One thing that hasnt been touched on much was the spitting in the face. Total disrespect and im sure had to factor in how vile this act was perceived.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_3oXUGJAtIA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Screamin A just loses it, FUQ DA H8ers
You do realize that SAS also backtracked later and apologized as he didn't understand that NOW was calling for Goodell's resignation over the NFL's TOTAL track record in terms of dealing with domestic violence and NOT just the Ray Rice incident? http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2014/09/10/now-calls-for-goodells-resignation/15399739/ And that since that episode, that if Goodell is shown to have been lying over the tape, that he should resign or be fired? You'd think you'd know the SAS pattern by now... 1. Express outrage in a controversial way 2. Backtrack when proven wrong and say that he actually meant something different 3. Wait for people to link his tirades so that he gets better ratings
Im just stunned, stunned that First Take is still on the air. I thought people stopped watching that show when Smith became a regular coupled with Skip Clueless.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/09/rihanna-cbs-thursday-night-football-intro Rihanna rips CBS for pulling 'Thursday Night Football' intro Update: CBS drops intro after complaint.
This is a really dumb statistic if you want to make NFL players look bad. How is it bad if the rate of domestic violence is HALF (55%) the rate of men aged 20-29?
That is true, except the CONVICTION rate for NFL players is also FAR lower than the conviction rate of the general population. http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/20...usly_the_nfl_really_does_have_a_domestic.html In other words, even IF you arrest a professional athlete, the chance of successfully convicting that athlete is insanely lower than for the rest of us. Part of that you can attribute to the rich being able to afford the best lawyers in the business. I would argue part of that is the ability to pay people off to "make witnesses and victims go away". And that's before you even talk about the influence of celebrity on jury's, judges, and prosecutorial discretion. For example, if you're a prosecutor and you KNOW you'll be facing the best lawyers on the planet you're going to be Very selective about what cases present to a judge. And that's without the negative impact of prosecuting a highly popular and famous athlete in the community upon your re-election chances, or the influence of the NFL in terms of economic contribution to the community or election campaigns. Think back to college... how many times were things swept under the rug for athletes? Do we really think Jerry Sandusky would have gotten away with abuse for so long if he was just a regular guy? Crime is about more than who gets arrested, it's also about why they aren't being arrested, and why they aren't being prosecuted or convicted. Consider this article... http://www.tmz.com/2014/09/13/ray-rice-domestic-violence-case-prosecutors-felony-abuse/ Now, maybe you think TMZ is making this up. Or maybe, this is just another example of the power of Sports in derailing the wheels of justice...
If you want to compare conviction rates, if Rusty Hardin only improved the rate from 77 to 36 percent over a public defender he wouldn't be able to afford court side tickets. His performance is WAY above that. You are also now off topic. Your original post was saying the NFL has a domestic abuse problem that they are not addressing. Their players are half as likely to be arrested for domestic abuse. If society in general has a problem, that isn't something the NFL can be held accountable for.
You missed the original point. NOW's issue isn't with Ray Rice in particular, it's in their objection to how the NFL handles the cases it DOES get. IE, that it does cover up cases, that it does "fix" criminal complaints, that it's main priority is to keep players on the field and not to ensure that legitimate victims are not being protected. And the reason why they're looking specifically at the NFL, is it's a high profile organization that has a tremendous influence on society in terms of role models and setting national cultural standards. Now, maybe you don't believe that its the NFL's responsibility to be role models or to set and reflect community standards, however I believe the opposite for a few basic reasons. 1) The NFL sells itself to our youth as a source of role models. They peddle their players to our children on television, through advertising, and by visiting colleges and schools. 2) They have special Congressional tax breaks (non-profit status) as well as a special Congressional exemption from antitrust regulation. 3) They ask for local tax breaks as well as tax payer guaranteed financing and bond issues in stadium construction while offering to "represent" their respective cities and states. In other words, they say they're role models, they acknowledge they have a position in the public trust, and they argue that they deserve those breaks and benefits as representatives of their cities. If that is their selling points, then it IS their responsibility to operate under a higher standard. If they do NOT want to serve that role, then they should stop marketing themselves as role models, give up their tax breaks, give up their antitrust exemption, and promise to never ask for tax breaks or tax payer guaranteed funding or debt ever again. If they do that, then by all means... tell us they're all about the money and I can't say crap about the standards they set other than whether they represent my own personal set of views or not, then like any other consumer I can stay or walk away. Stop taking my tax dollars and I'll stop holding them to a higher standard.
