Has Ray Rice received enough punishment from the court of public opinion?—the Monday Morning Realist

Every Monday morning, Section 215’s Akiem Bailum gives an in-depth and unfiltered look at all of the latest sports news in The Monday Morning Realist. You can follow Akiem on Twitter @AkiemBailum

A few years ago, the name Ray Rice was associated with the Baltimore Ravens in a positive sense. After being drafted out of Rutgers, it appeared that Rice was right up there with some of the premier runningbacks of today’s game—a game that is slowly but surely making things harder on runningbacks while easier on receivers.

Now, the seminal moment of his career did not occur on a football field, but in an Atlantic City, New Jersey elevator when he was seen knocking out his fiancé, Janay Palmer, unconscious.
Ever since then, Rice has received a torrent of backlash across the country and the world. He has become the face of the issue that is domestic violence. Despite him being cheered at Ravens training camp a few days after the incident became known, he has become reviled by women’s rights advocates.

Just as the video was not a good look for Rice, it was also not a good look for the NFL. After an investigation, league commissioner Roger Goodell only suspended Ray Rice for two games, then received a lengthier suspension after the second fact.

Just as the backlash went to Rice, it also went to Goodell. The actions taken by the NFL painted a picture of a league that seemingly does not care about domestic violence against women. Perhaps the only time when the league seems to care about women is when those women are putting money in the pockets of the NFL and its 32 owners.

A perfect case study for that is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, allowing the NFL to bring awareness to that issue—while hawking pink jerseys.

On the topic of Rice, the question has to be asked since it has been a few months since the elevator tape was uncovered by TMZ. Has he received enough punishment from the court of public opinion that it is time to move on?

In the opinion of this Realist, the answer is no.

It may have only been a few months, but domestic violence is not something that will only be addressed in a few months. The Ray Rice video scandal is much larger than just Ray Rice, or Janay Palmer Rice, or Roger Goodell, or the NFL. It is about domestic violence and why there is a macho-man culture in America as to why this is acceptable to prove someone’s “manliness.”

Michael Sam, a gay football player, has a harder time being accepted in an NFL locker room (or an NFL boardroom) than a man who was seen on tape beating his wife.

Many men who analyzed the incident tried to find some way that the woman was at fault. Yeah, the woman gets brutalized, and it is somehow her fault. Miss me with the woman-shaming.

If the public were to move on from the Rice incident and accept him back into the NFL as if nothing has happened, it would not be the first time it would have went down like that.

Ray Lewis was involved in a murder case in the early 2000s. Now, he’s a two-time Super Bowl champion and is currently an analyst on ESPN.

Ben Roethlisberger is still in the league as the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers—the two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This despite his motorcycle incident and his own transgressions with sexual harassment.

Adam Jones (the former Pacman) is still in the NFL even though earlier in his career, his rap sheet was bigger than his stat sheet.

In order to move on, Rice needs to have an epiphany with himself, and it cannot just be because the incident in that Atlantic City elevator could cost him his career (and with it, millions of dollars down the road).

Rice needs to come to an epiphany that beating up women does not make you a man. Beating up a woman does not prove anything other than your own cowardice. He needs to come to an epiphany to be a better person for the sake of himself, his wife, and the NFL if were to stay in the league.

What will happen on most occasions is that an incident like what happened with Ray and Janay Palmer Rice will occur, it gets media coverage for about a month, then slowly but surely, dies down as if it never happened at all.

That cannot happen in this occasion. The issue of domestic violence is something that must stay in the headlines. If it doesn’t stay in the headlines, everyone will forget about and things will go back to the way that they were in terms of men feeling it is okay to put their hands violently on a woman.

Whether Rice’s career is revived or not remains to be seen. But, the only way to bring about change on this issue is if men change themselves. That will only happen if this issue continues to be talked about the way it should be.