Interacting in Today's Social World

I joined Facebook in 2007 after hearing about how cool it was from some people I knew in Wayzata. I decided to make an account and played on it one afternoon for a few minutes before going back to change my layout on MySpace and add a new song to my profile page. I didn’t like Facebook. You couldn’t customize anything and everyone’s page looked the same. No top friends? Come on Zuckerberg.

Four years later I was a sophomore in college when I sent my first tweet. My freshmen roommate tweeted occasionally during the school year but I never really understood what it was. I tried it once and deleted my account in a matter of days because I was frustrated with how it worked. I tried it again a few weeks later and the same result ensued. Finally on September 20^th, 2011 I decided to make a 3^rd account and said I would keep it for at least 6 months. I sent out my first tweet and started following athletes and journalists from around the area. I didn’t know it then, but I was hooked.

I started middle school in 2004 and since then, social media has been a part of my life. I have had an AOL email address since 1996 (5 years old) after my Dad decided to make one for all of us. That account (jhines91@aol.com) is still my primary account today. AOL accounts were popular because you could use AIM or AOL Instant Messenger for those who haven’t heard of it. AIM was the craze in 2004-2006 during my middle school years. Everyone had their own name and you would rush home after school to jump onto AIM. Who was online? Who had their away message up? Away message? Yes, back then you would actually create a message about where you were so that people wouldn’t get worried about you. Away messages contained quotes, jokes, and break up messages for one of my friends who I won’t name here.

Besides MySpace, AIM, Facebook, and Twitter, dozens of other social media sites have reached millions of people on the World Wide Web. Mix that with text messages and you now can talk to thousands of people, without ever moving your mouth.

So what have I realized over the years when it comes to social media? Is it good? Is it corrupting society? Is it the best thing since sliced bread? The answer to those questions comes from how you use these social devices on a daily basis. Here are some recent experiences I have had in the past few months. I will keep names out, just for fun.

A couple weeks ago I am at Lifetime Fitness working out and see a couple girls I know. I go up and say hi. One I used to work with and the other one I have talked to maybe once or twice in person but we occasionally talk on Twitter. After a few minutes of talking to them I get asked about teaching and how it is going. I find it pleasant that a couple people I rarely talk to not only know where I am teaching, but want to know how it is going. They only reason they know I am even a teacher is because they saw it on social media. The conversation lasts about ten minutes before I head to the showers and they head to work out. Haven’t talked to either of them since.

A couple days later I am back on the bike and I am about to get caught up on Twitter. I haven’t been on all day, and I am interested in what is going on in the world. I use Twitter as my newspaper and rightfully so. By the time I would have picked up the newspaper on a Friday afternoon, the paper is already old, and most of the news is irrelevant. Twitter gives me the up to the second coverage of what is going on locally, nationally and globally. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year my Twitter feed is helping me stay current with the world. I reach into my pocket and try to unlock my phone. Dead. Damn it, I mutter to myself as I use my phone for both entertainment and music during my workout. I plug my phone into the bike, which at least has an NBA game on. That will do I guess. I look out beyond the glass to see a dad and daughter playing volleyball. They go back and forth laughing and giggling with each other. If I had to guess I would say she was back for the weekend from college. Every time the ball would come towards me on the bike she would run and retrieve it, look up and smile. Beautiful smile she had. As my workout ended I headed to fill my water bottle and they were right behind me. I made it known that they kept my attention off the time on the bike just by being there. Both laughed and were happy they had an audience. I told them to have a good night and went on my way. Chances are I will never see them again but wouldn’t have ever even noticed them if my phone wouldn’t have died.

A couple years ago I am on Twitter on a Saturday night/Sunday morning. It is 3:00 AM and I am about to go to sleep. I check my feed one last time and see one of my friends tweeting that she is in Saint Cloud. Her and a few friends were there for a party and ended up losing the person they were supposed to stay with. I called her and told her I was about ten minutes away from Saint Cloud but could give them my address since they had a sober driver. 15 minutes later they were at my house. I offered them blankets and the couple couches we had and headed back to bed. By morning they were gone but I received texts the next day thanking me for at least giving them a place to stay so they weren’t stuck in Saint Cloud at a random house for the night. All because I decided to check Twitter before bed on a random Saturday night.

