Ravens running back Ray Rice and his wife Janay made statements to the news media May 5, 2014, at the Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills, Md, regarding his assault charge for knocking her unconscious in a New Jersey casino. On Monday, Sept. 8, 2014, Rice was let go from the Baltimore Ravens after a video surfaced from TMZ showing the incident. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun/MCT)It happened quickly on Monday morning. TMZ released video footage that showed Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancée, and everything started rolling.
After several tweets indicating Rice would be waived, the Ravens made an official announcement that they had cut him.
Several hours later the NFL announced that Rice would be suspended indefinitely.
This was how it should have been in the beginning. Several months ago video was released of Rice dragging his unconscious fiancee through a casino lobby, which sparked a controversial saga that ended in the NFL suspending Rice for two games.
The suspension, viewed as terribly inadequate, brought the league under fire, and in no time, the NFL had changed and strengthened its punishment policy in domestic violence cases.
But despite the retroactive changes to the rules, Rice's measly two-game ban was a black mark on the NFL.
Monday, when tape of what happened inside the elevator finally hit the news cycle, the NFL got the second chance it didn't deserve but desperately needed.
The fact of the matter is that the video made it real. Before, we were only left with speculation and our imaginations to depict how Rice's fiancée was attacked. That gray area, that imagination, allowed for the NFL to be lenient.
That gray area allowed commissioner Roger Goodell to have mercy on Rice, who, until now, had been a model NFL citizen.
But when that video released, that gray area was gone, and we saw in plain black and white just how violent and vicious it was.
Rice simply cocked back and slammed his fist into his fiancée's jaw. In a horrible and gut-wrenching moment, whatever denial we might have clung to was gone.
Now, having seen the cold manner in which Rice acted, his apologies seem empty. It is not so easy to forgive Rice when we look at how he acted in that elevator with our own eyes.
Being cut and indefinitely suspended is what Rice deserved all along. Domestic violence is unforgivable. A man should never hit his wife. A wife should never hit her husband.
From the very beginning of this saga, Goodell should have been this harsh. It shouldn't have been a question.
When former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was caught on videotape ranting a series of racist remarks, NBA commissioner Adam Silver did not show mercy, nor did he hesitate.
Sterling was ousted as owner and, despite the heinous acts of one of their own, the NBA did not look bad in the eyes of the public.
The same could not be said for the NFL. It looked bad, very bad.
Much like Rice, the NFL did not deserve a second chance to redeem themselves. It had made its mistake, it had defended their ruling and then without much in ways of an apology or admission of fault, it changed the rules and moved on with its day.
However, the new footage, while horrible to view, gave the NFL that second chance. It reopened the doors that Rice hoped would stay shut forever.
Giving credit where credit is due, the NFL did not hesitate the second time around. It jumped all over this story quickly and levied the harsh penalty that was necessary.
It doesn't right its wrongs, but it does allow them to settle a matter that would otherwise have remained as an insult to all domestic violence victims out there.
The NFL didn't get it right in this case. It got it very, very wrong. But the fact that Rice is now unemployed and likely will never play in the NFL again is just closure for this ordeal.
Reach the sports editor at icbeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @ICBeck21
