[fredgarvin]

Whew, the righteousness is thicker in here than in the Vatican.

[reith]

I agree with pretty much everything macrojack has said re pro sports in general and the NFL in particular. To add insult to injury, how many are aware that the NFL has non-profit status? That's right, you heard right, the NFL is legally a non-profit with all the benefits that accrue to that (how they maintain that fiction with all the money they rake in you've just gotta admire in a twisted way). If that doesn't disgust you I don't know what it would take.

I love football, but this has always made my blood boil.

[mix4fix]

Where do we draw the line on the NFL taking actions? Is it really their job to have a witch-hunt on every bad action from every single player? Should it be left up to the individual teams? I though that's why we have local law enforcement and court system.

It can be spun into a positive thing. But after that "public enemy number one manhunt" speech he gave, it makes me not care if another player hits another woman.

[macrojack]

If you leave it up to the teams, nothing will be done. They are only concerned with their profitability --- not the welfare of anyone else. Local law enforcement might very well treat these matters lightly as well, given that the success of the home team might rest in the balance. If you notice, a high percentage of these guys who get busted are on foreign turf when it happens.
There is a need for a neutral governing body to oversee such matters, but Jolly Roger is hardly that. He's just a mouthpiece, a front, for whoever really makes the decisions for the league. For that I would probably look toward Rooney/Mara.

Do we think that these owners really care about the team they own? I would submit that the sole issue for most of them is the value of their investment. Jerry Jones may have more at stake. He didn't get a facelift because it would help the bottom line. 

[mix4fix]

I see a slippery slope. You allow top-down command-and-control and you don't have individual teams (you have a dictatorship).

You're right. They may be lax on it, but you also get the opposite from the league. He didn't commit treason against America, he just hit his lady.

[Chazro]

Spousal abuse, child abuse, drug abuse.  All this and more is alive and well within the American sports world and has been forever.  While this may be old news, the fact that the NFL has been aware of it all is going to be the key point in this story.  I'll be surprised if Goodell still has his job by this time next week.  The ugly and painful truth is how the abused put up with the behavior because of the high lifestyle.  It remains to be seen if the reality of the preferential treatment athletes are given which allows and perpetuates the behavior through silence, will be addressed.  Beginning in high school, continued in college, and into the pros, athletes get away with murder.  The sad truth is just about everyone knows all this to be true and yet we all tune in religiously, making all of us complicit.  But there's blood in the water, so Goodell will be sacrificed once the extent of the NFL's knowledge is revealed.  After everything's said and done, it'll be back to business as usual.  You'll see.

[fredgarvin]

[mix4fix]

Does it break down who they are?

[jimdgoulding]

Suspend Rice for the rest of the year and permanent suspension if he or anyone repeats this offense.  That's what I think anyway.  What's the problem?  Ticket sales?  I dunno.  Dunno what to do about Goddell.  He should take a stand, I know that.  And now comes Peterson.  What a mess.

[fredgarvin]

Does it break down who they are?

No, it's probably not even accurate, but i agree with it's sentiment. 

[*Scotty*]

And now the for rest of the story.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/congress.asp
Scotty

[minimus]

The investigative article by Don Van Natta at ESPN.com that came out yesterday is extremely damning of the Ravens management and of Roger Goodell.  It is well worth reading.

While reading the article, I found that the only person I felt any sympathy toward is Ray Rice.  Now, that is shocking in itself, since he's the guy who brutally cold-cocked a defenseless woman and is lucky he only knocked her out, rather than killing her, with that punch.  But, according to the article, he was honest from the start about what had happened.  Everyone else was engaged in a cover up to preserve their over-inflated bank accounts.

Roger Goodell is a greedy Nixonian figure who oversees a bloodthirsty, immoral league.  He deserves to be fired.  And some of the Ravens' management should be banned from the league, just like Roger Sterling was banned from the NBA.

[mix4fix]

And now the for rest of the story.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/congress.asp
Scotty

Anybody who doesn't believe that those with political power can't pull strings to prevent things being on record is an idiot.