The fallout of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice continues due to the recently released video from an incident that happened in February. Where he struck his then fiancee (now wife) Janay Rice.
Over the last 24 hours, Rice has been:
-Cut by the Ravens
-Suspended indefinitely by the NFL
-Lost endorsement from Nike
-No longer on the popular NFL video game Madden 15
Rice’s life and career is turning at a blink of an eye. His wife, Janay, isn’t too happy with the way everyone in the public is discussing the situation and is annoyed by the media and their handling of the situation.
“I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I’m mourning the death of my closest friend,” Janay Rice wrote via Instagram post. “But to have to accept the fact that it’s reality is a nightmare itself. No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted [opinions] from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret everyday is a horrible thing.
“To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass off for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE! What don’t you all get. If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you’ve succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow & show the world what real love is! Ravensnation we love you!”
Nobody is qualified to speak on the behalf of Janay Rice or even attempt to do so. Nobody now has a right to tell Janay Rice how to feel or what to do. At the end of the day, Janay Rice is living this nightmare with her family and she is living it by herself as the victim of domestic violence at the same time.
Domestic violence isn’t supposed to be clean. There’s going to be a mess made somewhere down the road whether an NFL team cut a player due to domestic violence earlier or not. Did the Ravens and the NFL make mistakes in their handling of theRice situation?
Of course. There is no disputing that.
The Ravens and the NFL are not qualified to speak on domestic violence. No team in the entire sports industry is qualified either. The failure by law enforcement in the state of New Jersey in a laughable attempt to serve legitimate punishment to Rice in this case forced the Ravens and the NFL to do the real dirty work in terms of punishment.
When a reporter asks Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on what he thought about Janay’s comments on Instagram, what is he supposed to say?
At the moment the media in some ways is setting up the Ravens and the NFL for failure. The Ravens cut Rice. That is the biggest statement the Ravens can make under the circumstances.
Right now the only people who should be answering the tough questions would be the Atlantic City police.
It’s not the police that did anything wrong, so that’s an incorrect assumption.
What was going to become difficult for investigators is that Janay wasn’t going to cooperate with the investigation, meaning that the DA’s office was going to have a difficult time convicting Ray Rice.
So, instead of dragging a victim of domestic violence through a trial, Ray got accepted into a Pretrial Diversion Program.
Steven,
Very interesting points and personally the fact that Janay is backing Ray speaks volumes.