Ray Rice
First, I offer a disclaimer. I am a lifelong Baltimore football fan- a fan of the Baltimore Colts from the time I was old enough to recognize a football, through the 1983 season (their last in Baltimore), a fan of Baltimore’s CFL Stallions in 1994-95, and a diehard fan of the Ravens since 1996. My loyalty to Baltimore football knows no bounds, as anyone who knows me, can readily attest. In the autumn of each year, my blood turns purple and remains that way until the Ravens have played their final game of every season, and my mood on Mondays is almost solely dependent on how the Ravens have fared the Sunday before.
As a diehard Baltimore fan, I want to share my thoughts of the video showing Ray Rice punching his then-fiancé (they have since married) in an Atlantic City elevator, as well as the NFL’s response to his specific offense, and their policy of treating similar offenses, going forward. In a word, I am as disgusted with Ray Rice, personally, as I am with the management of the Baltimore Ravens and the National Football League, in general.
There is nothing new about male athletes treating women badly. All of us have memories of scholastic and collegiate “jocks” pressing their advantage with female co-eds, and the comparative lack of consequences vetted towards these miscreants. Every year we read about allegations of sexual and physical assaults perpetrated by athletes of every sport against women at all levels of athletic competition, and it seems that the more noteworthy the athletic prowess of the perpetrator, the more notorious the offense, and the more feckless the consequence.
Not that I would ever be able to dream of being a billionaire owner of a National Football League franchise, but I can tell you this without equivocation. Were I Steven Bisciotti, owner of the Baltimore Ravens, I would have summarily fired Ray Rice when the first video appeared showing him dragging his fiancé out of the elevator- regardless of whether the team went on to win another Super Bowl or finished the ensuing season 0-16, and I would have done so faster than the team mascot can utter a “caw-caw”. Were I Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the National Football League, I would have put in a policy which banned for life any player, coach or member of team management who perpetrated such an offense the FIRST time is occurred. Were I John Harbaugh, the coach of the Ravens, I would have refused to allow Rice to take part in any practice or play in any game, even if it meant my job being lost, as a result.
Until such time as we cease and desist, from molly-coddling these overpaid ego-maniacs that play a child’s game for salaries that have well passed the point of being ludicrous, we will continue to see, year after year, similar occurrences as we have too often become too far accustomed to seeing. Until, at the scholastic levels, we see a wholesale change in the way high school athletes are allowed to cheat on exams, take advantage of their female classmates, and display violent and disruptive behavior, without punishment, there will never be the re-introduction of good sportsmanship and character-building that athletic competition once instilled, and professional sports will ultimately suffer under the weight of its own excess, as a result of not taking a more strenuous stance on the behavior of athletes- on the field, in the locker rooms, in the off-season, and in their very own homes, as well.
In the meantime, Go Ravens !
-Drew Nickell, 8 September 2014
© 2014, by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved