Ray Rice and the Code

Ray Rice dragged his unconscious girlfriend from an elevator after having knocked her out, resulting in a charge not of assault, but of aggravated assault. Ray said, “Failure is not getting knocked down, failure is not getting back up.” In other words, he did not fail because he was learning from his mistake and trying to become a better person. Wrong. He failed. Yes, he failed: he knocked his girlfriend unconscious, a monstrous failure. The problem with using sports clichés (“failure is not…etc.”) is that it is an easy out; an easy way to gloss over the failure – to say “I may have made a mistake but since I’m sorry let’s forgive me right away and only suspend me for two games.” The punishment should fit the crime, in other words, which is why so many voices have been raised against the NFL. What do you think the appropriate punishment should be? What is the difference between taking steroids, gambling, or beating up your wife? What are the consequences on your team for various violations?