Another Saturday morning I am on Twitter and start talking to some people about the horse races. What is so good about them anyways? Soon I was following about 35 new people from around North America that like to talk about horse racing. Some talk only about the races, while some are like me and mix it into their tweets throughout the week. A couple individuals from the horse racing community have stuck out. One works at Star Tribune and writes about horse races for the paper. I ran into him at Canterbury Park last year and we took a picture together. I ended up hitting a pick 4 later that day to cap off a great day. I see him a few more times over the summer, including my birthday where he decided to buy me a pick 3 ticket for my birthday to split if it hit. It hits, he walks down to my friends and I and we exchange a few words before he wishes me Happy Birthday one more time before he departs. An amazing guy that I met all because of a silly social media site. The other guy I have yet to meet. His lives in Canada and he is currently my favorite Twitter follower. He talks about hockey, the NFL, his hatred for Bayern, and his love for the Montreal Canadians as well as his family. From twitter we have exchanged phone numbers and have had multiple conversations via FaceTime about the horses and whatever else. One person I would love to meet when our paths cross someday. He is welcoming his second child soon and I couldn’t be happier for him.   

The next guy is also someone I had never met until this past summer. He is another teacher and he loves Golf, UNC Basketball, Chelsea Blue, and Shamrock Shakes. He is also a huge fan of Twitter. I met him from my college roommates and a group of us finally got to play a round of golf together last summer. We had talked frequently over the time I first started following him and finally being able to meet someone I had talked to on Twitter so much was great.

Two more people left on the list…. And they couldn’t be more opposite.

The first is someone who used to tweet an insane amount of times when I first started following her. Her tweets were always so relevant and it ended up striking up a conversation one day. We went to school close (I went to SJU and she went to Saint Cloud State) and decided to have coffee one time and actually meet. We went to school together and graduated 3 years apart so we knew each other but didn’t really know each other. We met at a caribou and spent a couple hours talking and doing homework. Over the next couple years we have met up for coffee a few times and have done homework at Caribou and at SCSU library with other friends as well. We don’t talk very often but we have some of the best conversations that friends can have. I trust her with anything and everything and she does the same with me. The best part about our friendship is that we are really nothing alike. Our personalities are different but we always have great conversations while continuing to learn more about each other at every meeting. I can’t wait to see her over Christmas break and catch up. Another great twitter follow that turned into a friendship.

The last person that I “met” on social media has been with me to Wisconsin twice and we have hung out MAYBE ten times in our lives. We share a love for Minnesota Twins baseball and while we have a lot of similar opinions, we also argue about sports a lot. The best part about this individual is that our debates are respectable, and always usually end up agreeing on a specific point. Recently he got married to a beautiful bride and is becoming a father this summer. I am really glad I got to know him over Twitter as well.

For people in high school and college, please put your phone down during class. Junior year I got my phone taken away so many times that I was beginning to have in school suspension. It was bad. Finally I made the commitment to just put it away and not even have it in my pocket. The amount of information I was missing in a 50-minute class was astonishing. When I got to college I went back to old habits. New girlfriend who I wanted to talk to 24/7 and I didn’t care what my freshmen writing professor was saying. My GPA was dropping and I decided again to take myself away from my computer and phone during class. Within weeks my test scores got better and my GPA went up significantly. Senior year I took 22 credits and my phone stayed in my pocket the majority of the time. It was the best semester of my SJU career and although I love social media more than most, there are definitely times where your focus needs to be elsewhere.

I wake up and check my phone before I get up and jump in the shower. I have an order in which I do it even. Currently, it is Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and finally Twitter (sad I know.) Facebook needs me a notification that there are friends with birthdays today. One of them in another teacher at the middle school I work at. Good to know. I pass him in the halls and am able to wish him a happy birthday. Had I not had Facebook, I would have never known.

So many things are missed because we are too busy sitting on our phones. We miss out on real conversation between two humans because we are too busy trying to talk to someone who is on the other side of the city, the state, the nation, or the World. I recently had a good friend tell me that he believed that while being on my phone provided a lot of good information for us to talk about, that he felt like half the time I wasn’t there. It never hit me until he was honest about it with me and now I try to stay off of it as much as possible when I am in the middle of a conversation with people. That being said, you have seen examples of how good social media can be. On how you can really get to know someone you never would have known, had it not been for social media. With most things, anything can be good in moderation and I believe that applies here. Social media is an extremely powerful tool and if used correctly can be extremely beneficial. As someone who likes to meet new people, I couldn’t be happier that I joined and update my profiles on a regular basis.

