Tru, how shouldn't this be pinned on Goodell? Ray Rice didn't even bother appealing a two game suspension. He was jumping up and down. That decision was basically a punch in the face (Haha! Ha, ha, ha..... *sigh*) to pretty much every victim of similar forms of violence on Goodell's part. The union had little if anything to do with it given that there was no appeal.
If that two-game suspension travesty wasn't enough, Goodell felt like stirring the pot a little more by, as Putin said, unilaterally implementing a new domestic violence penalty that gave a first-time offender a six-game suspension. I don't find that incredibly unreasonable, though I'd prefer a year - as you point out, Vick was suspended for a year for insinuating violence against dogs, often fatal, so I don't see why creating violence against another human, domestic violence or otherwise, that could potentially end up fatal should be any less.
The bigger problem I have here, though, is that this new policy wasn't enough for good ole Goodell. He just has to go out there and kick Ray Rice out because of this new video, which apparently shows brand new information we didn't know before, that it was in fact Ray Rice and not a supernatural being on the elevator that knocked Palmer unconscious. It's bad enough that apparently they had the video. Hell, I don't care if they actually saw the video. In Roger Goodell's own words to Sean Payton when he banned him in 2012 and destroyed the Saints season, rightfully so, "Ignorance is no excuse."
As for the union, I really don't understand. How did they even get brought into this? Ray Rice *did not appeal* his original two-game suspension. The union hasn't had a chance to react to this suspension. Their only response so far, the right response, was that domestic violence is an issue that far transcends football and that they are not talking about anything else right now. They really haven't done a thing here. I'm sure the union will step in because, according to this new policy, a lifetime ban is an absolutely ridiculous penalty (morally, it's not, but the policy is six games), so they'll have lawyers all over this, but they've done nothing yet. As such, yeah, Roger Goodell has acted, and in the words of the incredible Jon Stewart that needs to run for president, "fucked up" all on his own here.
Perhaps next time one of the most meticulous organizations in the history of forever tries to cover it up people won't say "oh the union sucks" as if that somehow makes it all okay.
September 11th 2014----
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