Ray Rice let go by Ravens

[ChicosBailBonds]

Why not just use somebody else?  Why even bother bringing a conflict of interest into it?

You are saying bringing in a person that was head of the FBI for a decade doesn't have the credibility?

Hard to find someone higher that the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the country.

But sure, they could and people would still be upset about it. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

My home office is decorated with Bears/NFL stuff. Pictures of me with various members of Bears players/members of the organization. Pictures of me on the field when I worked for the team. My game day field passes, all kinds of stuff. Clearly from my posts on here, I love professional football.

That's what my kids see everyday, they know Daddy loves football.

If I can in some form, use this as a teaching experience for my son/daughter, you're DAMN right I'm going to. Will it make one second of difference to anyone else? No. And I don't give an F. But if I can somehow use it as a teaching experience, that there is a time now where Daddy doesn't feel it's a positive experience to watch the NFL right now, and teach them why...I'm going to do it for them. Stand on your high horse all you want Chicos, I don't really give a crap what you think.

Apparently you do.

Like I said, you take any stance you want... I applaud you...I don't agree, but applaud you.


I'm curious of two things.  If the Bears were playing the Ravens tonight, is it still a teachable moment for you?

Second, what about Bears players ( or other sports teams you follow ), when they have gotten in trouble did you feel the same way?  Did you not watch games, etc?

Seems a fair question, but I understand if you do not want to answer.

[MUsoxfan]

I think the thought is that you have to someone who knows where the bodies are buried - someone that has a working knowledge of the organization.  That is why they brought Tagliabue in on the bountygate issue, but Tags kind of beat them up about that even though he upheld the rulings.

Exactly. You hit that on the nose

[ChicosBailBonds]

Oh, he did? Then everything's cool. Let's everyone carry on like none of this ever happened. I mean, he threw out an empty apology and all

More hyperbole from you.  No one said it fixes anything, I was correcting the statement that no apology was given.

[MUsoxfan]

More hyperbole from you.  No one said it fixes anything, I was correcting the statement that no apology was given.

I'm only trying to compete with the King of Strawmen the best I know how

[LAZER]

You are saying bringing in a person that was head of the FBI for a decade doesn't have the credibility?

Hard to find someone higher that the highest ranking law enforcement officer in the country.

But sure, they could and people would still be upset about it. 

It lacks credibility when the firm that this FBI director works for frequently represents the NFL and its teams and therefore has quite a history together including the exchanging of millions of dollars.  In addition to all of this, the Baltimore Ravens President was formerly employed by this firm.

Why not just use somebody else?

[DegenerateDish]

Apparently you do.

Like I said, you take any stance you want... I applaud you...I don't agree, but applaud you.


I'm curious of two things.  If the Bears were playing the Ravens tonight, is it still a teachable moment for you?

Second, what about Bears players ( or other sports teams you follow ), when they have gotten in trouble did you feel the same way?  Did you not watch games, etc?

Seems a fair question, but I understand if you do not want to answer.

I don't need you to question my parenting skills, but yes, if the Bears were playing tonight, I'd be watching Bubble Guppies with my kids instead of the Bears game. 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000% that would happen.

I'm older, have kids now, more responsibility in my career and life, I'm going to do what I feel is right thing. My passion is professional football. For someone like me to have reached this tipping point, that means something. Greg Hardy, Ray Rice, Ray MacDonald, Leonard Little...one is enough, but I can't take it any more, I can't. That's my stance.

[MU82]

Including practice squads and injured reserves, there are roughly 1800 players in the NFL.

How many of them have never been found to have abused women, driven drunk, etc.? 1790? 1775?

I don't blame the media for reporting on the miscreants because it is important to expose lawbreakers, but the fact is that there is more attention today placed on athletes and entertainers because of the Internet. So every time there is an incident, the hue and cry follows that "these leagues are filled with overpaid thugs."

What percentage of society abuses spouses, drives drunk, takes illegal  drugs, possesses illegal firearms, etc? It probably is higher than the percentage of NFL players that do those things - probably much higher.