This post finishes perfectly. I am sitting at a Starbucks with my face in my computer when I look up and take a sip of my Christmas blend coffee. I love the smell of coffee shops, which is the main reason that I always end up doing work there. Across the store is a friend I haven’t seen since high school. I yell her name and she looks up from her iPhone. She tells me she has been sitting there for an hour, about the same amount of time I have been. Our social world of tweeting and texting had us glued to a device in front of us, that we didn’t realize what was truly in front of us, in the real world. We move next to each other and spend the next hour or so talking and catching up. When she leaves I come back and type this last paragraph laughing as I realize how wonderful the world is sometimes. 50 years ago people would laugh at they way we communicate with each other and in another 50 years, things will be so much different that they will probable laugh as well. For now, take a look at life for what it really is. Short. Meet as many people as you can. Go get coffee. Go to dinner. Watch a sporting event together. The experiences you have with new friends that you met either online or in person will only make you a better person, that I can promise you.

Teacher Q & A -

I have been teaching now for almost two months. Over the course of the two months, I have learned a lot about myself, my passion for teaching, and what I want to do for the rest of my life. People in my life have contacted me through texting, Facebook, Twitter, and every other way to ask me about how teaching is going so far. For some people, I am the only “teacher” friend they know, and so they ask me lots of questions. I love these conversations. They truly make me realize how lucky I am to be teaching in my hometown, and how I can easily seeing myself teach here for the rest of my career. I am only 8 weeks in, but I am in for the long haul. Teaching is my calling, and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.

Below are some of the questions that are asked when people talk to me about teaching. I have some good stories from class as well, but we can save those for another time. I don’t want to turn this blog post into a novel, and it could get long quickly if I told you every time a student made my day.

Q: Do you teach your own classes with your own students or are you helping another teacher out?

A: I love this question. I think it is funny it is asked so much, like people don’t think I can handle 36 middle school students at once. The answer is yes; I have my own classroom and my own classes. Currently I teach halftime, so I teach my classes in the afternoon and sub for other teachers at RMS or RHS almost every morning.

Q: What do you teach?

A: Currently I teach 6^th and 8^th Grade Social Studies. I have 29 6^th graders in my Minnesota Studies class, and that class is super fun to teach. 6^th graders are crazy, but I love their innocence and their passion to learn. I got spoiled with my 8^th grade class though. 37 of us in a classroom can make for some chaos, but every day the students re-energize me and make me a better teacher. The 8^th grade Global Studies class I have is fun, respectful, energetic, and always willing to go above and beyond to learn more. Having this group of 36 kids to start my day off is incredible.

Q: Oh, I didn’t realize you taught Middle School. Isn’t it just crazy over there with all the teenagers?

A: Fact of the Day: None of my 6^th Graders were even born when 9/11/2001 occurred. Imagine trying to talk to them about a topic like that when none of them even remember it? That doesn’t answer the question at all, but if it doesn’t make you feel old, it should.

Overall, I think Middle School is where I belong. As you heard above, I love my 8^th graders, but my 6^th grade class is also a joy to be around. They are still adjusting to life in the middle school and it is fun to watch them make new friends since they are coming from three elementary schools. Teenagers in general are crazy, and you are going to see some craziness occurring on a daily basis. That being said, Rogers Middle School has amazing students. I don’t hear swearing down the halls, I don’t see bullying hardly ever and I see students respect each other during passing time. I can’t imagine that every middle school has the same atmosphere as the one that has been created at RMS.

Q: Is it weird working with some of the teachers that you had as a student?

A: This question gets asked a TON. Going to RMS from 2003-2006, many of the teachers that are there now are still there. Some have moved on, and many new teachers have arrived, but there is still a core group of them still teaching, just as they were when you were in middle school. I love the staff at RMS. I have never felt “new” or unwelcome because the staff does a great job at welcoming you into their circle as if you have been there for 5 years. Many of the other new teachers have said the same thing and seeing old teachers every day just makes the day more fun.

