The NFL Wants the Ray Rice Scandal to be Over… And So Should You

By Joe Blake

As you may have heard, on September 8th Ray Rice, running back for the Baltimore Ravens, punched and knocked his fiancée unconscious in an Atlantic City Casino elevator.

Oh no wait - that happened back in February. Why are we just deciding to care about this now?

Because there’s video. Juicy, violent, indictable video (not just of the aftermath, but of the actual altercation!), which can be shown repeatedly on ESPN because it’s hardly less graphic than your average hit from Ndamukong Suh, right?

Step right up, hurry, hurry - seeing is believing folks, and you won’t be able to look away from this maniacal monstrosity of a man maliciously mauling his mirthful mate! (Okay, I got a bit carried away there)

ESPN and Bill Simmons are Working Everyone and Taking All the Monies

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

By now you've probably heard that ESPN mega-personality, Grantland editor, jumbo-column writer and podcaster Bill Simmons has been suspended by the worldwide leader for three weeks.

The suspension comes after Simmons dropped a few expletives and called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a liar on his most recent podcast, saying the commissioner had, in fact, seen the brutal footage of Ray Rice knocking his then-fiancee unconscious or, at the very least, someone in the NFL had.

The good fellas over at SB Nation have a pretty solid breakdown of the affair, and audio of what Simmons said, so go check that out here.

But, while many are praising Simmons for taking a stand against the NFL (an obviously large partner of ESPN's) and criticizing the network for suspending one of its most popular personalities simply for speaking his opinion, people are losing sight of how much of a win-win this suspension is for both ESPN and The Sports Guy.

Allow me to explain.

Bob Lobel: Our Love/Hate Relationship With the Violent Culture of the NFL

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

You can ask yourself how it's possible that all the domestic violence furor of the past two weeks somehow melts away in our consciousness, and is quickly replaced with something more pleasing to the senses.

The answer you'll get is pretty simple, simply because we are pretty simple. Simple and easily distracted seems to be the diagnosis. How is it that once some really good and exciting games are on TV, our whole focus shifts to the the easier task of watching and rooting, instead of the more difficult brain chore of analyzing and judging? 

Well, it's who we are, I guess. One great Payton Manning comeback followed by an equally outstanding team comeback of Seattle seems to do the trick. Will the outrage of the past weeks stay as focused and as harsh?

I don’t think so.

Bob Lobel: The NFL Shield Now Protecting Wife Beaters and Child Abusers

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

It was billed as the National Felons League (NFL) decades ago. Must have been a reason for that, right?  

Of course there was, and that was before the days of privacy and very little hard reporting. Well, they have pushed the envelope again, considering “the very bad, God awful, really stinking, lying and cover up week” they just went through. And it is not over by any stretch of the imagination. Usually, the crisis management people employed by every team and by the league itself will tell you to wait out the news cycle, and it will all go away. 

But really, how much damage has been done to America's favorite sport? 

Bob Lobel: What's Next for the NFL and Ray Rice?

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

Does Roger Goodell resign? Should he be fired?

Clearly, he has become the focal point of this latest violence against women scandal. The NFL has historically done a great job of reacting to crisis, but a lousy job of preventing it in the first place. Their mission statement has been something like “we are untouchable, and when trouble comes along, we will adjust our rules to fix it." 

That may or may not include lying. 

ESPN & the NFL Continue to Insult Women... But We Keep Watching

By Heidi Leach (@heidileach)

This Ray Rice ordeal has caused quite a stir. 

A two-game suspension for punching your fiancee? Hmmm. 

Everyone has an opinion. Either it’s an appropriate punishment, or it’s not even close. People are entitled to their thoughts so I’ll go ahead and throw in my two cents as well.

You see, I happen to be a woman and, personally, I do not think that two games is enough of a punishment. Players doing copious amounts of drugs or shooting themselves in the leg have seen much, much worse, and they only hurt themselves. But punching a woman hard enough to knock her out, then dragging her limp body out of an elevator does not warrant the same?