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As NFL owners circled the wagons around commissioner Roger Goodell (and themselves) regarding his handling of the Ray Rice domestic-violence case, Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey issued a statement Thursday:
Video below of Robertha Portella.
“We welcome the independent investigation to understand the handling of evidence in the Ray Rice domestic violence case. It is important to know the facts. NFL fans deserve them.
“Our family has complete faith in the Commissioner. He is a man of integrity and has acknowledged the initial response to Mr. Rice’s situation was inadequate. We agreed with his assessment and were encouraged he took measures to take a much stronger stance on domestic violence. We believe in the importance of the NFL’s position as a leader in the community and expect the League, and its teams, to meet the high standards that come with this responsibility.”
As long as the owners support Goodell, his job is safe. If an investigation — either the NFL’s “independent” one or someone else’s — shows Goodell is not telling the truth, he likely will be out of a job (although he won’t be hurting financially).
On Thursday night’s pregame show on CBS, broadcaster James Brown offered this:
“Two years ago I challenged the NFL community and all men to seriously confront the problem of domestic violence, especially coming on the heels of the murder-suicide of Kansas City Chiefs football player Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins. Yet, here we are again dealing with the same issue of violence against women.
“Now let’s be clear, this problem is bigger than football. There has been, appropriately so, intense and widespread outrage following the release of the video showing what happened inside the elevator at the casino. But wouldn’t it be productive if this collective outrage, as my colleagues have said, could be channelled to truly hear and address the long-suffering cries for help by so many women? And as they said, do something about it? Like an on-going education of men about what healthy, respectful manhood is all about.
“And it starts with how we view women. Our language is important. For instance, when a guy says, ‘you throw the ball like a girl’ or ‘you’re a little sissy,’ it reflects an attitude that devalues women and attitudes will eventually manifest in some fashion. Women have been at the forefront in the domestic violence awareness and prevention arena. And whether Janay Rice considers herself a victim or not, millions of women in this country are.
“Consider this: According to domestic violence experts, more than three women per day lose their lives at the hands of their partners. That means that since the night February 15th in Atlantic City [when the elevator incident occurred] more than 600 women have died.
So this is yet another call to men to stand up and take responsibility for their thoughts, their words, their deeds and as Deion [Sanders] says to give help or to get help, because our silence is deafening and deadly.”
CBS telecast the Ravens-Pittsburgh Steelers in its initial Thursday night game. Some fans wore Rice’s No. 27 jersey in some show of … solidarity? More like stupidity. Rather than the Rice jerseys, those fans should have worn attire that simply proclaimed: “We support domestic violence.”
Until the NFL can figure a way to clean up this mess and do so quickly, the NFL will be the one taking the hits.
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