In general, the world has a view that teachers never leave the school. I used to think the same thing. If I saw a teacher outside of school I used to think it was really weird, and my mom is even a teacher. Once I got to high school and started considering teaching as a profession, I realized that teachers are normal people. Teaching is their job, but they still go home like you do to their families or friends. I will never forget when I was working at Broadway and saw a teacher at the bar drinking a beer and thought the world was going to end. YOU CAN’T BE HERE DRINKING THAT was a thought that crossed through my mind. Now from the other side of things, I can see people that still think that way. The faces on the students if you see them outside of school are priceless. They act like you shouldn’t be there, like you don’t shop at Target just like they do. Some students rush up and saw hi, while the other ones duck beneath the next aisle as if they are going to get in trouble for seeing me outside of class. It is hilarious.

Q: Why did you decide to become a teacher? You know that it doesn’t pay you well right?

A: The teaching salary thing doesn’t really need to be touched on to be honest, except for the fact that it is always included in people’s questions to me. So many people have asked me why I don’t go do a job that pays better. In simple terms, here is why I decided to become a teacher…

When I walk into RMS every day I feel like it is something that I want to do, not forced to do. The students greet you with a smile, a high five, or a fist bump. If you know their name, they think you are a hero, and if you give them candy, well then you are their best friend for the day. When the class starts and you see 20-40 students looking to you, and no one else to teach them, it is an amazing feeling. When there is something that a student doesn’t understand and then they finally get it and you see that light bulb go on, it is indescribable. When they walk into your class and you can tell that they want to be there, your day is made. I don’t teach for the income, I teach for the outcome.

Q: Is it weird when the students call you Mr. Hines?

A: I always laugh at this question. Last year when I was up in Monticello student teaching, I felt really weird when people called me Mr. Hines. It didn’t feel right. When I got to RMS in September and I started hearing the students use it, it just felt right. Now I just believe it is normal and don’t have to think about it like I did before. Lots of people outside of the school will call me Mr. Hines now because I am their “teaching friend.”

So there you have it, some of the most common questions I get when I am asked about teaching. If you have any other questions about my job feel free to message me directly or comment on this post. I love talking about my job. Teaching is not one of those jobs that go away when you leave the school. I am always thinking about ways to make my classroom better, to get the students more engaged, and to make myself better. It is those thoughts that occur frequently that make me confident that I picked the right career and that this is the profession for me!

Silly Little Game

I love football. As a newly employed educator, I have taken in a couple recent high school football games in central Minnesota. I have never played the beautiful sport, but I have been indulged in it since I can remember. Saturday’s used to include homemade chili and Minnesota Golden Gopher Games. Sunday’s involved church, morning brunch and rushing home for noon kickoff of the local Vikings. Now, fall Friday nights include walking down the street from my house to the high school field. I watch as my brother’s friends who used to come over when we were younger rush onto the field in front of a few thousand screaming fans, many of them students who come together and arrive early with signs and wearing the jersey of their best friend or significant other. A local group of boys arrive a little later than the rest of the students. “The Blue Crew” as they call themselves, wait until the rest of their friends and fellow students are in their seats before they rush up the stairs. From there, they lead in cheers & chants that provide an atmosphere that make me happy to be from a small community. The players are heroes, the fans are loyal, and win or lose, the community has their back. It is simple, it is beautiful, it is perfect.

Once you graduate high school you leave these small communities and go off to college. Some people leave for the city, to the big D1 schools that bring in 50,000-100,000 fans every Saturday. I had those dreams once, to be on one of those campuses, and where I ended up couldn’t be different.

Collegeville is a small town off Highway 94, exiting right after you pass Saint Cloud. Collegeville, mixed with Saint Joseph, make up the colleges of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. The sleeping arrangements are separate, but the communities couldn’t be closer. The classes are mixed and both campuses constantly have both male and female students roaming the grounds. The Johnnies and Bennies as they are called, make up their own community of people who are willing to go above and beyond in anyway possible. Our reward: Johnnie Football.

If you have ever heard of Saint John’s University, the reason you have is because of Johnnie Football. You have heard of Coach John, of his title of “Most Wins in College Football,” and you have heard of the tradition. If you haven’t heard of Saint John’s, you are reading this blog, wondering what could be so special about a college football team in the middle of nowhere. I asked the same question too, until I experienced my first Johnnie game as a Saint John’s student.

