Special Treatment for Special Players in the NFL

By Alexa Vlahakis on September 26, 2014

Every NFL team has its star players, the ones who rise to the top and bring publicity to their team and team owners. Recently, there has been one single story that seems to have the entire United States talking. Beginning back in February of 2014, according to espn.go.com, Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice, assaulted his wife, Janay, in the elevator of Revel Casino Hotel in New Jersey. For the past seven months reporters have called into question how this man got away with assaulting his wife without serious penalty. A two-game suspension was given to the athlete for serious domestic abuse when other players have been suspended for entire seasons with something as simple as a marijuana charge. In the most recent months, the assault was found to have been caught on camera by the hotel’s security camera inside and outside of the elevator for which the offense took place.

http://www.eonline.com/news/581009/the-17-most-scathing-questions-the-press-asked-nfl-commissioner-roger-goodell-translated

 

In the past couple of weeks the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, has come under spotlight for these events. It was only until recent that the running back’s contract with the Baltimore Ravens was terminated. The public is now calling into question the effectiveness of the commissioner’s leadership within the NFL when he would let a domestic abuser only miss a couple games and seem to call it good.

But was it morally right?

It depends on the different viewpoints of many fans that follow the NFL, some saying he should have been terminated immediately, others saying he should have only been let out of contract for the upcoming season. Yet one thing is clear, punishment should have been administered immediately. Instead of the NFL commissioner and his staff trying to cover up the incident, Mr. Goodell should have taken drastic measures immediately following the incident instead of “brushing it under the rug.” He is now reaping the repercussions of this decision and now the fans are calling for him to step down as the commissioner.

Now remember, there are always two sides to every story. The public has no idea of knowing why Roger Goodell did what he did: Was it to prevent unwanted attention to the Baltimore Ravens? Or was it simply to not spark a debate on what is wrong and what is right in the commissioner’s eyes? It seems no one will ever know the true reasons as to why the domestic abuse incident of Ray Rice towards his wife was put to a halt for almost 7 months. Was it morally and ethically right for Mr. Goodell to hide this information from the public in hopes (it seems) of covering it up? The answer to this question is simple, no. Even if it was to prevent unwanted publicity, save money, etc., whatever the reason is does not mean that the commissioner should have hid this incident from the public. Now Goodell has lost the trust of the millions of NFL fans causing them to question the effectiveness of his leadership as the commissioner.

http://www.blackenterprise.com/lifestyle/30-twitter-reactions-to-ray-rice-assaulting-his-wife/

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