The "NFL is filled with thugs" crowd remind me of those who rip "dumb college athletes" ... despite the fact that, at most schools, athletes have a higher graduation rate than the general student body does.

There is no condoning what Ray Rice did - I have already stated within this thread that I believe he is a menace to society who should be in jail - but if I feel like watching an NFL game I will. And I will do so without a moment's worry that I am being a hypocrite.

I watch movies and listen to music even though some actors and musicians are miscreants. I didn't move out of Illinois just because 4 of 7 governors turned out to be criminals. I didn't leave Charlotte last year after the mayor became a convicted felon. And I'm not going to stop watching the NFL just because a few players are bad human beings or because the commissioner is a dope.

I live in Charlotte. One of the Panthers' star players, Greg Hardy, was found guilty of beating up his girlfriend, a misdemeanor. He has appealed and will face a jury trial in the next few months. Neither the Panthers nor the NFL has punished him yet, saying they would wait for the case to work its way through the judicial system. I happen to agree, and it has nothing to do with me being worried that the Panthers will be worse without Hardy. I agree because I believe letting the legal system work is the right thing to do.

The Panthers have 69 players on their active roster, injured reserve and practice squad. To the best of my knowledge, 68 of them are not criminals. And even if I believe Hardy is guilty, guilty, guilty, I am not going to refuse to watch Sunday's game just because 1.5% of the players on the roster are miscreants.

I totally respect those who feel differently and who choose to boycott all NFL games. That is their right and if it makes them feel better about themselves because they are standing up for certain principles, that's all that matters.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I don't need you to question my parenting skills, but yes, if the Bears were playing tonight, I'd be watching Bubble Guppies with my kids instead of the Bears game. 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000% that would happen.

I'm older, have kids now, more responsibility in my career and life, I'm going to do what I feel is right thing. My passion is professional football. For someone like me to have reached this tipping point, that means something. Greg Hardy, Ray Rice, Ray MacDonald, Leonard Little...one is enough, but I can't take it any more, I can't. That's my stance.

I'm not questioning your parenting skills at all.....think you might want to ratchet down the outrage a bit.  I appreciate your stance and if that is what you would do, you're being consistent.  Again, I applaud you and I'm certainly not questioning your skills.

Thank you for the answer.

I think if you go back in time, you can replace the names you mentioned in your paragraph with others....this has been going on a long time in the NBA, NFL.  We can blame poor upbringing, entitlement, too much money too fast, whatever....it's been going on for a long time.  Doesn't mean it is widespread, as MU82 points out, but news runs with what makes news. Is it age that you think has changed your views?


The other thing that I think everyone should recognize, if the pendelum swings to the other side and the NFL or NBA or whatever automatically suspends or bans for life anyone accused of domestic violence, you're going to have the reverse impact of trapping some people that shouldn't be.  

Where does due process fit into all of this....I ask because of the Hardy, McDonald, etc situations? I find what Hardy did to be 10X worse than Rice, but there is no video.  Hardy was also convicted, but it's on appeal....that puts the NFL in a legal quandry with the union as well as the fans, etc.  Wish I had the answer.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'm only trying to compete with the King of Strawmen the best I know how

You were much better acting as the self proclaimed meathead a few months ago....much more at your skill level.

[brandx]

It lacks credibility when the firm that this FBI director works for frequently represents the NFL and its teams and therefore has quite a history together including the exchanging of millions of dollars.  In addition to all of this, the Baltimore Ravens President was formerly employed by this firm.

Why not just use somebody else?

Lazer, I agree.

But my issue is that the investigation is going to be overseen by the NFL.

It is not an independent investigation.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Condoleeza Rice

[rocket surgeon]

Condoleeza Rice

she's one helluva a lady/women/person.  saw her speak in las vegas a few years ago.   but then there are those who will try to discredit her for her political persuasions even though she doesn't wear them on her sleeve.  yes, i know she worked under g.w., but she is well respected by many people.  if you ran into her, i don't think you would know where she stands politically.
serious question, do some really think this could take down the nfl?  that's a lot of people, but i guess if they lose a bunch of sponsors?  just wondering how that would work.  i'm thinking they have a mega p.r. firm(s) working overtime 

[WI inferiority Complexes]

Including practice squads and injured reserves, there are roughly 1800 players in the NFL.

