With the NFL season recently coming to a close, I thought it would be a wonderful time to criticize an institution’s inability to get their priorities straight.
As we all know, the Patriots are the Super Bowl 49 champions, but not without having to be accused of cheating in the process. And I can’t help but wonder if these accusations had anything to do with the fact that if the Patriots won their AFC championship, that it would propel the team onto their 6th Super Bowl since 2001, and give way to the heavy possibility of Tom Brady winning his 4th championship since joining the NFL. The scandal, known as the “Deflategate” would serve no real purpose but to taint the name of the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady Empire.
The accusation’s validity is beyond me, but as information keeps coming out, the proof seems nonexistent. What was more interesting to me than the allegation itself, was how quickly and efficiently the situation was dealt with. As soon as the claim had been made, the NFL stated that they launched an investigation the night of the game. Granted, it was only a matter of days until the Super Bowl would take place, but they made sure to jump on the situation right away, knowing full-well that any negative result would end with a mandated $25,000 fine, along with punishment made by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that could result in draft pick losses and fines up to half a million dollars1; pocket change for a team that makes hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
In retrospect, even though there was no released confirmation or proof of cheating, the way that the information was being portrayed, made it into a large issue with implications as to it being true. Press conferences and talks with opinionated ex-players spewed across TV screens for almost two weeks straight make it a hard issue to ignore. Does it not make you wonder if this situation was being used as a way to make good face and display assertion by the organization, while simultaneously distracting us all from previous controversial incidences from this past year?
I think it’s no secret that players like Ray Rice have been grazing the media over the last twelve months, and the integrity of the league has been in question.
In case you were unaware of the series of events that have transpired, here’s the short version:
-As of February 15, 2014 Rice’s arrest for domestic abuse is made public, and a series of statements quickly followed by Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and subsequently the Ravens owner, supporting him and making promises about the return of the star player.2
-When the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, and the same man who would punish the Patriots if the Deflategate proved to be true, is asked about his awareness and consequences of the incident, he replies that they are aware of the situation and they “will let the facts dictate” if there are any repercussions.2
-Even after Rice is indicted on assault charges, the Ravens issue a supportive statement saying that “there is more to Ray Rice than this one incident.”2
-Rice escapes the possibility of jail and his request to be entered into an intervention program instead, is approved. It is later revealed that the program he was entered into “was granted in less than one percent of all domestic violence cases in New Jersey between 2010-2013.”
-Rice sits down with Goodell to talk about the events, but there is controversy over what details Rice tells him in the meeting.
-The conversation results in a 2 game suspension, but by September, more footage surfaces (that the league, including Goodell, claims they hadn’t seen until that day) and the Ravens release Rice. Goodell says “he could not rule out Rice ever playing in the NFL again.”2
-Two days later it is revealed that the NFL had been sent the original video months prior, and they had information that confirmed them receiving the video.
-They try to suspend Rice indefinitely, but cannot, because they had already decided on his two game suspension as the original punishment, they had no justification to suspend the player indefinitely.
-Rice appeals his permanent suspension, and on Nov. 5th has his hearing. As of Nov 28, wins his appeal, and is reinstated into the NFL.
National Football League, you are one of the most well-known organizations in this country; all eyes are on you.
First of all, it is outrageous that it takes 6 months and a gruesome video of Ray Rice punching the crap out of his fiancé for the NFL to even consider the true severity of this situation. What kind of example are you setting for our country? Let us make a point to “look into” a situation that is without a doubt implausible, and even if it is true, wouldn’t even result in a change in the score of an AFC championship game, while we dilly dally and tip toe around a publicly documented incident that is so prominent at this moment in time that our own president is working to have it featured on vastly-viewed TV specials like the Grammy’s. This man has been declared as one of the “face[s] of the Baltimore Ravens” and is an idol to millions of boys across the country; the same boys that will one day be those boyfriends, spouses, and fathers who take after those they admire most. Instead of making an example out of Ray Rice you have done nothing but show the world that if you are an athlete and a celebrity that you are above the law. You are an organization that the whole country looks up to whether you like it or not. Any institution that puts their own profit over the well-being of people in this country, is no institution that I want to willingly support.
Way to go National Football League, you’ve really outdone yourself.
-A concerned (female) citizen of this country