Rebel_L
Senior member
- Nov 9, 2009
- 452
- 63
- 91
That's just a sick comparison to say that terminating the contract of an abuser is the same thing as the physical assault.
The time for 'helping him' was before the assault, and up to him to get that help, as far as protecting his position in the NFL.
One complication to the story not many want to talk about is the situation of the victim.
On, the issue that she did not want to testify against him for the assault.
And a second, that she kind of became his accomplice in protecting him, because the loss of tens of millions of dollars to him was also a loss of those millions to her.
Your bothered that I call both bullies? You have a league who makes its players rich stars adored by millions by having them assault other people for a living. The players are trained to follow instincts to assault others on the field (according to arbitrary rules)... taking things a little too far results in not even a personal punishment of any kind, the team looses a few yards, if it gets way out of hand they get a fine and maybe a suspension for a couple of games. The time to help people is when there is a problem, if you can anticipate it and prevent it even better. The league should certainly be held to some account, if they had released rice after having him see a psychologist for several months and the conclusion from the doctor was that he needed to leave the nfl because continued playing would blur the lines between acceptable on and off field behaviour too much that would be one thing. But to kick him out otherwise is simply trying to deflect their own responsibility for the situation they had a hand in creating. The courts are supposed to take care of the punishment end of law breaking not the league, justice involves so much more than just punishment and the legal system already does a poor enough job of balancing it. Personally I find it a bit disturbing that you put physical abuse on this pedestal above other forms of abuse, none of them should be acceptable and they all leave scars.
As for rices wife, if she is afraid to leave because of what she thinks rice might do to her if she does then it is a very sad situation that many abuse victims have to deal with and I hope that she is able to find a support system that will give her the strength and resources to do whats best for her. If the league was attempting to help rice instead of sweeping the problems they had a hand in creating under the rug, I would guess they would be making sure she had the proper resources at her disposal as well. Talk about the victim being punished because rice looses income is just absurd. Barring any threats of violence she likely comes out ahead of most people with a simple divorce that would see here get half his current assets, her life is hers, her choices are hers and what she makes of her future is supposed to be up to her, not rice.