After being caught with their pants down and egg all over their faces after their most lenient penalty towards Ray Rice knocking his girlfriend out cold in an elevator, the NFL has revised it's domestic abuse policy and apologized for their actions. After refusing vociferously that his decision to only suspend Ray Rice was just, Roger Goodell turned around and took full responsibility for his actions. Let's face it, if we didn't raise holy hell about it, Goodell would have went about his business as if nothing had happened.
In a rare mea culpa, N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday that he had mishandled the Ray Rice case, in which the Baltimore Ravens running back was suspended for two games after being accused of assaulting his fiancée.
The suspension was announced late last monthto an instant and furious uproar from women’s groups, organizations supporting victims of domestic violence and league players who felt the penalty was too light and inconsistent with punishments for other offenses.
“My disciplinary decision led the public to question our sincerity, our commitment and whether we understood the toll that domestic violence inflicts on so many families,” Goodell said in a letter to team owners. “I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future properly reflect our values. I didn’t get it right. Simply put, we have to do better and we will.
Goodell said that effective immediately any N.F.L. employee — not only a player — who is found to have engaged in assault, battery, domestic violence or sexual assault that involved physical force will be suspended without pay for six games for a first offense. Second-time offenders will be banished from the league for at least one year.
Goodell said that second-time offenders could petition to be reinstated after one year, but that “there will be no presumption or assurance that the petition will be granted.”
Since ESPN's Stephen A. Smith is on vacation, let's hope he keeps his mouth shut on this issue when he returns.
