Roger Goodell defends Ray Rice suspension
By Josh Hill
The NFL is under a lot of fire at the moment for it’s inaction against Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for beating his wife unconscious in an elevator this past year.
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To be fair, there was indeed action by the NFL as the league suspended the running back two games and one game check for the incident, but it’s the extremely unfair punishment that the NFL handed out to a man who knocked his wife out that is drawing the most criticism.
Roger Goodell, the completely tone deaf commissioner of the NFL who handed out the suspension, defended his decision to suspend Rice only two games for beating his wife.
Roger Goodell speaking to reporters in Canton: 'We have a very firm policy that domestic violence is not acceptable in the NFL.'
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) August 1, 2014
Roger Goodell: 'I think what's important here is Ray is taking responsibility. He's been accountable for his actions.'
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) August 1, 2014
But wait, it gets even better as Goodell smugly swims towards more defense of the laughable Ray Rice suspension, going as far as to call it consistent with other punishment in the league.
Roger Goodell: 'We have to remain consistent. We can't just make up the discipline. It has to be consistent with other cases and it was.'
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) August 1, 2014
Goodell: 'I want to see people, when they make a mistake, I want to see them take responsibility and be accountable for it.'
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) August 1, 2014
The best part of the entirely tone deaf spiel by Goodell came when he, for some reason, compared Ray Rice beating his wife unconscious with the league’s drug program — a program he claims is rather lenient.
Roger Goodell: 'When we have a drug program that is collectively bargained, it takes four incidents before you actually reach a suspension.'
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) August 1, 2014
Roger Goodell: 'In this case, there was no discipline by the criminal justice system, he was put into a diversionary program.'
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) August 1, 2014
In short, the man — emphasis on gender here — who runs the NFL has no clue how to run the NFL outside of the gridiron. Goodell has no problem suspending and fining players for hitting each other too hard on the football field, but when it involves a female in an elevator, the circumstances are somehow less serious.
There are a lot of people to hate in this situation, from Ray Rice for beating his wife, to the Baltimore Ravens for not really caring at all to Roger Goodell for caring only slightly more yet still not really caring much.
But hey, at least that drug program is the most lenient program in the history of professional sports, apparently.