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.
https://twitter.com/JoshYohe_Trib/status/469929209746718721
https://twitter.com/dianagram/status/469927129019596800
https://twitter.com/OldHossRadbourn/status/469931629449052161
https://twitter.com/HowardShatsky/status/469980588490121216
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.
https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/470194699827826688
https://twitter.com/MarkEnnis/status/469929072777506816
https://twitter.com/natbaker/status/470220788964929536
https://twitter.com/EdgeofSports/status/469925336314937344
https://twitter.com/HotelFoxtrot/status/469921555674181632
https://twitter.com/1LonelyCoyote/status/470205860825006081
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJBkG_kyqxI
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.