Ray Rice And Ravens Attempts To Clean PR Mess Makes Internet Angry

The Ravens held a press conference for Ray Rice and his wife Friday at the Ravens practice facility in Owens Mills, MD. It is the first time the Ravens running back has spoken publicly since being arrested for knocking his then fiancée out cold in February. Before I get into the debacle that was the Ravens press conference today, I should give a little refresher on the matter.

Rice was videotaped dragging his future wife’s unconscious body out of an Atlantic City casino elevator. Police also reportedly had video evidence of Rice punching her in the casino.

The Ravens organization publicly stood behind their troubled running back leading up to the trial. While many people said they should just outright cut him, they expressed their support, and said they were going to let the legal process run its course. And why wouldn’t they? Sure, that sounds reasonable, but cutting ties with him would have left them on the hook for $14 Mil. That probably had something to do with their decision making process.

Rice was indicted for felony aggravated assault, a more serious charge than he was originally charged with. In the end though, he avoided jail time by entering a pre-trial intervention program. Being a first time offender, he was eligible for that arrangement, and after successful completion, the assault charge will be dropped after one year.

Now that we’re all caught up, let’s examine Friday’s events. The Ravens hosted a televised press conference for Ray Rice and his wife Friday afternoon. During which time, the Ravens were live tweeting the event on Twitter. Rice apologized to the Ravens GM and coaching staff, as well as the fanbase, but never to his wife. Throughout the press conference, Rice read from notes on his phone, which may have made him seem somewhat disingenuous. At one point, he made a rather bad analogy that didn’t sit well with much of the internet using world.

“I won’t call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down. It’s not getting up.”

The Ravens Twitter account echoed the statement. (The tweet was deleted by the Ravens twitter manager overnight, but I grabbed a screenshot).

Probably not the best choice of words after getting indicted for knocking your wife out in public. The tweet drew an outpouring of angry responses.

Congrats to the @Ravens for setting domestic abuse awareness back about 50 years.

— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) May 23, 2014

Ray Lewis has NOTHING on this @Ravens presser …. #nfl

— Diane Firstman (@dianagram) May 23, 2014

E. Allan Poe would like his bird back.

— Old Hoss Radbourn (@OldHossRadbourn) May 23, 2014

Whoever has the keys to drive the @Ravens Twitter account needs to have their license suspended!

— Pro Football Mgmt (@HowardShatsky) May 23, 2014

 

His wife, who sat stoically next to him at the press conference, apologized for her involvement.

https://twitter.com/Ravens/statuses/469918292061061120

A tweet which also created a firestorm on Twitter, as well as ire from some journalists.

The Ray Rice press conference and using domestic violence for false redemption. http://t.co/oCoEKjzOjD

— Tomás Ríos (@TheTomasRios) May 24, 2014

It's like the @Ravens sat down and tried to be as offensive as possible. "Let's have the victim apologize." "Let's use boxing analogies."

— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) May 23, 2014

This actually happened: The @Ravens hold a press conference where their player's battered wife apologizes for HER role and they livetweet it

— Nathaniel E. Baker (@natbaker) May 24, 2014

Team should NOT be tweeting this. Shameful. "@Ravens Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident."

— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) May 23, 2014

Cant figure out which grosses me out more, Ray Rice knocking a woman out, that woman apologizing for it, or the @Ravens tweeting her apology

— Heather Foley (@HotelFoxtrot) May 23, 2014

@Ravens Wow, I just lost a ton of respect for the Ravens organization. That tweet is wrong on all levels, do not place the blame on her.

— NerdGirlTees (@1LonelyCoyote) May 24, 2014

You get the idea. There are several hundred, if not, thousands of similar comments. Many of which are not safe for work, so I avoided including them. Here is the press conference if you are interested in watching it for yourself.

Ravens team president Dick Cass said that he expects Rice to meet with Roger Goodell sometime in the very near future. On NFL Insiders yesterday, Chris Mortensen said that the team is preparing for their running back to be suspended for at least 3 games. Personally, I believe the league- the PR machine that it is- is easily swayed by public opinion. Yesterday’s overwhelming negative response would surely make their ruling harsher if that is indeed the case.