The question that bothers me the most is ‘why the prosecutors have so far refused to arrest Ray Rice’. Everything else is secondary..
Goodell & some of the more liberal owners are destroying the game. But that has more to do with their tinkering with the rules of the game, and not so much their slowness to hand down sanctions for off-field transgressions;
The league needs to develop a flexible policy about punishments for alleged criminal activity. And ESPN needs to stop leading the chorus of second-guessers because — whether they realize it or not — they are killing the game.
Ray Rice has already pleaded guilty and received counseling in a diversion program for first-time offenders.
To arrest him again for the same offense would be ludicrous.
The press just doesn’t want anyone to understand those facts.
..........”Goodell & some of the more liberal owners are destroying the game.......”
I think a near perfect analogy to your comment above would be Bullriding.
Everybody involved in Bull riding, from the suppliers of the bulls, to the sponsors, to the PRCA knows full well that with every ride (uh..every play (in the NFl!)one of the Cowboys could be not only hurt but hurt VERY BAD or killed. Frequently, riders are hurt and every now and then one is killed!
Like Pro Football, there are many “tweaks” to the rules the PRCA could invoke. Let’s see, they could replace bulls with steers, they could drug the bull, they could make the rider wear a marshmallow type suit, they could cut the bulls horns off, they could cut the ride to 5 or six seconds. I could go on and on.
But, the GUT ISSUE the Cowboys and the PRCA KNOW, and the reason they refrain from “tweaking” is that “the threat of injury or death” sustains their BUSINESS and FAN INTEREST. Pure and simple, they know it’s a basic human trait dating to the Roman Coliseum’s and before. The threat of death puts the zing in the bull ride..... “WOW!!......”., the fan’s mind processes every ride,.....”this guy could get killed! And, decade after decade, the fans come, the sponsors sponsor and money is made by all while many are crippled and some die (I went to the funeral of one who did, he was 22).
Goodell et al, unlike the PRCA and NASCAR, just don’t “get it”............or, their pc spines just can’t “take it”.