Mods I know this is general but it effects all teams & fans. A law enforcement official says he sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee to an NFL executive three months ago, while league officers have insisted they didn't see the violent images until this week. The person played The Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video arrived. A female voice expresses thanks and says: "You're right. It's terrible." Please let this be the final nail. http://pro32.ap.org/article/ap-newsbreak-source-says-rice-video-sent-nfl
Then why wasn't charges brought against him? Why is this a NFL problem and not a law enforcement problem?
I think it's pretty common even in cases of indisputable domestic violence for a first time offender to get the same deal Rice got, especially if the woman is his wife and refuses to testify against him. It also wouldn't surprise me if she'd spoken directly to the prosecution and made her wishes known that she did not want him to go to jail for this.
Absolutely should be both. His wife doesn't need to press charges with that video out there. The authority with jurisdiction could charge him with or without her cooperation...
When you're a hard *** you make enemies. It also means you had better run a pretty clean ship, because if you don't there will be a ton of people waiting to kick you in the ***. If one of the underlings screwed up, then that's on them, but if ole' Roger did, then is as good as gone. It would be a PR nightmare and he would be forced to resign.
Regardless of how they handled it...they lied about seeing the video. Here's to hoping he and his 40 Million a year are sent packing.
The NFL sells itself, if anything maybe we can get a guy in that role who doesn't constantly try to change the game that is already the king of the hill.
Yes, by strong arming the TV Networks, but can't the next man do that? He's definitely replaceable. The NFL is on autopilot when it comes to making money.
Possibly. He has made them more than anyone else. $ is king. I can't stand the guy either, but its not like this whole domestic violence thing is new or uncommon. Its up to the owners.
NOT NFL Live @NOTNFLLive · 14m Roger Goodell will not be convinced that the NFL received the tape until he sees tape of the NFL receiving the tape.
I would like to see Peter King thrown on Goodell's proverbial funeral pile while we're at it for his absolutely shameless lack of integrity, but there are at very least logistical concerns from that. The grease would burn far too long and too noxious.
He plain out LIED during that interview with that lady reporter...it was OBVIOUS to anybody paying a slight bit of attention, when she asked, "so NOBODY in the NFL office has seen this video before yesterday?" He gave himself away...complete lie.
They're going to throw the unnamed exec under the bus, no doubt about it. But when Goodell banned Sean Payton for Bountygate, he said "If he didn't know what was going on, he should have." So is Goodell not going to be judged on the same standards himself? This is going to touch a lot of people. I think Peter King and Chris Mortensen could be caught in the wake as they initially reported about the elevator tape and their recent reports have been more in line with the NFLs story. At the least their credibility is shot.
It was. Before it even got to the NFL .Ray Rice was given Court Diversion..since he had never been in trouble before. The police see this every day...not to make it less terrible..but they werent paying a huge amount of attention to this
He has to go now..even the owners will have to see this. Him staying makes it appear even more then it does now that domestic abuse is far down on their list of priorities. Roger should do the right thing..admit his errors..and resign.
What did Rice get from the legal system? I thought the DV charges on him had been dropped? Is that not correct?
@brianhartline JUST RELEASED: the top rated reality TV shows goes to..... The NFL. Smh 5:41pm*- 10 Sep 14 Someone is enjoying the karma
That's more in the he said-she said variety though right? It's hard to build a case when the main (and usually only) witness refuses to testify. In this case, they have all the evidence they need that he committed a pretty serious crime in that video. As for Goodell, he should and probably will be let go (or step down). It seems pretty clear here that he had a pretty good grasp of the details from the start. Whether he saw the video or not, it doesn't take a detective to figure out what happened in that elevator based off of the previous video that we know he did see. He then gave Rice what he felt was an appropriate punishment. After enormous backlash he laid out a new policy that he knew would save some face and make it looked like he cared even though he knew the punishment he always felt was right, would stay in Rice's case. Then the video gets out and all of a sudden the act is right there in everyone's living room and he had no choice but to make a big statement, which they then did. I don't believe Goodell's thoughts about the act ever changed, just the backlash. The funny thing is, had he given Rice the penalty he deserved originally (8 games to a season), I doubt there would be many people outraged by that penalty, even after seeing the video. Honestly, I would say good riddance to him if he left. While he was great from a business sense, I don't believe he has been good for the actual game or the integrity of the sport. It is becoming flag football now where defense is being pushed into the margins. I don't believe he really cares about the integrity of the game or the hardcore fans of the sport. I think all he cares about it growing the brand and making money.
You realize that he was charged with third degree assault right? If he misses one benchmark of the program, prosecution resumes. This is, unfortunately, a common practice in domestic violence cases. He should be in prison.
As I said, he entered a diversionary program. The charges stand until satisfactory completion of said program.
I don't even care whether the NFL saw the tape or not. Was seeing him drag her limp body out of an elevator not enough? Whether they saw the punch isn't important.
Hard for me to think Goodell would expose himself as blatantly as this if there was evidence that was going to be uncovered that he lied about. Incredibly naive to think he would think he wouldn't get Watergated , he would know it would his job , in a scandal , and this is TOO big a story to think truth would not come out imo .
This issue wasn't a priority in 100s of cases before this, Marshall stabbing, Ray McDonald this summer, etc. Why is this an issue now? Because of the viral video. I thought Roger handled this right. A suspension was right originally, in line with other league punishments, and the implementation of new rules was excellent as far as the domestic abuse policy goes. Once the video surfaced in public, the removal of Rice was correct, for a year, because you want to protect the product. It's irrelevant whether the NFL saw the video before or not. NFL acts to protect the product. So only when the video became viral, the the year suspension was warranted and at issue. I even support the commish lying about seeing the video before, whether he is lying or not, because public are idiots by large. I hope the commish and the NFL continue saying they had not seen the video. Nobody can prove otherwise, and that is all that matters.
sorry, didn't follow the entire thread. As someone that works in law enforcement, I would say that for a first time offender a diversionary program is fairly normal. Thanks
Oh god, if they only had a video of the lunchroom incident last year then Ross would have had to sell the team.
NFLTradeRumors.co @nfltrade_rumors · 5m RT @MarkMaske: Roger Goodell remains adamant he won't resign, source says: "Never." James Harrison @jharrison9292 · 31m @nflcommish ain't no fun when the rabbit got the gun huh?