I think everyone universally agrees the RR situation was handled poorly. I don't think think any of your accusations in the first paragraph stand up, and they certainly won't going forward. Saying you hold to them to a higher standard is fine, they are certainly at a higher standard than any other business. They financially punish players regularly even when they are not convicted. The NFL basically admitted RR was only given 2 games because the prosecutor was so lenient. If RR was a nobody the employer would never even know about his legal trouble.
The NFL doesn't have any kind of special non-profit status. They are a trade association just like the plumbers assocation or the tax accountant's association, or any other. The individual teams are not tax-exempt and make all the money and pay taxes. Those individual teams do get local tax breaks and subsidies for stadiums and the like - but that's on your local government. Businesses of all sorts ask for and often get local and state tax breaks. The latest Tesla battery factory got a billion dollars from Nevada - but no one is going to hold them to different standards. I agree that the tax breaks are dumb, but they are the fault of the government, not the teams.
That would be fine, except the NFL does NOT operate like a trade organization. It is NOT an open trade organization. You can't just start a football team and apply to join. It is essentially a government sanctioned monopoly, that happens to enjoy an anti-trust exemption. Trade organizations are supposed to support the growth of the industry, they're supposed to allow memberships to members who meet their standards, and they are supposed to encourage competition. They also are NOT supposed to engage in any activities that would qualify as "profit making" endeavors. http://mic.com/articles/79887/the-nfl-pulls-in-250-million-each-year-guess-how-much-it-pays-in-taxes The NFL does NONE of the above. Arguing that it's just a "trade organization" is an abuse of the tax code that is essentially a subsidy.
This isn't necessarily true. Trade organizations often work in all sorts of ways and often do things to limit membership, reduce competition, etc. They all work sort of differently. But all of that activity is taxed. The NFL licenses and produces merchandise, but the money is paid out to the teams - the teams then pay taxes on it. The NFL doesn't generate a "net profit". No owners get paid that money. There are a number of articles like this - they all simply don't grasp the full economics involved or what it means to be a for-profit company. The league simply isn't avoiding taxes here - every dollar made is taxed as it should be (outside of the local government subsidy stuff). The "NFL" entity just basically serves as a middleman, but all the profit flows to the teams and gets taxed. Even if the NFL was a taxed entity, the results would be the same. Out of curiosity, are you holding the NFL to a higher standard by no longer watching the games?
I was probably a bit sloppy above - the league office may be able to avoid small things like paying sales taxes on certain things as a result of being tax-exempt. But relatively speaking, we're talking pennies. The vast majority of the total profits are taxed normally.
I'm not watching it on Thursday if AP isn't at least deactivated by then. If AP or Hardy take the field on Sunday, I'll be watching something else. It sucks, but me and the 10 guys in my fantasy league all agreed that the AP reinstatement was the last straw. I have nothing against most of the people who work for the NFL or the close to 1700 players who did nothing wrong, but if we let that guide us we'd never make moral choices about ANY companies that were guilty of wrongdoing. I can't in good conscience hang out with my friends, the kids and their spouses and let the NFL in our homes under these circumstances. I haven't cancelled the NFL packages yet, I'm still holding out hope that they do SOMETHING right. When I see teachers, police officers, government employees, and heck people I've worked with at various companies suspended with pay as soon as they get charged with significant crimes, I just can't accept not holding a bunch of millionaire athletes and billionaire owners to the same standard. It sends the wrong message to families and to the other players in the NFL that it doesn't matter how much of a scumbag act you commit, or how serious the charges the police level against you, the NFL will look the other way. I shouldn't have to explain to my 5 year old nephew why a guy who beat his GF black and blue or a guy who admitted to whipping his child with a switch until they were bleeding is still suiting up and going on the field. All I can say is thank the Lord that my favorite sport is basketball or I'd be REALLY screwed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Ray Rice's greatest weapon against NFL is threat of pretrial discovery and forcing Goodell under oath. Might be reason for NFL to cut deal.</p>— Michael McCann (@McCannSportsLaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/McCannSportsLaw/status/512046401849937921">September 17, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I applaud your stance - if you want to make the NFL listen, that's the way to do it. But how does the NBA escape this? Jason Kidd abused his wife and was never disciplined by the NBA. Kobe Bryant was accused of rape and nothing happened. Charles Barkley, Chris Webber, Glen Rice, Sam Cassell, Allen Iverson, and many others were arrested for assault. There are many others - but the NBA basically never takes any action on off-the-field stuff and no one seems to expect otherwise.
