This is a little lengthy but well worth the read. Sickening, isn’t it? But here’s the fact people: Ray Rice has a pretty solid case against these new punishments brought down on him, if he chooses to appeal. And with $9-$15 million at stake, it seems likely that he will. How Rice Wins an Appeal So this incident took place in February of 2014. That is when everything started. He was indicted in late March, and suspended two games by the NFL in late July. In late August, Roger Goodell admitted the NFL screwed up, and put a new policy into place. As of September, the Ravens terminated Rice’s contract, and the league has suspended Rice. According to the NFL CBA, there is a rule preventing a player from receiving separate punishments from both a team and the league for the same issue. Article 46, Section 4: One Penalty: The Commissioner and a Club will not both discipline a player for the same act or conduct. The Commissioner’s disciplinary action will preclude or supersede disciplinary action by any Club for the same act or conduct. Wow. So effectively, Rice can argue the termination from the team as a direct violation of this part of the CBA. This means his salary this season ($3 mil guaranteed, $1.75 mil salary) may not be forfeit after all. On top of that, Rice can argue that since his indictment came in late March, that this penalty is in no way a “prompt” response by the commissioner. Article 46, Section 1 (a): All disputes involving a fine or suspension imposed upon a player for conduct on the playing field (other than as described in Subsection (b) below) or involving action taken against a player by the Commissioner for conduct detrimental to the integrity of, or public confidence in, the game of professional football, will be processed exclusively as follows: the Commissioner will promptly send written notice of his action to the player, with a copy to the NFLPA… This seems to be a pretty easy argument for Rice to make. The NFL certainly won’t agree, which means any grievance Rice brings forward will likely find it’s way to a neutral arbitrator. Players are most often represented by the NFLPA. With the reaction from players around the league, it’s quite possible that the NFLPA doesn’t get near this one with a ten-foot pole. But that’s okay for Rice: Article 46, Section 2 (b): Representation. In any hearing provided for in this Article, a player may be accompanied by counsel of his choice. The NFLPA and NFL have the right to attend all hearings provided for in this Article and to present, by testimony or otherwise, any evidence relevant to the hearing. As if this wasn’t enough, Rice can also bring up the fact that a player has fifty (50) days from the date of the occurrence or non-occurrence of which a grievance is based, but the NFL apparently isn’t held to this standard in handing down punishments. An arbitrator may see this as a flaw of the contract, but still not hold the NFL liable for it. It took nearly 120 days since Rice’s indictment for the league to impose a suspension in the first place, and now 160 days or so removed from the indictment, the league wants to impose another sanction. While there is no “double jeopardy” clause written into the bylaws or CBA, it’s another judicial standard, so to speak, that an arbitrator may not ignore. When Goodell says the NFL messed up, he isn’t kidding. How did this happen? Well, really the NFL and the Baltimore Ravens organization are to blame. Adam Schefter, ESPN reporter and NFL inside man, is pretty furious with the league. Many reporters, including Schefter, had earlier reported that the NFL had seen the tape. Now, the NFL is saying it hasn’t. A report has come out that the NFL never asked the hotel for a copy of the footage, but this doesn’t matter, since the NFL also states: “Security for Atlantic City casinos is handled by the New Jersey State Police. Any videos related to an ongoing criminal investigation are held in the custody of the state police. As we said yesterday: We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us.” But is that the point here? Rice admitted that he hit Janay Palmer so hard, he knocked her out. Why do you need to see the video of that to lay down a punishment? Regardless of what happened in that elevator, the gesture in and of itself is obscene. You don’t need to see it with your own eyes to know how bad it must’ve been. In any case, the NFL gave a ruling. Let’s not forget the Baltimore organization in all of this. First, they had the victim-blaming tweet from May that has since been removed. Then, John Harbaugh had this to say about Rice: “I stand behind Ray. He’s a heck of a guy. He’s done everything right since. He made a mistake. He’s gonna have to pay a consequence. It’s good for kids to understand it works that way. That’s how it works. That’s how it should be.” As if that wasn’t enough, let’s look at GM Ozzie Newsome’s comments: “We respect the efforts Ray has made to become the best partner and father he can be. That night was not typical of the Ray Rice we know and respect. We believe that he will not let that one night define who he is, and he is determined to make sure something like this never happens again.” And to pile on, how about this gem from Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti: “Is it a flaw for us that we support our players in tough times? If it is, I’m OK with that.” The fact that the Ravens have completely turned face, and terminated Rice’s contract shows that they are purely making a PR move. Had the organization been serious about taking a stand on domestic abuse, they would’ve terminated the contract back in May, when Rice was charged. Had the organization been serious about supporting their players, they wouldn’t have terminated his contract. This organization stands for nothing, and their words and actions have made it wildly obvious that no values exist in the Baltimore front office. Overall, the NFL and the Baltimore Ravens turning a blind eye to Rice’s actions are what people need to be outraged at here. We all knew what Rice did. Just because we actually saw it with our own eyes doesn’t mean we need to be even more angry. We should’ve been this outraged from the start. The league and the Ravens are in the midst of a scandal here, and it will be interesting to watch it all play out
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 15:50:05 +0000
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