As reported facetiously by the Onion (an online news outlet specializing in satire) following TMZ’s release of initial Ray Rice battering video, Commis- sioner Roger Goodell informs NFL players: “Murdering your wife will result in automatic four-game suspension.” (See the Onion, tinyurl.com/pjjvzqg)

PUNISHMENT IS PR-DRIVEN:
GOODELL ‘REVISES’ SUSPENSION
WITH EYE TOWARD FAN APPROVAL

Politics & profit rule the day

CELEBRITIES PUT ON A PEDESTAL
 
By David Maril
 
With all that is going on in the world, what type of perspective does American culture convey when you examine the intense, never-ending media coverage of the sorry Ray Rice domestic assault case?

Sure, the public can’t seem to get enough video clips of the shocking and chilling images of a former NFL football hero slugging his then-fiancée in an elevator and dispassionately dragging her on the floor to the hotel hallway like a piece of discarded, damaged furniture.

We are obsessed by celebrities. Just because a running back can gain 100 yards and score a few touchdowns in a football game, we wear jerseys with his uniform number, buy posters with his image, and listen to his sales pitch when he’s paid to tell us what clothes to wear and which cars to drive.

Fame and wealth go a long way. Thousands of adults will stand in line and push through crowds to get a glimpse of celebrities or pay money to have them scribble their names on a souvenir or scrap of paper.

It doesn’t seem to matter whether the celebrity is intelligent or stupid. Most of us don’t care if the celeb has a sense of humor or is a bore.

In most cases, we have no idea or concern whether a big-name athlete, movie star or famous entertainer is a decent person or a jerk.

When I was a sports writer, I’d often have people I met say, “Wow, you get to go into the locker rooms and talk to all these famous athletes. What a great job.”

Within days of TMZ’s release of the first hotel-elevator battering video, in which the former Ravens running back knocked out his then-fiancée Janay Palmer and dragged her uncon- scious on the floor, Ray Rice and his new wife made a feeble attempt at damage control at the Ravens’ Owings Mills training complex, with tacit support of the team, its owner, coaches and players. The team’s owner has since abandoned the former star, dropping him from the Ravens’ roster and offering exchanges for team merchandise bearing Rice’s name.

You could never get them to believe that was actually the worst part of being a sports journalist. Too frequently, you’d be standing around, trying to get quotes from rude and thoughtless individuals. Many, if you discounted the fact they were celebrities, you would not want to spend time or carry on a conversation with them.

Certainly, not every star athlete is a bad person or a pain in the neck. Many are very decent people and do plenty of positive work in their communi- ties.

However, as salaries increased and too many athletes began acting as if they were entitled, the more insensitive and callous aspects of their personalities emerged. And as the number and sizes of the pedestals the public put these celebrities on increased, the worse the situation seemed to get.

I always tried to make the case that just because a pitcher can throw a baseball a hundred miles an hour and strike a dozen hitters out per game, this does not make him a role model.

While some athletes realize the influence they have over kids — and a surprising number of adults — and go out of their way to set responsible and positive examples, too many are selfish and indifferent.

Certainly more than enough has been written, broadcast on TV and radio, and posted on the Internet about the Rice mess. And I’m not helping the situation by adding my two cents.

However, there are a few aspects to this story I feel have been lost in the torrential downpour of coverage.

First, with thousands of horrible cases around the country of domestic abuse and violence against women, what makes this incident a lead national story while the others are lost in the shuffle?

OK, you can answer it’s the celebrity factor. Rice, through his success as an NFL star, is a public figure, putting his situation in a different category.

CASES OF NFL ATHLETES SWEPT UNDER THE RUG

But if that’s true, what about all the other cases involving NFL athletes that are either not being dealt with or have been swept under the rug?

Then there’s the question of the NFL’s priorities, values and focus.

While investigations are going on to determine how much Roger Goodell, the commissioner, knew about the recently released graphic video and when league officials first viewed it, the cold truth of the way the National Football League and its teams operates is ignored.

The big NFL story is how pro football is nothing more than a business hiding its cold, corporate nature from the fans by pretending it’s all about wholesome sports entertainment, with patriotism and traditional family values.

