How the Ray Rice scandal unfolded between the Baltimore Ravens, Roger Goodell and the NFL - ESPN Investigation

How the Ray Rice scandal unfolded between the Baltimore Ravens, Roger Goodell and the NFL - ESPN Investigation

I certainly don't mean to justify domestic violence or any other aspect of this situation, but as I read this, one question kept lingering in my mind:

Who did Janay Rice the most harm, the future husband who beat her violently one night, or the NFL commissioner who permanently took away her husband's ability to earn a living?

I think the answer is obvious.

So what is the solution? Should the NFL even have the authority to punish people on the field for things they did off the field? Can the players' union ever take back some of the power they have allowed to fall exclusively into the hands of the owners' personal lackey, aka the commissioner?

Maybe Rice should do 5-to-10 in the slammer for assault. Maybe not. I dunno. That's for the legal system to adjudicate. If he's in jail, then he obviously can't suit up for games. But how can he receive the equivalent of a life sentence from one guy in a suit - a guy who worked his way up from intern, and has no training in the law, social work, counseling, or any field related to this kind of incident? Moreover, if a player wants to appeal his penalty, guess who oversees the appeal. That's right. It's the commish, the same guy who handed down the decision in the first place, who gets to review his own decision for fairness. The system obviously needs some kind of objective arbitrator. The NFLPA attempts to incorporate policy changes in collective-bargaining negotiations, but for now Goodell, like Judge Dredd, is the law.

If this situation had been decided in the courts, the victim would have been considered, but by having it decided in the NFL office, the decision made things far worse for the victim than if they had done nothing. It's not Goodell's job to help the victim. As an NFL employee, his entire job is to consider the impact on the NFL. I'm not saying that's a bad thing or a good thing, just noting that it is reality. The man is just doing his job.

Well, maybe I'm wrong about one thing I wrote above. The NFL did do one thing for Janay. Since RR can no longer offer her a lavish NFL-funded lifestyle, maybe she'll have the courage to leave an abusive relationship.