By James Howey
jhowey@jccc.edu
The National Football League rarely is the victim of something off the field stealing the headlines from what happens on the field. Needless to say that was not the case Monday after the first NFL Sunday. The fallout from the horrific video of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice hitting his fiancé, now wife, Janay Palmer, has hit the NFL harder than anything ever has. The NFL and Rodger Goodell have completely botched a situation that happened in February that should have been dealt with swift and harsh punishment.On Monday Rice was suspended indefinitely and was cut by the Ravens. The NFL and the Ravens said they had not seen the video until Monday which may be true but either way the NFL completely ignored a domestic abuse issue until they were forced to deal with it. What really damaged the NFL is that public perception is they did not handle this situation until they realized the public found the video.
This makes the NFL look absolutely ignorant when it comes to the issue of domestic abuse against women. Domestic abuse has been an issue in the NFL and football in general; 48 percent of the NFL’s arrests are domestic abuse while the national public is just 21 percent. Rice is rightly not going to be in the league this year or maybe ever. I would say even with the huge black eye this has left with the league, I think this will slowly go away because of the fact that Rice is gone. It is up to the NFL to handle future issues of domestic abuse right and stick up for the women that are victims to this disgusting problem. Two players have also recently been subject to domestic abuse accusations. Carolina Panthers Defensive End, Greg Hardy and San Francisco 49er Defensive End, Ray Mcdonald are facing potential discipline for domestic abuse. Although neither have yet to go through the legal system, the Hardy story is very disturbing and scary. It makes it hard to watch.
What is lost in this is that domestic abuse against women is just an absolutely horrific and evil act that needs to stop. A man should never hit a woman under any circumstances. If they do they are not a man, they are a pathetic coward, if you don’t believe me go google War Machine/Christy Mack. Fair warning, it is not a pretty story but it is important for people to see it and recognize the horrors of domestic abuse.