyone knew he punched her in the face! We just didn't know that she spit at him and gave him a backhand first.