NFL Regular Season- Where Preseason hopes go to die...

[Kalbear]

They had an argument apparently, she slapped him, he punched her hard when she tried to apparently slap him again.

[Kalbear]

Also, Chris Kluwe is awesome:

Looks like the Ravens' strategy of "MOVE ALONG FOLKS, RAY RICE'S WIFE IS SORRY SHE GOT BEATEN" might not have been the best choice.

[Tyrion Lannister]

Just got that push notification.

If ever you needed an example of social outrage leading to a complete change in policy, this is it. :stunned:

So here's my question, is Rice too toxic to ever work again in the NFL?

If he were still playing like the Ray Rice of a few years ago, I think someone would sign him eventually. But he's a 27 year old running back who has touched the ball almost 1800 times. Combine the mileage and horrible performance last year with this, and I'd be pretty surprised to see anyone in the NFL pick him up when they're allowed to do so.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

Thanks, Kalbear. I don't imagine the indefinite suspension will be lifted until he's too old to be able to contribute at his position, which would probably be the case at the end of his contract. (I think) He's losing $15,000,000 and the last three years of his career, most likely.

[sperry]

Ravens should donate every cent that they save from cutting Rice to charities helping battered women. The only thing they could do that would change my opinion of how they've handled this, and show that maybe in fact that they get how bad they screwed up.

[Kalbear]

That would be a good idea. I don't see them doing that, but that would be good.

And yes, I agree - they are quite shitty.

[James Arryn]

So what set him off anyways? Did she hit him a few times?

This is how it looked to me:

1) in the lobby she back-hands him to the face as she walks by.

2) as they get in the elevator, she seems to feel he is crowding her, says something emphatically to him...maybe 'get away' or similar, or could just be 'fuck you'...then either elbows or hits him in the throat/face area.

3) he backs away to the other side of the elevator, but swings open handed with his left as he does, I think he slaps her face or she pulls away, hard to tell.

4) she swats at him pretty weakly, but he's already pulled away and it misses.

5) she lunges at him across the elevator, presumably to hit him again, but in any event seeming very angry.

6) he delivers a short, powerful punch to her jaw/side of her face, and she immediately collapses. (It's possible her head hits the hand-rail on the way down, but again the video is choppy, so hard to tell.

7) he stands there for a bit, kinda moving side to side.

8) he then seems a bit annoyed at the situation, and starts manoeuvring her in the way security men do when they find drunks passed out in elevators.

9) the doors open and he half pulls half carries her out, straddling her.

10) he puts her down without much care, then seems to be trying to revive her a bit, then tries to nudge her with his foot.

11) someone approaches

12) he moves away a bit and then becomes very focused on her legs, presumably worried the doors will close on them or maybe there's an alert sounding about clearing the doors. In any event he's pretty ineffectual.

[sperry]

It wasn't just playing though. Vick got Tony Dungy to mentor him, he started doing volunteer work for PETA, he publicly showed (or publicly acted very convincingly) a lot of remorse for what he did.

If winning was all it took, Barry Bonds never would've been villainized. The off-the-field stuff matters too.

Ray Rice can still rehabilitate his image. Ray Lewis repaired him image after a double murder. People will forget about this. He can donate money to women's shelters (well maybe he can't because there's a reasonable chance he's broke), he can come out with an apology, and he can let time go by. Unfortunately he probably can't meaningfully contribute to an NFL team anymore, which is what is going to doom him.

[Jace, Extat]

It wasn't just playing though. Vick got Tony Dungy to mentor him, he started doing volunteer work for PETA, he publicly showed (or publicly acted very convincingly) a lot of remorse for what he did.

If winning was all it took, Barry Bonds never would've been villainized. The off-the-field stuff matters too.

This is a good point. I was as disgusted at Vick as anyone after what he did (he was easily one of my favorite players pre-2007), but he served his time. He didn't complain, and he seemed genuinely sorry for what he had done. I've never heard or read a bad word about Vick post-2009. That's the big deal to me, that he served his time and came out as a more respectable person.

Rice, on the other hand, dragged his abused wife out to defend him. And unlike Mya, that's not the thing that sickens me the most. What makes me nauseous is how he acted like he was a fucking hero rising from adversity afterwards.

[James Arryn]

This is a good point. I was as disgusted at Vick as anyone after what he did (he was easily one of my favorite players pre-2007), but he served his time. He didn't complain, and he seemed genuinely sorry for what he had done. I've never heard or read a bad word about Vick post-2009. That's the big deal to me, that he served his time and came out as a more respectable person.

Rice, on the other hand, dragged his abused wife out to defend him. And unlike Mya, that's not the thing that sickens me the most. What makes me nauseous is how he acted like he was a fucking hero rising from adversity afterwards.

I am sick to death of hearing people describe things they've done/crimes they've committed as 'the situation' and 'what happened' as though they were just unlucky enough to be there when events occurred.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

What do you mean? Like when people say "Don't judge me unless you know the situation?" or "Don't say shit about it if you don't know what happened."?

