On February 15, 2014, Ray Rice was arrested for what was described by his legal counsel as a “minor physical altercation.” But once the video of him dragging Janay Palmer, unconscious, out of the elevator by her shoulders surfaced four days later, people and the media began to give the situation more attention. Then on July 24, after Rice discussed the incident with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, he was suspended for two games.

Two months later on September 8th, the video of Rice punching his now-wife in the elevator was revealed and what before was a beehive, became a tidal wave of media attention and angry citizens. After the video was released, the NFL announced that Ray Rice was suspended indefinitely.

Rice won his appeal and has been reinstated in the NFL, but for the wrong reasons. The NFL has reinstated Ray Rice because it was found that the NFL had likely seen the video and knew what had happened, gave him the two-game suspension, but then gave him an indefinite suspension for the same crime. They gave him an additional punishment for the same incident.

What that means: the NFL probably saw the video and felt a two-game suspension was punishment enough for knocking his wife unconscious in an elevator and dragging her out like a sack of fertilizer. The NFL made this decision assuming the video from the elevator would never be released.

When the video was released, the NFL went back on their two-game suspension in favor of an indefinite suspension because they were trying to cover their tracks and were scared of the negative media attention they deserve. It is not justice if the NFL gets it right only after being publicly embarrassed and harassed by the media.

Ray Rice was drunk during the incident and made a very poor decision, but that doesn’t compare to the decision that the sober NFL officials made that Monday morning. It is hard to see how this issue could have been worse for the NFL, and it’s impossible to feel bad for them. It is clear that the NFL saw the video of Rice punching his wife and even if they didn’t it’s pretty obvious he knocked her out based on the video of him dragging her out of the elevator; it doesn’t take an honor student to figure that one out.

The cowering leadership of the NFL is what disgusts me the most. The NFL, being a regulator, is supposed to be the moral standard for the league. In the chaos of cases like this one, the NFL is the one who is supposed to deliver justice, not sweep baggage under the rug.

Sorry women out there, but you lost big in this ordeal. I guess the NFL just doesn’t think you’re worth more than two games.

The NFL deems drug abuse as a bigger deal than domestic violence, something most with a brain would disagree with.

The disciplinary process in the league desperately needs reform since drug abuse punishments are often treated more harshly than domestic violence cases. Personally, I think beating up somebody, let alone your wife, is far worse than drug possession. Until the NFL thinks the same and aligns themselves with logic, they will continue to make bad calls and embarrass themselves on a national level.

Photo Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/3841038158