Roger Goodell and the NFL weren’t the only ones that dropped the ball on the Ray Rice domestic violence issue.
The NFL is the most popular sport in America. They generate the most revenue; in 2011, they signed a television deal worth 27 billion according too Forbes.
I have been watching the NFL since I was 10 years old.
ESPN is the most powerful sports network in the nation. It has 10 different television channels, 24-hour news coverage and is worth 10.4 billion, according too Forbes.
They are the 800-pound gorilla that is not going to go away any time soon.
The NFL is doing great, but aren’t they abusing their power? Isn’t Roger Goodell flexing his muscles a little two much?
In 2012 Terrell Suggs, linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, punched his girlfriend in the neck and dragged her alongside a speeding car in front of their children.
Last month, Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy pled guilty to assaulting a female and communicating threats.
Neither one has been suspended.
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was suspended an entire season for smoking weed.
Do you see a trend?
How can someone get suspended an entire season for harming themselves by smoking weed, but two players who committed violent acts toward other people can continue play.
It is mind-boggling. It looks like the NFL makes up the rules as they go, and nobody has put their foot down and said enough is enough. They have failed to recognize that domestic violence is wrong.
ESPN’s Lester Munson, legal analyst, said the NFL has the best of the best at their disposal.
“The NFL easily has the most capable, the largest, the best finance security detail in professional sports, these guys are really good,” Munson said. “They are ex-FBI agents, there are a couple former police chiefs. They have two jobs: dig up what happened; number two, try to keep it under control and spin it in favor of the league.”
Munson went on to say that “Here they did what they always do expect it didn’t work, they got caught thanks to aggressive and effective reporting from TMZ.”
The media and the general public were outraged that Rice only got a two-game suspension. This topic was discussed on talk radio and television, and was written about in newspapers.
Every major network saw the first video of Rice dragging his unconscious wife out of the elevator. Didn’t anyone stop to think that he knocked her out?
Why didn’t the journalists for ESPN and other affiliates just simply do their job and look into this case. Couldn’t Adam Schefter, or Jay Glazier, who have numerous sources, think that there had to be a second video in side the elevator?
The media, the NFL and the Ravens have all failed.
The Ravens held a press conference regarding Rice and his fiancé. The press conference was held for the both of them to explain themselves, but what was more eye-popping was what the Raven’s twitter account read: “Janay Rice deeply regrets her role in the incident.”
Why didn’t the NFL do their due diligence on domestic violence?
Sources say that the Revel Hotel and Casino told TMZ that no one from the NFL asked the since-closed casino for the video of the couple in the elevator on Feb. 15 incident according to ESPN.com
Goodell thinks differently.
“We had not seen any videotape of what occurred in the elevator,” Goodell said. “We assumed that there was a video, we asked for video, we asked for anything that was pertinent, but we were never granted that opportunity.”
It’s clear that someone is lying, and the commissionaire is blind to domestic violence.
The NFL’s reputation will take a significant hit that may not be repaired.