Baltimore Ravens lost their season opener to the visiting Cincinnati Bengals 23 to 16.
Yet that is not the talking point of the day when it comes to the Ravens.
Instead there is a great deal of discussion and outrage over the full video related to the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal. TMZ released the video hours ago, and the response has been deafening.
Rice earned a two game ban for an incident of violence involving his wife Janay Palmer, who was his fiance at the time of the incident.
Two. Game. Ban.
As the public takes in a cut and dry case of absolutely unwarranted violence, people are left to ask themselves what the NFL was THINKING in both allowing this man to escape with a virtual slap on the wrist and continue to play football?
Many agree that Rice, who knocked his wife completely unconscious in an elevator and then dragged her body out into the lobby, should be serving jail time.
After the new video was released, there was no way that the NFL and Baltimore Ravens could afford to continue to stand behind their questionable response to the event.
The @NFL has suspended Baltimore @Ravens running back Ray Rice indefinitely. See the latest: http://t.co/dMW7QAFaUv pic.twitter.com/cyL3Yq86Wg
— CNN (@CNN) September 8, 2014
It is now being reported that Ray Rice has had his contract terminated by the Ravens.
Before anyone gives a round of applause to the Baltimore team for doing what they should have done months ago, please remember they tweeted THIS out in response to the situation:
Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) May 23, 2014
That’s right, Palmer owned her role in being knocked unconscious. Thanks for letting us know, Ravens.
Hopefully this swift and hard line response will set a STRONG precedence in tackling the unethical and criminal behaviors of those who work for the NFL.
UPDATE:
The Baltimore Ravens decided to remove a tasteless tweet blaming Janay Palmer for her supposed role in being physically assaulted. The tweet stood for MONTHS, even after the original video aired.
It was just taken down within the hour. Here is a screen cap of the original tweet:
Despite the move, one wonders if an APOLOGY will be forthcoming.