Domestic violence issues surrounding well-known NFL players like Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Rice have attracted the attention of many University of Iowa students within the past several weeks—some condoning the NFL for the way they handled the situations and others believing that the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion.
For those of you who may not be up to speed with what’s been going on in the National Football League, all you really need to know is that there have been a number of cases involving NFL players and domestic violence against those close to them. Allow me to break down for you one of the most popular cases of domestic violence in the NFL to date.
Let’s start off at the beginning of the now infamous Ray Rice incident. Back in February of this year, Ravens’ running back, (the big fast guy who usually takes the ball from the quarterback for short gains and runs it through the line) Ray Rice, was suspended for two games due to a video that was released showing him dragging his then fiancé’s unconscious body from a hotel elevator.
At the time, there was no definitive evidence as to what had happened because no one knew exactly what had taken place inside the elevator or prior to them entering, but due to a leaked TMZ video, the general public was able to catch a glimpse of what really went down.
The video that was later released showed Rice and his now-wife, Janay Palmer, getting into a heated discussion which ultimately ended in Rice punching Palmer in the face, knocking her out cold. This altercation lead into what was shown in the first leaked video.
After the release of this new video, Rice was dropped from the Ravens and suspended indefinitely from the NFL—a move that was considered a win for some Iowa students and a copout for others.
“As a Ravens fan, I’ve always loved Ray Rice, so I was very disheartened after seeing the video. It’s a very unfortunate situation for all parties involved,” says Elizabeth Hayes, a University of Iowa student who has kept up to date on the domestic violence issues in the NFL this season. Although she is against domestic violence in any matter, Hayes explains that she thinks it is “absurd to suspend Ray Rice indefinitely from the NFL for his wrongdoings.”
“It was a domestic dispute, and while I do not condone such behavior, I think it was ludicrous to essentially end his career, especially when she is not pressing charges against him. The NFL was definitely pressured into taking a stance against domestic violence, and unfortunately made Ray Rice their poster boy on the potential consequences.”
Hayes wasn’t the only one on campus that had an opinion about the Rice case. Junior Megan Farlow also shed some insight as to how she felt about the aggressiveness of some NFL players.
“I think it’s the ideas that our society has about men that turns men aggressive. And I imagine it’s only worse with professional football players who feel pressured to be tough all the time and show no weakness.” Farlow commented further saying, “I think they should have zero tolerance towards it, and once you’re charged with it you’re done.”
Whatever the future may hold for Rice’s football career, his conviction of domestic violence has definitely left an unfavorable impression on those who approve and disapprove of how the NFL handled his case. We can only hope that preventative measures are taken to avoid this kind of negative attention to the league in seasons to come and keep the tears from falling.
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