Steve Biscotti, Roger Goodell Must Answer for Arrogant Cover-Up of Rice Evidence: When youre a billionaire owner of a billion-dollar business, nobody tells you no. Especially not your employees. Per a bombshell of an investigation by ESPN reporters Don Van Natta Jr. and Kevin Van Valkenburg, Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti thought his personal attachment to Ray Rice was more important than his team, the NFL, Janay Palmer or the law—and nobody had the guts to stand up to him. In repeated acts of supreme arrogance, Bisciotti tried to cover up the truth about Rices vicious assault of Palmer. On Bisciottis apparent orders, many of his employees made fools of themselves defending Rice: Rice himself, head coach John Harbaugh and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Goodell, per the report, went against his own better judgement and the best interests of the league to go along with Bisciottis plan. Now the truth is out, Bisciotti has to go and Goodell has to go along with him. The Big Lie Per the ESPN report, Ravens director of security Darren Sanders heard an explicit description of the in-elevator security footage from an Atlantic City police officer just hours after the attack, and relayed what he heard to Ravens executives. If thats true, the Ravens have known for seven months exactly what Ray Rice did. Rice should have been released right then. The ESPN report claims Harbaugh wanted to when TMZ uncovered the casino hallway footage, but general manager Ozzie Newsome, Cass and Bisciotti overruled him. From then on, all the Ravens leaders circled the wagons around Rice, and everyone in the Ravens organization followed orders. Infamously, they held a bizarre joint press conference for Rice and Palmer. Rice apologized to everyone except Palmer, and Palmer apologized for being abused. The Ravens official Twitter accounts quotation of Palmer apologizing for her role in getting punched out has since been deleted. After Rice was suspended for two games by Goodell, Harbaugh told reporters it was not a big deal, and Rices handling of it good for kids to learn from. The Ravens digital media team got in on the act, producing stories and video segments that lionized Rice and glamorized his return to the practice field: Rice held a second, solo press conference, where he said all the right things—except when asked to provide specifics of what happened inside the elevator. Senior Vice President of Public & Community Relations Kevin Byrne penned a official-site blog post called I Like Ray Rice. It was an embarrassing, ill-advised attempt to win over the NFL world with what a great guy Rice is when he isnt busy punching women; today it reads like Byrnes professional epitaph. Bisciotti gave Byrne a telling quote. No one outside, Bisciotti told Byrne, can understand how we look at these guys as our sons and close friends as opposed to just employees. At the time, San Jose Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami speculated that Bisciotti was the driving force behind not just the Ravens PR blitz, but Rices too-short punishment: If ESPNs report is correct, Kawakami was absolutely right. The Cover-Up The Ravens had heard a play-by-play description of the in-elevator video from an Atlantic City police office. ESPNs Bob Ley reported the Ravens had a cell phone recording of the video, per Deadspin, which Ley later retracted. Ravens president Dick Cass heard an emphatic description from Rices lawyer, Michael J. Diamondstein, who (unlike the Ravens) made the effort to acquire a copy. Diamondsteins account of the video evidence, then, was the second Cass heard. When Rice traveled to New York for his hearing with Goodell, the Ravens executives, per ESPN, assured Rice Goodell had already seen the video, and encouraged him to tell the truth. Four sources, the ESPN report claims, confirm Cass and Newsome were in the room while Rice told Goodell he punched Palmer and knocked her out. Why did the Ravens executives tell Rice Goodell had seen the video? The Ravens told ESPN that was an assumption, rather than a belief, but the Associated Press reported a law enforcement official sent the tape to the NFL, and heard a voicemail of an NFL employee confirming its receipt. Bisciotti, Cass and Newsome not only knew full well what was on that tape, they knew if it ever came out, that would be it for Ray Rices job—and maybe theirs. Instead of trying to confirm what they repeatedly heard by obtaining a copy of the tape, the Ravens tried to bury it: After the Feb. 15 incident in the casino elevator, Ravens executives—in particular owner Steve Bisciotti, president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome—began extensive public and private campaigns pushing for leniency for Rice on several fronts: from the judicial system in Atlantic County, where Rice faced assault charges, to commissioner Goodell, who ultimately would decide the number of games Rice would be suspended from this fall, to within their own building, where some were arguing immediately after the incident that Rice should be released. The Ravens also consulted frequently with Rices Philadelphia defense attorney, Michael J. Diamondstein, who in