Both the Ravens, and the NFL could not have put on a
better clinic and how to go about handling a crisis the wrong way. The NFL, and
most importantly Roger Goodell, handled this disgusting situation terribly. In
fact, it is amazing how badly the situation was handled when one considers the
strength and reach of the parties involved, and how it could have been different
if either side could be bothered to do some digging. Arguably, this crisis
could have been labeled as "smoldering" according to the Institute
for Crisis Management as covered in Digital
Strategies for Powerful Corporate Communications. There was video of the
aftermath that spread throughout social media of Rice dragging his unconscious
fiancé out of an elevator a few days after the arrest. With some persistence as
well as some actual detective work, this crisis may not have elevated to the
levels that it did months later. Personally, I didn't think it could get any
worse, but it did. As the cliché goes, the cover-up is always worse than the
crime.
Even though this travesty took place months ago, it's
very difficult for me to decide just which part of this entire saga is worse. I
still can't figure out who the genius was that it would be a good idea to have
a press conference with Ray and Janay at arm’s length from each other in front
of reporters. It got worse from there when he was grinning and offering an
apology to his owners and fans, and not
his wife. "Everyone was affected by the situation that me and my wife
was in." No, Ray. No. You put your wife in that situation, you are the one
to blame. And any analogies using getting knocked down before you get back up
is just terrible. I know I watch too much TV, but what it had been a terrible
idea to have an interview at his house with her using whoever the NFL Network
chose to ask both of them questions?
The most baffling part of the press conference was having
Janay Rice their twisting in the wind. It was awful. She was the victim and yet
she had very little say in the press conference. And while I don't understand
why she had to say "the role I played," she came off better than he
did after 5 min. of stumbling through a whimsical soliloquy. She looked like
she was on the verge of tears the entire time, and if I didn't feel bad enough
for her after seeing the video, I felt worse for her after this press conference.
It all felt so contrived, so fake, just horribly put together by their PR
higher ups.
I didn't want to see the video that was released months
later from inside the elevator. I didn't want anybody else to see it either. In
the age of Vine and .gifs, it wouldn’t be something that went away anytime
soon. Yet the worst part about it is, that Ray Rice told the owners as well as
Roger Goodell won't happen in the elevator months before the video was released.
Even with a confession, Rice only got a two-game suspension. It was a terrible
situation handled awfully by everybody involved. Sure, the ravens did their
fans a solid by having a Ray Rice jersey exchange, but after all that happened,
it wasn't enough. Unfortunately, this is a league where talent trumps the law. Those
Rice jerseys will be printed for another team as soon as he's reinstated. And
as soon as he's reinstated, Rice jerseys will be sold once again.
Roger Goodell should not have resigned after this
travesty. The owners of the NFL teams should have had him removed by voting him
out. But since these owners make hundreds of millions of dollars of this game
thanks to him, that was not going to happen. Once these owners made it known
his job was safe, there was no chance he was going to step down despite it
being the right thing to do. He is a hypocrite. He runs the league like dictator,
and the only people he answers to are the owners and the sponsors that line his
coffers. He is the law. He is the judge and jury. And his ideology is
extremely flawed. Everything from his handling of the lawsuits from formerplayers, pulling the plug on the findings of the concussion study, the paltry
donation from profits of breast cancer awareness apparel, to the lack of uniformity forpunishments with his players, he is a terrible leader who needs to be removed.
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| The Sports Gag |
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