The color red is beautiful, but the color red is also powerful. I never liked the color red much, mostly because our rival high school’s colors were red and black. I didn’t own any red clothes, and I never would claim it as my favorite color. I bought my first red sweatshirt my sophomore year of high school, and you know I am not lying because who remembers when they buy their first sweatshirt of a certain color? I do. That is how weird it was for me to buy a red sweatshirt. I bought a Johnnie Football T-shirt when I arrived on campus late summer of 2010. I heard that everyone wore red to the football games, and I was not going to be the freshman with the lanyard around my neck wearing a white T-shirt in a sea of red.

I arrived with some friends early to the game and the place was already filling up. Older couples were slowly making their way to the seats, while others started setting down blankets and chairs around the grass area. The North end zone stood the students, while across the field and up the hill were tailgaters that were enjoying an early beverage and a hot dog. Everyone looked like they knew each other and were connected in someway. If I only knew how small and connected the world was as a 19 year old.

1:00 PM means the game is about to begin and so my friends and I finally make our way to the student stands. Every student is wearing red. Every one. The student section smells of overly cologned males, popcorn, and liquor, half from the night before at Sal’s bar, and the other half from the students who decided to sneak it in. No one paid for a ticket, our student ID’s were enough to get us into the Clemens Stadium, which among other things, has been called one of the top 10 places to watch a college football game. Our hands all went up as the opening kick went high into the cloudless blue sky. Throughout the course of the game we chanted and cheered. “The Blue Crew” from my hometown was replaced by “The Rat Pak,” who among other things led cheers, established a kiss cam for students, threw free pizza into the crowds, and dressed hilariously…in red.

As I arrived back on campus for the first time since graduating in May, I found myself jealous of the students who were arriving in the north end zone for one of the first times. I was at the other end, tailgating at Saint John’s for the first time as an alum, and reminiscing about our experiences on the beautiful campus. We finally decide to enter the stadium about 20 minutes after kickoff. I search my wallet for my student ID and flash it quickly as I walk by the security guard. (What they don’t know can’t hurt them right?) I look at the scoreboard to a 28-0 Johnnie lead over Hamline University. I should have known from the cheers that I heard while tailgating that the Johnnies held a commanding lead. I look around as I see thousands of people. Kids, adults, grandparents, girlfriends, community members, and alums all gathered together on a Saturday afternoon to watch a simple game. Win or lose, the field will be filled with red after the game as everyone will make their way down to talk to their friends, sons, or boyfriends who played in the game. They will head back to the locker room, take a quick shower, and rejoin the community as students in a couple hours, but for the time being they are looked up to by kids and adults alike. For the time being, they are the reason why we came from near and far. To them, and to all of us, football is more than just a game.

As you can see, football has had an impact on my life from the time I can remember. Today, I spend much of my Saturday’s and all of my Sunday watching the beautiful sport I grew up with. I have never put on pads; I have never run a route, except for in the backyard with my brothers and friends growing up. I don’t own gloves or a helmet, and I never participated in a two-a-day practice. To me, that means nothing. To others, those memories mean everything.

As I finish watching Monday Night Football this week, I think back to those high school and college players on the field. Most of them will never make it onto my TV for a Sunday or Monday game. They are playing their last few games and then they are on to bigger and better things. For now though, these guys are what makes this time of the year so great. They give us time away from our daily lives and allow us to cheer and scream like we are years younger than we want to admit. They bring people together, if only for a couple hours. Some call it just a game, but to so many of us, it is so much more. It motivates us, it brings us together, and it connects us. It can make you angry or it can send a chill down your back. Sports in general can do that to us, and that emotion is what brings us back, even if it “just a game.”

The Day I Will Never Forget.

13 years ago I woke up for school. I was in 4th grade and I forgot to set my sleep timer on my TV before bed so I woke up to New York City on my TV. It wouldn't have mattered what channel I was on, they were all showing the same thing. A plane had hit the World Trade Center. I didn't even know what the World Trade Center was. I went downstairs and told my mom as we got ready for school about what I saw. As we left towards Rogers Elementary the radio was giving updates but as a 10 year old kid, I hadn't quite grasped what was going on. Then again at that time nobody did. As we pulled into the parking lot and walked into the building we passed empty rooms as the day hadn't started yet. My mom and I went and talked to another teacher and were about to tell her the news she probably already knew when I saw the TV was on in the background. Both towers were on fire. Another plane had crashed. America was under attack. The rest of the day was terrible. As we sat in Mrs. Wallesen's class we didn't know what to do. She tried to explain as best as she could but 4th graders didn't understand. No body understood. Who could do such a thing? The day never got better. Another plane, this one in DC. A 4th crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The last thing I remember about the day is going into my bed and crying. I was so lost for the first time in my life that I could remember. 

