More Than The NFL

Over the past 72 hours, many people have taken to social media and the airwaves calling for the removal of Roger Goodell and about half of the NFL's legal department and the GM, Owner and Head Coach of the Baltimore Ravens, and it hasn't even been a week since Ray Rice was terminated from the Ravens and subsequently suspended indefinitely by the NFL.

In today's knee-jerk society, this is no surprise.

From the 2012 presidential debates to the VMAs and America's Next Top Model to ISIS and Ferguson, social media has taken off as the main way for everyone to have a voice on just about anything. However, hashtags, trending topics, and Facebook campaigns are simply gasoline poured on a small fire to make a sudden explosion. They don't last and people forget whatever isn't easily accessible on their homepage.

Which is why the focus of this atrocity has turned from Rice to the NFL's "higher-ups" in less time than Rice was a free agent. We want people to blame and now that Rice has been punished we can't harp on him anymore. Time to move on to Goodell and the other head-honchos who told Rice to knock out his fiancee in the elevator.

Except, they didn't and, to my knowledge, have never done anything to condone off-field misconduct.
Unless you count allowing Michael Vick back into the league condoning of his actions because he has talent? Or maybe it's the 203 DUI cases since 2000 that have yet to lead to an actual comprehensive crackdown on substance abuse for players that marks the NFL's real stance on punishing players- read: talent?

Enough with the sarcasm. This case brings to light numerous problems in the modern NFL and the way NFL officials and players have banded together to sweep hundreds of crimes under the rug with little to no official action taken.

Take the Rice case. 
Ray Rice was arrested for "simple assault charges" on February 15. On February 19, TMZ becomes the leading investigative journalism TV station with the release of the first video outside the elevator. Rice's charges are changed- over a month later- to aggravated assault. Ray then applies for-and of course is accepted into- a pretrial intervention program on May 1. This is the end of any legal discipline for the star running back.
Commissioner Goodell, in all of his wisdom, then waited until July 24 to suspend Rice for an extremely long time: two games. He, and the NFL he represents, was rightly chewed out for the lack of any backbone when it comes to star players becoming violent criminals. Another month passes and it just so happens that the NFL makes a major overhaul of their domestic violence policy. TMZ, keeping their status as top-tier investigative journalists, released the second video on Monday, which shows Rice knock out his fiancee with one punch. The Ravens subsequently fire Rice and the NFL places him on suspension.

If this doesn't smell like bullshit to you yet, maybe this tweet by the Associated Press will add a tinge of that all too familiar odor to the situation:

BREAKING: AP Source: Law enforcement official sent copy of Ray Rice tape to NFL executive in April
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 10, 2014

This entire situation is a sticky one for the NFL to handle. I get it. You don't want to supersede the justice department and you want to wait for the legal side of things to resolve. Except... the NFL is a private company. The public didn't vote for Roger Goodell last November. The greater number of fans didn't decide on the coaching staff or the players to be drafted. Not many fans are making the ticket prices or setting the unreasonably high price for jerseys.

So, why is it so impossible for you to punish your personnel reasonably? Why are you making policies if you break them less than a week later because of some "new" video surfacing for the public? What is the actual role of your legal department and all of these policies about violence and what people smoke?
To a large percentage of Americans and fans across the globe, it seems to be a front to let people express grievances and then quickly dismiss their worries with money or a lenient punishment. In fact, an ESPN poll expresses this rather well when it asks if Roger Goodell should resign or be fired in the wake of the Ray Rice "situation."

But hold up there. Is this "situation" simply that- a mundane occurrence for the league? Is this an exception or is it the rule? Has Goodell and Co. simply mishandled this one occurrence or is the general public just now getting a good look at the inner workings of Goodell's take on crime? The upcoming investigation by former FBI director Robert Mueller might answer these questions.

Chris Rock hits the nail on the head here:

Just to be clear. Ray Rice was not fired for beating his wife. He was fired because a video of him beating his wife was released.
— Chris Rock (@ozchrisrock) September 8, 2014

For now though, there's another side of this problem to examine.

Two years ago when Ray Lewis retired after a Hall of Fame career, one of the only topics covered outside of the Super Bowl itself was the murder charges that Lewis had faced earlier in his career. He was cleared of all murder charges- a deal that called for him to plead guilty to obstruction of justice and testify against his co-defendants- and had many a heartfelt statement to make on the subject. Yet, it still remains a dark spot on his football career. Now, as an analyst for ESPN, Lewis has said he takes this matter with Rice personally.

So, maybe the real question we should be asking isn't who in the NFL ranks can we blame for the criminal actions of the gridiron talent. That part is easy.
Maybe the onus lies at the feet of those who continue to pump money into the players who break the law time and time again.
Maybe being an armchair quarterback has more responsibility than we thought this time last week?

But that would require those fans who see football as more than just a sport to speak up. That would require people to actually give a damn when stars break the rules and do more than take to social media to #disappointed the player and his coaches.

That's too much work though. We do our part and change our profile picture for three hours and "#" the crap out of the situation. For as long as it shows up in our newsfeed. Then we go about our daily lives without a second thought as to why we #fireGoodell two days ago.

We've become so desensitized to violent crime that it doesn't take us aback to say that Ray Rice was involved in a domestic assault case. He took a right hook to a woman that is maybe half his size. He knocked his fiancee out and then dragged her out of the elevator. That is not normal behavior. And, if it is, we are way past #'s and trending topics to #enddomesticviolence.

To solve the cancer that is domestic violence we have to be willing to say that there is in fact a problem going on. We all know the saying "the first step to beating your problem is to admit there is a problem." Well Houston, we have a problem.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, intimate partner violence (domestic violence) makes up 15% of all violent crime. Over one million women are victims of domestic violence each year. Victims have lost almost 8 million days of paid work because of domestic violence. There are more animal shelters than there are shelters for battered men and women.

This is a problem that clearly effects more than just the NFL. This is a day to day atrocity that effects the lives of millions. From the men and women who are abused to their abusers and to any children or family members involved, we have a responsibility to end domestic violence and the stigma surrounding these victims, both male and female, young and old.

I don't have all the answers here and I can't solve this problem with a snap of my fingers, none of us can. However, a more direct approach to help those involved identify and stop the violence happening to them is needed today more than ever. That begins by knowing what domestic violence is and how to identify it from both an insider and outsider's perspective.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse CALL 1−800−799−7233 or online at http://www.thehotline.org/