You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
The Ray Rice debacle.
It’s wrong on so many levels.
First and foremost, let me say uniquivocally; there is no excuse for what he did. Ray Rice punched a woman. He hit her so hard, he could have killed her.
Anyone who saw the video of him laying out Janay Rice, now his wife, on the ground, knew that something attrocious happened inside that elevator.
The 1st video was raw and difficult to watch. It was black and white, grainy. It was violent in an almost sanitized way.
We knew that Rice acted irrationally, primally, angrily. We knew that he savaged his then girlfriend.
But like a PG movie, the violent act was cut right before it happened.
The video was shocking. Rice was arrested, suspended, but then, well then, not much happened.
Rice beat a woman so severely she was a lifeless sack of flesh on the floor of an elevator, her skirt hiked up to her booty and nobody did anything.
If YOU hit your wife that hard in the face, you’d be looking at aggravated assault, maybe attempted murder.
If YOU had a job, you would be fired.
If YOU had a girlfriend, she’d leave you.
If YOU did get out of jail, you’d go to counseling and then maybe renew your faith and pray for forgiveness.
But in the real-time world of Ray Rice, not much happened.
Public opinion treated him like human waste, but he stayed out of sight.
His employer, the NFL? It waited for the legal system to do nothing substantive.
When the legal system went limp, like an old man without a Viagra prescription, the NFL slapped Ray Rice with a noodle and suspended the star running back for 2 games.
Wow.
2 games.
Twitter was angry. ESPN devoted hours to commentary and domestic violence discussions instead of 1st downs and quarterback sacks.
Finally, after a whirlwind of bad press and non stop negativity, The Ray Rice experience walked to the podium and the man, not the player, spoke to the media. He seemed unrehearsed, without note cards, seemingly talking from the heart.
Rice talked about having to live with what he had done for the rest of his life. He talked about having to explain to his little girl why he beat up her mother. He seemed contrite and apologetic. He spoke about going to counseling and wanting to make a difference in the domestic violence arena.
Mostly he spoke about being a different man, a repentant man, a caring, loving man.
I began watching the press conference as a football fan. I ended up watching it as a human. At the end, I was hopeful that he could over come this tragedy for himself and his family.
His girlfriend forgave him. If she could, so could I.
The Ravens as a team rallied around Rice and fans cheered when his image was flashed on the scoreboard. That was odd, almost sad.
Ray Rice was caught on tape being evil. He asked for forgiveness. But the incident just rubbed so many people the wrong way it never went away. It was an infection on the national consciousness.
Fantasy football players drafted him knowing he would be back on the field after 2 weeks.
Like so many callous obnoxious irreverent beer hall snipes, the horrible moment of punching his girlfriend unconscious, laying her on a dirty elevator floor, just didn’t matter.
Then Bam. TMZ airs the video that has the world talking, gasping, expectorating bile.
The video shows Rice and Janay getting in the elevator. She approaches him, possibly making contact, perhaps cussing him out. It doesn’t matter. What happens next is sad and sick and the final curtain.
Rice belts her in the head with the force of an NFL monster.
She hits the rail and slumps to the floor.
The violence is sudden and complete.
The video is a car wreck without seat belts.
ESPN shows the video as if it’s a domestic violence telethon.
Network anchors talk to experts in the field of domestic violence and criminal law.
The questions explode. How did the NFL not see this video? Who did see this video? Did prosecutors see it?
HOW DID RAY RICE NOT GO TO JAIL?
HOW DID HE ONLY GET 2 WEEKS SUSPENSION?
And all along I’m asking myself; “Why is everyone so shocked?”
Wasn’t that first video enough?
Did the 2nd version of the same event really change anything?
How does everyone think Janay Rice got to that elevator floor? What do they think happened seconds before the door opens and Ray Rice pulls her unconscious body out of the elevator.
PERCEPTION IS REALITY.
Apparently the 2nd video, the more evil, graphic, up close version of the same horrific event is worse.
Ray Rice hit his wife once.
But the 1st time, America could forgive and forget.
But the 2nd video of the same event, well that was just too much.
It was like pouring a tablespoon of Mr. Clean on your filet.
The 2nd TMZ video was like looking at festering wounds under an electron microscope.
It was rancid meat turning the world’s stomach, yet again.
No amount of contrition could stop it.
Suddenly the world wants Ray Rice’s head on a platter.
The Ravens cut him within hours of the TMZ video being released.
They didn’t even offer up an explanation.
They didn’t really need to.
Fantasy fans joked about trading Ray Rice for a bag of dirt.
Suspended indefinitely. Hmmmm?
The NFL says they didn’t see the TMZ tape. The State police say they never saw the tape either.
So who the hell did see it? Did anyone with a gavel or a set of handcuffs or a football see it?
How the hell does TMZ get the tape?
Even though the act is egregious. Even though the tape is horrific. Does it change anything?
Rice hit her and he apologized. He was penalized by the NFL and at last check he was not prosecuted.
Sure the Ravens have the right to fire him.
They’d fire me. They’d fire you.
But I wonder why the outrage now?
A new version of the same sin. He has asked for forgiveness and reportedly repented.
America doesn’t feel like forgiving anyone today.
Mrs. Ray Rice has asked for forgiveness.
Does a new version of an old incident make him more horrible?
I didn’t need a 2nd TMZ tape. I always knew he beat the living hell out of Janay. Women just don’t slump to the floor of elevators unless your Elvis and tequila makes their clothes fall off.
The new indignation sort of irks me.
Where was it originally, when we needed it.
The apathy sent all the wrong messages.
Now it seems like a do over and everyone trying to get right what they got wrong the 1st time.
I’m just wondering how you can condemn a man a 2nd time for the same incident simply because a more graphic version of his original violence is found.
On her instagram account Janay Rice posts this poignant and interesting reaction.
“I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I’m mounring the death of my closest friend. But I have to accept the fact that this is a nightmare in itself. No one knows the pain that the media and unwanted options from the public has caused my family. To make us live a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing. To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass off for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE. What don’t you all get? If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you’ve succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow and show the world what real love is. Ravensnation we love you.”
Wow.
Egregious sin without video is easier to forgive.
Life’s Crazy™