Today I mourn in a similar way as I mourned 13 years ago. Every morning I pray to God for giving me another day, and every night I thanks him again for giving me a good day. At night I always include a special prayer for our troops. For the ones who fight for our freedom.

Tonight my prayers will be the same for the most part with one twist. Today prayers go out to the families who lost someone 13 years ago. They were mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, friends, and co-workers. They were firefighters and police officers. They were random people on the street who rushed into help when everyone else ran away. Today is to remember them.

The students in my classes today weren't even born on September 11th, 2001. They don't have an event yet that freezes the nation like the JFK Assassination or the events on September 11th. We will talk about the events that happened but the day at school for them will be mostly normal. Not for me. Today there will be a soft spot, today, there will be mourning. Today I hope and pray that there is never an event that my students remember so clearly like I remember September 11th, 2001. 

Ray Rice Gets A Mini Vacation From The NFL

Ray Rice TMZ Video

This video above from TMZ shows Ravens "star" Running Back Ray Rice as he is dragging his girlfriend (and now wife) Janay Rice from an elevator after he allegedly knocks her out on the way up to the floor where the video is taken. 

Stemming from the video evidence, people from around the NFL came to the conclusion that the NFL was going to stand up once and for all against violence against women, and lay the hammer down on Ray Rice. Instead, Ray Rice is suspended for 2 games from the NFL for his wrongdoing. 

2 games, or 14 days (even though he will probably be able to still train during the week) is a weak punishment from the NFL, in a time where they could have set an example for the rest of the league, and gained more respect from the female audience and male audience alike. 

To put it into more perspective, Steven A. Smith, a co-host on ESPN's First Take, was just suspended for 7 days (or 1/2 of Rice's suspension) for stating on last Friday's show that women provoke men and that is a cause of domestic violence. Now, such a comment is stupid (as is a lot of what Steven A. Smith says), but he simply uttered the word "provoke" and now he is facing a suspension half the length of the "man" who beat his girlfriend. 

Another shocking thing that I found when researching this story was on the Baltimore Ravens Twitter page. On May 23rd, 2014 the @Ravens page tweeted "Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident."

The role she played? The ROLE she played? My goodness.

I don't care if your girlfriend/wife calls you a name, threatens to call the police, threatens to leave you, shuts you out, ignores you, doesn't answer her phone, or stands you up at the restaurant because she forgot your anniversary that does NOT give any man, a right to hit any women, at any time. 

Janay Rice, now the wife of Ray Rice should be sorry for one things though, and that is going back to Ray after the accident happened. She took him back and then MARRIED him a few weeks later. I know he makes a lot of money and that could be a huge reason, but have some more respect for yourself. She almost made it seem like what Ray did was okay, so the NFL was almost given free reign to give him a lighter sentence. Had Janay left Ray, I believe the NFL would have lengthened the suspension. 

Ray Rice appeared in a scrimmage last night and when his name was announced, the fans cheered and applauded, like nothing had ever happened. I can't tell you what I would have done, had I been put in that situation, but I don't think cheering would have been the first thing that would have crossed my mind. People are defending him, saying that, "nothing was proven," in which I ask them why he is going to a year long counseling session on how to deal with his anger if he didn't actually hit Janay? Answer me that. 

The NFL, for as much as I love it (and we all know how much I do), made a mistake here. This could have been the perfect situation to implement a rule about abuse and domestic violence and crack down on it once and for all by making a harsh penalty for any player who abuses their spouse. Instead, 1/8 of Ray Rice's season will be lost in 2014 and then everyone will go on with their lives. Ray will continue to make millions, the NFL will continue to act like they care about player's wives and Janay Rice will have to live in fear of her husband beating her again. 

It is sad to me that in 2014, an NFL player can hit a women, and get suspended for 2 games, but if he is found smoking weed, they want a 4 game minimum suspension. Get a clue NFL, your priorities are all wrong.