The public’s awareness of the increasing violence, severity of injuries and spread of unruly behavior off the field is diminished by a powerful public-relations machine putting a positive spin on every tackle and transaction.

On the whole, the media has fumbled away its responsibility of offering objective and factual reporting with a sense of perspective. The major television networks spend so much money for the rights to broadcast the games, they too often become nothing more than shilling partners.

As support for the embattled Ray Rice crumbled, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti threw the ex-fan favorite under the proverbial bus.

Without realizing it, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti hit the nail on the head in his letter to ticket-holders when he referenced the importance of the team’s regaining the trust of its fans.

That, in a nutshell, is what the league is all about. The most important thing, after making big profits, is to keep the fans happy — buying tickets, watching games and spending as much money as possible.

The lesson here is to never expect the league to rule on an issue or situation based on what is right. It all comes down to how the public will react.

For years, the league turned an unsympa- thetic ear to many of the physical ailments and medical issues that were financially draining retired NFL players. It wasn’t until media coverage made the public aware, as the threats of litigation increased, that the league increased its focus on the problem.

Look at how Goodell, who had been called the most capable and powerful commissioner in all of this country’s pro sports leagues, has handled the Rice situation.

He first issues a two-game suspension for the violent incident in February when Rice knocked out his then-fiancée in a casino hotel elevator.

Rice, after all, had been a popular Ravens player in the Baltimore area and it seemed as if many fans, although not condoning the act, would stick with him in the long run.

At first, when criticism of the ridiculously lenient punishment surfaced on the national level, Goodell insisted he had no second thoughts. But several weeks later, as his ruling was knocked and mocked even more by the media and public, he announced that in future cases, that involved violence against women, the penalty would be six games.

Meanwhile, Rice, who married his fiancée, had followed all of the conditions, with counseling, that Goodell had spelled out. And the Ravens were standing behind him, pointing out that until the incident, he had been a positive influence in the community.

The old “everyone can make a mistake” philosophy seemed to be the order of the day.

However, when the video footage of Rice’s punch was released on the Internet just over a week ago after the first weekend of games, the NFL and Ravens did an about-face: Rice’s suspension went from two games to “indefinite” and the Ravens banished him from their roster.

A day later the Ravens were scheduling uniform exchange dates for fans who wanted to trash the jerseys of this guy who the team had been calling a “member of their family.”

SICKENING, GUTLESS TYPE OF PUNCH

What changed as far as the crime Rice committed when the video of this sickening, gutless punch was put out on the Internet? Goodell and all the officials with the league and Ravens certainly knew the type of punch that would knock a woman unconscious had to be an ugly, terrible act.

The only thing that changed was public opinion.

Goodell, underestimating the intelligence of the league’s fan base and the general public, had initially erred when he suspended Rice for just two games. When the criticism didn’t fade, he changed the league’s punishment policy from two games to six for future cases.

Then, when he knew the public would be horrified by the release of video footage of the actual punch, he tossed Rice out of the league, albeit on an indefinite basis.

All of this however has nothing to do with the league taking a stand against domestic violence. It’s all about public relations and damage control.

What happens when the next case of domestic violence occurs with an NFL player? Is the punishment six games without a film of the incident — or an indefinite suspension if there is a video?

Whatever the ruling, it will come down to public opinion and politics.

As far as whether Ray Rice ever is allowed to resume his career in the NFL, the decision will rest on those two factors: public opinion and politics.

Whether it’s a year or three years from now, Rice will be reinstated if the NFL determines the public wants him to have a second chance.

It will have little to do with what is appropriate, fair, or right.
 
davidmaril@voiceofbaltimore.org
 
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.
 
EDITOR’S NOTE:  The Revel Atlantic City, where Ray Rice KO’d his wife, was a casino, hotel and resort complex at the northern end of the New Jersey city’s Boardwalk from April 2012 to Sept. 2, 2014, when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time, prior to shutting down. Rice clobbered his then-fiancée Janay Palmer in one of the Revel’s elevators after she spit on him in retaliation for his having first spit in her face during an ongoing argument.
 
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