When the NFL responded to the Ray Rice case, the public demanded some sort of punishment. Many fought to ban him from the league for life, others thought he should be just punished like a normal celebrity. When I tell you that I was on the side of banning him from the league, you probably won't be surprised. As an NFL fan, I felt that the league was withholding information about the case, but as a young woman who one day (hopefully not) may have to deal with a situation like this, I was highly offended. After the public outcry, Rice was finally given the sentence he deserved from the NFL: he was gone from the league!
From the Baltimore Ravens press conference, once Ray Rice opens his mouth, I hear a shaky voice and see a man who doesn't know how to act. His constant stumbles over his words and the use of um during almost every sentence says a lot. Is he sorry? Is he regretting his actions? OR is he sounding like that on purpose? Is the fact that the media is in front of him making him seem apologetic for something? Ray Rice looks extremely uncomfortable in front of the media. With his word choice, I think he knew that eventually he was going to be terminated from the league, so he tried to suck up to the owners and coaches and players and fans, to try and change their minds.
Janay Rice seems quiet and is listening to Ray as he is speaking. The problem I have with this is Ray consistently says "My wife and I feel" "My wife and I know" "My wife and I are", why is he speaking for her? He should only be speaking for himself, especially after what he did to her. Janay's words don't come across as meaningful as Ray's did. She lacks emotions and her face doesn't look happy when she says that she's happy. Her body language seems tense, like she is afraid that if she doesn't say the right thing, Ray will cross her again. No woman should ever be afraid to speak their mind.
After more video was released, I think the Ravens and the NFL finally got it together enough to kick Ray out of the NFL. When I found out he was kicked out, I was not surprised. I actually wish they would have kicked him out earlier. I understand that more information was needed, but if a man hits a woman, that should be a zero tolerance policy of every team.
The Twitter outcry was something to be ashamed of, from both the NFL and the Ravens account. Why did they feel the needs of Janay Rice when she isn't even a member of the organization? She's just a wife of a player. Shouldn't the main subject here be Ray since he is under contract with the team? As for Roger Goodell, he should have taken action earlier.
The Ray Rice jersey exchange was a good way for the Ravens to start the process of getting back in the fans good graces. However, why were only select jerseys taken back? Every return of any Rice jersey should have been accepted. On top of that, a donation from the Ravens to a domestic violence charity should have been made from all the sales of Ray's jerseys. That would have made the event an even better tie in to what was going on.
As a fan of the NFL, I would like to see Goodell resign. There have been so many scandals in the NFL since he became commissioner and he has allowed certain players back into the NFL for doing much worse than Ray Rice. Michael Vick for example, he killed dogs and held dog fighting in his backyard and he's currently playing for the New York Jets. Goodell was also NFL commissioner when the Aaron Hernandez murder case was on going. However, Goodell is not at fault for any of the happenings of these events, he is just the deciding factor in what happens to them after the police and courts deal with them first.
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