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.

A New Twist

Hello everyone,

First, I just wanted to thank all of you who tweeted, texted, or wrote on my Facebook wall and wished me a Happy Birthday. My birthday was spent at the racetrack with friends and enjoying meals with both my family and Cassidy's family as well. Both were delicious! If you are a regular read to this blog (grateful to those who are) I am looking to switch it up a little bit, so here is my idea...

Since I can remember I have been fascinated with journalism. Newspapers here, magazines there, always reading and looking at the paper. To be honest, I mostly would just grab the sports section and leave the rest of the paper to be used for fish wrap but more recently I have become fascinated with the whole newspaper. We live in a world when I can wake up and have the full paper on my phone to read, which is great, but I also love going through the pages and having the paper in my hands. Call me old school, but that is just what I prefer. My Kindle is the same way. I enjoy reading books on there, but I also love holding the book in my hands. Have you ever smelt a new book? It might be one of the best smells in the entire world!

My blog in the past has contained updates on my life, my weight loss, and my thoughts on random things in the world. Those will remain from time to time. What I want to try to do now though is add my opinion on some of the big stories that are going on in the world. I don't have a plan on how often they will be or even what the topics will be. I intend to include opinions on current events, world news, random stories I read, and of course Sports.

I hope that by reading my blog on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis that you will get to see some of my opinions on the issues going on in the World. It might make you respect me more, or it also might make you think differently of me. My opinions aren't going to always agree with yours and I respect that and welcome questions and conversation about my blogs. Some of the blogs will be about topics that you don't care anything about and others might fascinate you enough to click on the link. That is my goal. To write about different topics that will fascinate different demographics and to bring about conversation and debate.

When I went to school four years ago I had to choose between two career paths. One involved teaching the youth and becoming a teacher, while another one involved becoming a journalist. Both would make me incredibly happy, both would be tough at times, and both would pay me roughly the same. I made the choice to become a teacher because I have always wanted to teach. I was born to teach and I know that. I almost made a conscious decision my 2nd year at SJU to transfer to the University of Minnesota and switch my major to journalism. I talked to friends, I talked to professors, and most importantly I talked to God, and that decision wasn't the right one for me. I am 100% sure that I chose the right path to become a teacher but there is a part of me that always wants to write. Always wanting to get my ideas out in the open. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that already. This blog will allow me to get my opinion out in a more detailed fashion. If you don't want to read it, I respect that and if you do want to read, I welcome you into my thoughts and ideas, as scary as that might sound.

My 1st blog in the new format will be about Ray Rice and my thoughts on his suspension. I am going to begin writing it right after this post and hope that it gets posted in a few hours, or by tonight for sure. If you want to send me ideas on what to write about or are curious my thoughts on let me know. Email me @ Jhines91@aol.com or send me a direct message on Twitter or Facebook. I welcome all ideas!

Thanks for reading,

-J-