How many of them have never been found to have abused women, driven drunk, etc.? 1790? 1775?

I don't know the numbers, and barely follow the NFL, (I clicked on pg. 8 of this thread to see if it went off an in interesting tangent).

I do know that 28 players have been arrested since the last Super Bowl in February, and that 27 players were arrested during the 2013 off-season. http://www.businessinsider.com/list-of-nfl-player-arrests-2014-9

I'm not arguing with anyone or even trying to make a point, just stating what I found.

[CTWarrior]

And herein lies the problem.  The "independent investigation" is already being attacked for its lack of independence, so even if the NFL wins the battle regarding its knowledge of the recording, it will lose the battle on whether or not the investigation was biased.

Another dumb decision in a series of dumb decisions. 

To be fair, whoever conducts the invesitgation would be selected and paid by the NFL to do so , so this sort of complaint is impossible to avoid.  Just a matter of degrees.

In the end, when you boil it all down, the commissioner stupidly suspended a guy 4-14 games too few, depending on your POV.  Hardly end of the world stuff, especially since they got it right in the end (albeit with a big push from external sources).  People love to have excuses to be outraged and vent their frustrations and this gave a bunch of people a great platform to do it, because it's impossible to defend the lightness of the NFL's original suspension. 

I'm a casual football fan.  I only watch the NFL and then only Jets games and some of the playoffs.  But this won't affect my viewing habits one bit.

[brandx]

Aside from her lying about (or being incompetent about) WMDs in Iraq and then doubling-down on her lies (or incompetence), I have no problem with her.

I had already typed a message almost identical, then decided to check back to see if anyone else said the same thing.

She was/is a brilliant woman who had no problem with being dishonest to further her agenda.

Exactly what the NFL needs right now.

[StillAWarrior]

I was surprised that we were 7+ pages into this and it hadn't veered off into lockable territory.  I think it's heading that direction now.

[jesmu84]

http://www.barstoolsports.com/boston/super-page/how-are-the-ravens-getting-such-a-free-pass-in-all-of-this/

[4everwarriors]

Anyone else wonderin' what Jane Skinner thinks about all this chit?

[GGGG]

I had no idea that Jane Skinner was married to Goodell until you mentioned it.

[rocket surgeon]

cbs also pulled plug on rihanna doing thursday night game intro song


http://www.tmz.com/2014/09/11/cbs-rihanna-ravens-steelers-cancelled/

[Jay Bee]

Anyone else wonderin' what Jane Skinner thinks about all this chit?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/4KKXektRX3Y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/4KKXektRX3Y</a>

[brandx]

Oops - caught lying again!!!!!!


"Ray Rice told NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on June 16 that he punched his then-fiancee in a casino elevator, four sources have told "Outside the Lines," an assertion that contradicts Goodell's statement this week that "when we met with Ray Rice and his representatives, it was ambiguous about what actually happened."

Goodell made the statement Tuesday during an interview with CBS News, saying the latest video released by TMZ Sports about the incident was "inconsistent" with what the former Baltimore Ravens running back had told him. But four sources close to Rice say that during the disciplinary meeting in the commissioner's office on June 16, Rice told Goodell he had hit Janay Rice, then his fiancee, in the face inside a Revel Casino Hotel elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and had knocked her unconscious."

But at least we have been assured that Goodell is an honorable man.

[MU82]

  As opposed to the current occupant of the WH who receives 4 Pinnochios every time he addresses the nation

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the current occupant of the WH was mentioned as a possible commissioner.

Just because Obama has been mostly an incompetent and/or a liar, it doesn't preclude Condi from having been the same.

It's not a mutually exclusive club!

[reinko]

So the line that Goodell trotted out there that they couldn't get it from the casino was deemed bull chit too.



Paul Loriquet, the Director of Communications for the New Jersey Attorney General, tells TMZ bluntly, "No, it's not illegal."

To be clear ... our question was very specific: "Is it illegal for the casino to show or provide this material to a private entity in an ongoing investigation." His answer, "No, it's not illegal."