In the last few days the league seems to have tried every possible rationale to explain why they gave Rice such a weak suspension the first time around. “Rice misled us about what happened” is one of those, but other sources (like the GM of the Ravens) have contradicted that version of the story. If Rice didn’t lie, it’s hard to justify the second suspension. Even if he lied, of course, that doesn’t explain why they listened to him in the first place or how they failed to get and thoroughly review the tape- if they failed to get it, which is a whole other story and seems to run counter to the league’s M.O. So yeah. Nobody really knows. The irony here is that the suspension is appropriate and probably unnecessary since nobody would sign the guy right now even if he could play.
Rice will have to earn his way back into the NFL. Rice needs to get involved with some of the women’s support groups. Apologize and then do as much work as possible to help out. Film some PSA’s, do interviews, etc. He’ll get his butt scorched at first but if he’s sincere they’ll slowly come around.
Vick did the same thing with the ASPCA and he seems like a different guy. Not nearly as arrogant as he was at Atlanta. More of a team player.
Not making $100 million anymore tends to humble people.
Off the top of your head, what arrogant and selfish things do you remember him doing in Atlanta?
What if they do not want anything to do with him?
Years ago I did some volunteer work for an animal shelter. The shelter had an animal that had been abused,and the abuser was caught. His case went to trial and he received a fine, suspended sentence, and was told to volunteer a certain number of hours at the shelter that had cared for the dog. The head of the shelter told the judge they wanted no part of the guy.
IIRC Vick was always bickering with the coaches in Atlanta. Questioning the plays, insisting on running the ball himself. Just not a committed team player like he is now. The old Vick would have never sat on the bench like he’s doing now.
I don’t want to derail the thread talking about Vick. He’s just the most obvious example of how a damaged player can rehabilitate his image and get back into football. I think it has to be sincere and a visible change in the player’s attitude. People will see through any bs pretty quick.
I’m not sure you remember correctly. Anyway I think this has less to do with Vick’s personal reformation - which seems pretty much sincere - and more to do with the fact that he was a star player then and he is not one now. Now he’s a 34-year-old backup QB.
You are not remembering correctly. Vick played behind a veteran QB at the beginning of his rookie season, and did not openly chafe about it. He did eventually start that season, but still played within the system. He did pull the ball down and run with it more than the coaches wanted him to, but it never came across as selfish, it was just him doing what he thought best for the team result on any given play.
The Falcons gave him a ridiculous contract that they later regretted. True. He turned out to be an embarrassment to the team. True. But none of that made him a selfish player, he wasn’t. He was a horribly flawed person off the field, but on the field, he was what he was, a run-first quarterback. That’s not the same as a ME-first quarterback
I stand corrected then. A lot of what I heard was after the dog fighting reports and people were bashing Vick for just about everything he did. On or off the field.
There was some Vick/coach drama because Arthur Blank appeared more committed to Vick than Dan Reeves. That was Blank’s fault though.
It depends on your definition of “selfish”, but Vick wasn’t much of a success due, in large part, to his lack of desire and inability to study tape, learn how to play the QB position, and to learn the playbook. He was a player who relied almost completely on his outstanding physical talents and didn’t put in the time and effort to work at being a better quarterback. To me, that’s selfish. YMMV.
What a genius idea!
Let’s take a guy who’s now best known for knocking a woman unconscious in a public elevator, and have him work with women’s support groups. I’m sure that the abuse victims who rely on those groups will be happy to see him there, and will welcome his contribution to their recovery. :rolleyes:
Yeah, much as i believe that Rice should be out of football, if he told them the truth about what happened in that meeting months ago, it’s hard to see how the indefinite suspension is justified under the current collective bargaining agreement.
Even if the NFL were allowed to retroactively apply the new domestic violence penalties that were enacted after the public outcry over Rice’s two-game suspension, those new rules still only allow for a six-game suspension for a first offense.
Of course, even if he gets the suspension overturned, i don’t believe that this has any effect on the Ravens’ decision to cut him. We’d then have to see whether any other team would be willing to sign him, given the storm of outrage this whole incident has provoked.
A pretty long line of Ravens fans showed up to the stadium today to exchange their Ray Rice jerseys.
It’s a nice counterbalance to the ones who wore their Rice jerseys to last week’s Steelers game, and expressed support for Rice.
ESPN’s Outside The Lines posted a hell of a story today.
You know things have gone very wrong when the most sympathetic figure in the whole affair is the guy who plugged his wife. Goodell, Bisciotti, and Newsome are in big trouble.
OTL has been great this past week or so, between that story and the one about how less than 1% of similar cases in NJ ended up with the pre-trial diversion program intended for “non-violent offenders”. Say what you will about ESPN, but between OTL, Grantland, and FiveThirtyEight, they fund better investigative reporters than a lot of the traditional media outlets.
In somewhat related news, Goodell’s press conference today could only be truly appreciated if you were following it live on Twitter. What a joke.
Yeah, it’s incredible that those guys are bad enough that they even make Rice look like a victim in this case.
There’s some truth to that, but it will take more than a couple of decent efforts for ESPN to make up for the huge, slurping blowjob that they’ve been giving to the NFL for years. Hell, half the asshole ESPN reporters who have been slamming the NFL over the past week or so seem more concerned about the fact that they were lied to than anything else. If they hadn’t put themselves in the position of being little more that PR puppets, rather than journalists, for most of their careers, they might have some cause to complain. But while the NFL is the biggest asshole here, ESPN and its bevy of hacks are also partly to blame for allowing it to happen.
So Rice has an appeal with the NFL next week as well as a grievance filed against the Ravens. If he wins both , he’ll get most of his pay for this season, except for the 2 games he was suspended for initially.
This seems to be the best solution. The furor over the incident has died down. Ray and his ‘wife’ get paid. Rice can then sign with another NFL team to show if he’s got anything left in the tank. Buffalo might be a good option, no intense media scrutiny.
You mean that that’s the best solution if you’re Ray Rice or you’re a person that cares about nothing but fantasy football. It’s certainly not the best solution if you care about the sport. The more assholes that the NFL has playing in it, the more parents of young kids will encourage their children to play baseball or soccer instead of football.
Actually, it’s also the best solution if you’re rooting for the NFL to make the wrong decision in every case like this so that the league eventually blows up and has to be rethought completely.
It’s the best overall solution. It’ll take place right around the midterm elections, so the NFL won’t dominate the regular news coverage as much. There are 3.5 million dollars at stake, and Janay should certainly be able to claim half of that. There might be more, depending if a prenuptial agreement was signed. The marriage of convenience allows Janay to get paid and Rice to avoid a nasty trial.
Rice isn’t really relevant in fantasy football except only in the deepest of leagues. He’s fallen from an RB1 to barely worthy of a flex spot.