The Baltimore Ravens are playing host to the rival Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night.
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Although the game is a huge AFC North matchup and is extremely important to the Ravens as they look to avoid on 0-2 start after a 23-16 loss to another AFC North rival, the Cincinnati Bengals, last week, all of the talk will be about former Ravens’ running back Ray Rice.
Rice was suspended for two games after being charged with domestic abuse against his wife. Earlier this week, a video emerged showing Rice punch his wife in the face. He was released by the Ravens and has since been suspended indefinitely by the NFL.
Seemingly the entire world has turned against Rice and many are calling for the jobs of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and many within the Ravens’ organization.
However, Ravens fan don’t feel the same way. In fact, many showed up to Thursday’s game in Rice jersey to support Rice.
Fox Sports 1’s Mike Garafalo went outside the stadium prior to the game and talked to Ravens’ fans about their support of Rice. One woman called Rice an “upstanding citizen” while another went as far as to say a man should defend himself from a woman – “Any woman who can hit a man, a man shouldn’t have to sit there and take the abuse.”
You can watch the video below.
Fan is short for fanatic and that is seriously the best explanation for something like this. Rice’s actions should not be defended by anyone but Ravens fans feel the need to defend one of their own players, especially one like Rice that played a huge role in their Super Bowl victory. Hopefully, these fans soon see beyond their purple-colored glasses and see just how wrong what Rice did was.
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