[awesome possum]

Michael Vick was a much more valuable commodity than a running back who will be 28 at the start of next season and is coming off a poor year in 2013.

I think this is important. If Ray Rice were still a top tier running back would the Ravens or NFL have done this even with the backlash?

[James Arryn]

What do you mean? Like when people say "Don't judge me unless you know the situation?" or "Don't say shit about it if you don't know what happened."?

No, that's fair. I mean people who are 'apologizing', like celebs or w/e but use all these abstract qualifiers. 'I am very sorry for what happened. This situation has been painful for everyone involved, and I feel bad about that.'

Not 'I am sorry for what I did. My actions have caused pain', etc.

I'll say thus: the Hawks owner's apology letter for his racist email...still haven't read the email...but that impressed me as different. He spoke directly about his decisions, even criticized his motivations, etc. It took a lot more active ownership than you usually see with this stuff, where again the criminals or w/e might as well be by-standers who now regret the inequities life has to offer.

[Littlefingers In The Air]

I've wondered since the suspension what would be done if it was Adrian Peterson. It would never be him, but I do wonder.

[Kalbear]

I think they would have suspended him. I don't know if they would have cut him, though having current players speak out is a very powerful message saying 'get the fuck off my field'.

That to me also says that if he kept playing he was going to get injured very, very quickly. It might be a good thing he's not going to play soon.

[Reny of Storms End]

This is how it looked to me:

1) in the lobby she back-hands him to the face as she walks by.

2) as they get in the elevator, she seems to feel he is crowding her, says something emphatically to him...maybe 'get away' or similar, or could just be 'fuck you'...then either elbows or hits him in the throat/face area.

3) he backs away to the other side of the elevator, but swings open handed with his left as he does, I think he slaps her face or she pulls away, hard to tell.

4) she swats at him pretty weakly, but he's already pulled away and it misses.

5) she lunges at him across the elevator, presumably to hit him again, but in any event seeming very angry.

6) he delivers a short, powerful punch to her jaw/side of her face, and she immediately collapses. (It's possible her head hits the hand-rail on the way down, but again the video is choppy, so hard to tell.

7) he stands there for a bit, kinda moving side to side.

8) he then seems a bit annoyed at the situation, and starts manoeuvring her in the way security men do when they find drunks passed out in elevators.

9) the doors open and he half pulls half carries her out, straddling her.

10) he puts her down without much care, then seems to be trying to revive her a bit, then tries to nudge her with his foot.

11) someone approaches

12) he moves away a bit and then becomes very focused on her legs, presumably worried the doors will close on them or maybe there's an alert sounding about clearing the doors. In any event he's pretty ineffectual.

I think you missed some things. First Rice appears to spit on Palmer, and after this Palmer hits in with the back of her hand, with no force. They get on the elevator and Rice starts crowding in on Palmer, possibly spitting on her again, when it then looks like Palmer hit or pushed away Rice. He responds by slapping her, which makes her angry and start coming towards Rice. At which point he hits her so hard she is knocked out. He then stands there, grabs her, let's the door open, let's the door close, drops her again, gets off the next time the door opens, and drags his fiancé facedown 3/4s of the way out of the elevator.

Edited to switch Parker to Palmer.

[Mya Stone]

This is a good point. I was as disgusted at Vick as anyone after what he did (he was easily one of my favorite players pre-2007), but he served his time. He didn't complain, and he seemed genuinely sorry for what he had done. I've never heard or read a bad word about Vick post-2009. That's the big deal to me, that he served his time and came out as a more respectable person.

Rice, on the other hand, dragged his abused wife out to defend him. And unlike Mya, that's not the thing that sickens me the most. What makes me nauseous is how he acted like he was a fucking hero rising from adversity afterwards.

True. The way this entire thing was handled has me completely irate. And I was a Rice fan before this.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

I am sick to death of hearing people describe things they've done/crimes they've committed as 'the situation' and 'what happened' as though they were just unlucky enough to be there when events occurred.

Seconded. "You" is "what happened". It's almost as if they are framing themselves as the victim.

[James Arryn]

I think you missed some things. First Rice appears to spit on Parker, and after this Parker hits in with the back of her hand, with no force. They get on the elevator and Rice starts crowding in on Parker, possibly spitting on her again, when it then looks like Parker hit or pushed away Rice. He responds by slapping her, which makes her angry and start coming towards Rice. At which point he hits her so hard she is knocked out. He then stands there, grabs her, let's the door open, let's the door close, drops her again, gets off the next time the door opens, and drags his fiancé facedown 3/4s of the way out of the elevator.

I definitely can't see any spitting. The quality's so poor I wouldn't be able to. I thought it was the quality of the video itself being poor, but if you can see spitting you're definitely seeing it better than me. I'm just on am iPad though.

[James Arryn]

Seconded. "You" is "what happened". It's almost as if they are framing themselves as the victim.

Yeah. Sometimes I assume their legal team has coached them to be as indirect as possible to avoid future repercussions to open acknowledgment of blame, but it happens so much I think it's just become this really crappy habit of the way to make non-apology apologies.