Comments on Rice Controversy: 'Highly Offensive,' Credibility Lost

What do you think of how the NFL and the Baltimore Ravens have handled the Ray Rice case? Tell us in comments.

A grainy security video showed in real time what the Baltimore Ravens organization, fans and the larger public already knew: Ray Rice had smacked his wife so hard she crumpled unconscious to the floor of a casino elevator.

But seeing the act started a firestorm of commentary on domestic violence, the level of punishment doled out by the NFL – a two-week suspension and fine – and the couple’s relationship.

Ravens Coach John Harbaugh said via Twitter: “We try and support our players the best we can, but this Ray Rice video is absolutely unacceptable.”

Rice was fired Monday and indefinitely suspended by the NFL. Harbaugh said team executives never saw video footage of Rice knocking his wife unconscious until TMZ leaked it.

“It’s something we saw for the first time today. All of us. It changed things of course,” Harbaugh said according to the Baltimore Business Journal. “It made things a little bit different.”

Janay Rice spoke out for the first time Tuesday, condemning the media attention and opinions offered by the public, which she called “horrific.”

“No one knows the pain that [the] media & unwanted options from the public has caused my family,” Janay Rice wrote. “To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing.”

Disappointed fans can turn in their Ray Rice jerseys at stadium stores, the team said on Twitter.

Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on Ray Rice; his punishment for the assault; the NFL’s handling of the case; and even the state of the Rice’s marriage.

Here are excerpts from online commentaries and blogs. Share your thoughts in the comments on this post.

ESPN host Keith Olbermann: “Intentionally, or by neglect, the Atlantic County, New Jersey, District Attorney’s Office, the Baltimore Ravens, the National Football League, and commissioner Roger Goodell have conducted a cover-up of Ray Rice’s assault on his then fiancée on February 15th. … And not one of them, not commissioner Goodell, not NFL senior vice president Adolpho Birch, not NFL chief counsel Jeff Pasch, not Baltimore team president Richard Cass, not Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome, not assistant prosecutor Diane Rupert of Atlantic County, New Jersey, not prosecutor Jim McClane, not superior court judge Michael Donio, not Ray Rice himself, no matter what actions were taken today against Rice nor what might be taken in the future, none of them have any remaining credibility, and each must leave or be expelled from their current positions.”

USA Today Sports writer Christine Brennan: “So, as positive as the Rice banishment is, it begs a very big question: What did everyone think domestic violence looked like? And, now that we know, how can anyone who is cheering the Rice news today, including all kinds of NFL players on social media, also not demand that (Ray) McDonald and (Greg) Hardy go too?”

National Organization for Women: “The NFL’s lax punishment of Rice is highly offensive considering that the minimum suspension for substance abuse in the league is double Rice’s suspension and that, in 2007, Michael Vick was suspended indefinitely for dogfighting. The NFL clearly needs to change its policies when smoking weed — which is now legal in some states — is considered twice as bad as violently assaulting a woman. While the NFL’s response was inadequate, ESPN’s coverage was equally despicable. An estimated one in four women in the U.S. will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime, and those women are never to blame for the acts of violence committed against them.”

ESPN columnist Jason Whitlock: “As someone who publicly defended NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s two-game suspension o fRay Rice for domestic violence, let me start by acknowledging that the truth has revealed my defense to be horribly misplaced. The inside-the-elevator video shows Rice … brutally assaulting and then casually and callously standing over his knocked-out fiancée (who is now his wife). His actions are sickening in their depravity. … I wrongly and naively thought that she was the aggressor in the attack. … I did not think a man could sucker-punch a woman on tape and have the police, a prosecutor, the victim and the image-conscious NFL all work to treat the assaulter in a sympathetic fashion.”

Huffington Post blogger Tanya Young Williams: “Where is the outcry from our leading domestic violence organizations in the wake of the latest Ray Rice elevator video, wherein he punches his fiance in the face? … Why don’t the numerous, well-recognized, domestic violence organizations open their mouths or craft passionate op-ed articles condemning an abuser, his enablers and his employer, especially when the domestic violence story is leading the news. In fact, when the first video surfaced, where Rice was seen pulling his unconscious fiance off of the elevator, there was NO OUTCRY from any of the prominent organizations.

Ray Lewis on ESPN: “I am disappointed; this is personal for me. This is a guy, a young man I really took under my wing and tried to mentor to make sure he had a successful career and stayed away from things like this. Seeing this video … a man should never, ever put his hands on a woman, bottom line. So we can speculate about a lot of different things but what we need to make sure is very clear is what we saw in this video is him actually putting his hands on a woman and that is where it is personal for me.”

NFL Players Association on Sports Illustrated: “It’s disturbing. For our union and for our players, it’s one of those things where you at least try to look at something positive. And that is the reminder how unacceptable any kind of violence, especially domestic violence, should be. It has no place in our lives, and certainly in our community.”

Related:

• Janay Rice, Wife Of Ray Rice, Responds To ‘Horrible Nightmare’
• Ravens Terminate Ray Rice Contract After TMZ Video Released
• Disturbing New Video of NFL’s Ray Rice Shows What Happened Inside Elevator
• NFL Enacts Tougher Domestic Violence Penalties After Ray Rice Criticism
• Ray Rice Apologizes to Wife: ‘Angel’ Not at Fault
• ‘Disappointing’: Ravens React to Ray Rice Announcement
• Ray Rice: ‘I Won’t Call Myself a Failure’
• NFL Officials Make Decision on Ray Rice Suspension
• Rice Admitted to Pre-Trial Intervention Program
• Ray Rice Pleads Not Guilty, Deal Pending
• Day After Ray Rice Indicted on Assault Charge, He Weds Fiancée
• Baltimore Ravens Running Back Ray Rice Faces New Criminal Charge
• Ray Rice Arrested in Atlantic City