By now we have all seen the second Ray Rice video where he knocks his then fiancé Janay Palmer out with a solid left hook in a casino elevator.  It’s terrible.  It’s disturbing.  There is no excuse for his actions.  Some have come forward to say “How could she marry this guy after this?”  That’s her decision and not the point.  The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, is now in hot water because some believe he saw the second video as early as April and yet still decided to ban Ray Rice just two games.  Goodell denies this but again that is not the point.

The first video we all saw back in February where Rice is dragging Palmer out of the elevator should have been enough.  That was the effect of his actions so you know there had to be a cause.  THAT’S the point.  The NFL has the means necessary to obtain the video of what happened inside the elevator.  This was a casino.  There are cameras everywhere.  Although I think Goodell is lying through his teeth when he says he didn’t see the second video until Monday I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.  The fact that there wasn’t a full blown investigation here based on the first video is enough for me to blurt out “cover up” at the very least.

So who is to blame?  Many people over the course of many years.  The NFL is a big business that makes billions of dollars.  Exemptions have been made by many coaches of many players for their off the field problems because a player can run fast, jump high or hit a ball far.  THAT’S where the blame should lie.  This is not a problem that happened overnight.  This has been festering for years.  If anything good can come from this horrific situation it would be that coaches, managers, commissioners, owners and executives will stop “looking away.”  That’s the way it’s supposed to be but that isn’t the way it is.