early April had obtained a copy of the inside-elevator video and told Cass: Its f---ing horrible. Cass did not request a copy of the video from Diamondstein but instead began urging Rices legal team to get Rice accepted into a pretrial intervention program after being told some of the programs benefits. Among them: It would keep the inside-elevator video from becoming public. For its part, the NFL—which in other player discipline cases has been able to obtain information thats been sealed by court order—took an uncharacteristically passive approach when it came to gathering evidence, opening itself up to widespread criticism, allegations of inconsistent approaches to player discipline and questions about whether Goodell gave Rice— the corporate face of the Baltimore franchise—a light punishment as a favor to his good friend Bisciotti. Four sources said Ravens executives, including Bisciotti, Cass and Newsome, urged Goodell and other league executives to give Rice no more than a two-game suspension, and thats what Goodell did on July 24. Heres where Bisciottis arrogance undid him. Instead of facing the truth, Bisciotti and his top advisors hatched a plan: convince Atlantic County prosecutors to give Rice a sweetheart plea deal, convince Goodell to go easy on Rice and convince the American public Rice is such a great guy that whatever he did couldnt have been all that bad, or all his fault. Goodell caved. The authorities played ball. But everyone who could add two and two knew Rice dragging Palmers unconscious body out of that elevator meant he was guilty of something unforgivable. When that video surfaced, as Goodell and Bisciotti should have known it eventually would, the lies were exposed and the scheme unraveled. In just a few hours, the Ravens went from Rices biggest cheerleaders to withholding comment to firing him. Publicly, Bisciotti, Harbaugh and the Ravens pinned everything on Rice. They claimed they hadnt seen the video before, they found it violent and horrifying and it didnt match Rices version of events. Seeing the video changed everything, Bisciotti wrote in a letter to fans and sponsor, per The Baltimore Sun. In a way, thats true: The world seeing the video changed everything. If the ESPN report is accurate—and the Ravens confirmed to ESPN that this part is—Bisciotti remained Rices biggest fan. After firing Rice and blaming him for everything, Bisciotti sent him two texts wishing him well and offering him a job with the Ravens when hes done with football. Rice, per the story, was incredulous. How could Bisciotti throw him under the bus and expect him to come running back? Because nobody ever tells Bisciotti no. The NFL commissioner is supposed to be a person of unquestioned integrity, per the NFL constitution and bylaws, and he has broad authority to punish anyone who engages in conduct detrimental to the best interests of the League. Goodell originally intended to suspend Rice six games, the report implied, but acquiesced to his golfing buddys demands. This is not only a huge failure in judgement, its an abrogation of his duties as commissioner. Instead of disciplining Rice for conduct detrimental to the league, Goodell engaged in it himself. As soon as the punishment was announced, backlash was swift and strong. Goodell soon admitted he didnt get it right in a letter he sent to all of the owners. Theres a reason he admitted that in a letter to the owners, his employers, instead of a public statement: In doing his friend Bisciotti a favor, hed made the entire league look bad. As ESPN pointed out, its not the first time Goodells taken heat from some owners for playing favorites. On September 19, Goodell held a shaky press conference. He started with a statement that he got it wrong on several levels, but in his responses to questions again tap-danced around specifics of what he knew, when, repeatedly citing the NFLs ongoing internal investigation. The text of Goodells statement was contrite and well-crafted, but as ESPNs Jim Trotter pointed out, after nearly two weeks to react to a firestorm he spent months unwittingly setting, Goodell essentially asked for more time. He was roundly savaged: By current players on Twitter, former players Mark Schlereth and Tedy Bruschi on the ESPN set and media members everywhere. Goodells integrity is in question. His ability to speak for the league is compromised. Its time for him to resign—and if he wont resign, be fired. As for Bisciotti, his actions, and the actions his employees took at his behest, were absolutely detrimental to the league. Seeing how pulled strings with Goodell to get a shorter suspension for his starting running back, and dragged the entire league through the mud in the process, it wouldnt be surprising if the other 31 owners dont want Bisciotti in their league anymore. Just as NBA owners forced Donald Sterling to sell the Clippers, a supermajority of NFL owners could do the same to Bisciotti—if only there were a commissioner strong enough to stand up to him. Read more NFL news on BleacherReport #Football #NFL #AFCNorth #BaltimoreRavens
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 14:40:49 +0000
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