Jump to content
ExtremeRavens: The Sanctuary

Recommended Posts

Posted

Gag orders tend to only last the length of the trial; it will come out. The goal is to not taint future testimony.

 

Meanwhile, I have no sympathy for Ray, but I still think our society does a darn good job of judging people based only on their worst moments - even when those moments come when they are blackout drunk.

Posted

I have no sympathy for him either. I just think he deserves the same due process others get. I also don't like seeing mang scapegoat guys for their failings.

 

BTW it is not a trial. It is a arbitrator. There has been plenty of time for people to get theri stories straight. This is trying to keep a coverup out of the public view.

Posted

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/06/report-newsome-testifies-rice-told-goodell-he-struck-fiancee/

Report: Newsome testifies Rice told Goodell that Rice struck fiancée

So much for that gag order.

Now that the two-day Ray Rice appeal hearing has ended, Don Van Natta of ESPN reports that Ravens G.M. Ozzie Newsome testified that Rice told Commissioner Roger Goodell in a June 16 disciplinary hearing that Rice had struck his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer.

That’s consistent with things Newsome has said publicly. In September, after the elevator video was released, Newsome said that Rice hadn’t lied to Newsome about what happened.

Van Natta also reports that the notes taken by the league and the NFLPA during the June 16 hearing conflict regarding what Rice said. The union’s version of the notes show that Rice said he struck Janay; the NFL’s version suggests ambiguity regarding what happened.

But does any of this matter? It was known that Rice had knocked out Janay Palmer in the elevator. Whether he used a closed fist, an open hand, an elbow, a forearm, or some other part of his body, he knocked . . . her . . . out.

And if there were any ambiguity at all, the NFL should have gotten the video. It could have gotten the video. It failed to get the video.

Regardless, the idea that the NFL would see any ambiguity at all in the information from Rice suggests a lack of empathy for the victim of a knockout blow. Alternatively, it’s entirely possible that the NFL is simply feigning ignorance regarding what actually happened in order to support the knee-jerk second suspension, which came only hours after the video of the incident was published.

 

 

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Nobody will sign him. I expected him to win.

 

 

As did I, given Ozzie's words even before the appeal. Some play off contender in need of a runningback might, but likely not until next season. How weird would it be if Pitt did, then ended up playing the Ravens in the playoffs only to have Rice go off against them...... :bleh:

 

In any event, this might be the end of Ozzie.

Posted

Because of what Kraft said I think the word is out.

 

 

 

Listening to these "experts" you would think he raped and killed some one, rather than "just" hit her. I know, it was horrible, but come one, Josh Brent signed a nice deal with the Cowboys, this after he did kill some one. Word is, the Cards, Colts, and maybe even the Saints have some level of interest.

Posted

Josh Brent didn't almost bring down the commish. It isn't about the casino it is about Goody and the owners circling the wagons to save him. The only place I can see him landing is Buf. A new owner who doesn't have the built in relationships yet.

Posted

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/11/nflpa-lawyer-claims-cass-coached-rice-to-understate-assault/

NFLPA lawyer claims Cass coached Rice to understate assault

The transcript of the Ray Rice appeal hearing, assummarized Wednesday by Don Van Natta, Jr. of ESPN.com, contains an intriguing — and potentially troubling — assertion regarding Ravens president Dick Cass.

NFLPA lawyer Heather McPhee testified during the hearing that Cass gave Rice a specific bit of advice before Rice met with Commissioner Roger Goodell on June 16.

“[Cass] said, ‘I completely agree with what Heather just said, Ray — be yourself,” McPhee testified. “I would suggest there are different ways to describe what happened honestly, and it would be truthful to say [you] ‘lay [your] hands on'” Janay Palmer.

“So I said, ‘Well, Dick, I see what you are saying. I would respectfully suggest that sounds . . . as an attempt to soften the description of what occurred in the altercation,” McPhee testified. “So I was trying to sort of not say, ‘Please don’t use that language that the president of your team just said,’ but to me it sounded like a suggestion that he tried to soften the language. Ray had always used consistent language with me and it was never anything about laying hands on his wife.”

It’s a telling point, because the NFL justified its indefinite suspension by claiming that Rice indeed understated the altercation when meeting with Goodell. Former U.S. Judge Barbara Jones flatly rejected the league’s position that Rice made misleading comments.

If McPhee’s testimony is accurate (Cass didn’t testify and the Ravens have not yet issued a statement rebutting McPhee’s testimony), it shows that, if anyone tried to understate the incident, it wasn’t the player who faced missing games but the team that faced playing games without the player.

Within the Ravens organization, a vague sense has emerged over the past several months that someone or multiple someones were downplaying the situation in order to help Ray both with the league office and with those in the building who may have been inclined to cut ties with Rice, if they’d known the truth. With $25 million paid to Rice from July 2012 through early 2014, the team had an obvious incentive to find a way to keep Rice around, both by minimizing his suspension and by avoiding the possibility that someone (possibly coach John Harbaugh) would have insisted on cutting Rice.

So while it’s indeed possible that ambiguities existed regarding what happened in the elevator, it appears far more likely that the ambiguities were fueled not by Rice but by Cass.

This looks pretty bad for th eRavens.

Posted

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/11/cass-denies-suggesting-that-rice-soften-description-of-assault/

Cass denies suggesting that Rice soften description of assault

During the Ray Rice appeal hearing, NFLPA lawyer Heather McPhee testified Ravens president Dick Cass suggested that Riceunderstate the specifics of the elevator assaultthat has resulted in his initially official and nowde facto banishment from the NFL.

On Wednesday night, the Ravens issued to theBaltimore Sun a statement from Cass addressing the testimony from McPhee.

“I never suggested to Ray that he soften or tone down his description of what happened,” Cass said, contending that he told Rice to: (1) “Tell the truth”; (2) “Don’t sugarcoat it”; and (3) “Assume the league saw all the video.”

OK. Fine. . . . Wait, what?

“Assume the league saw all the video.”

Why would the Ravens president tell Rice to assume the NFL saw all the video? Supposedly, no one from the league or the team had managed to get their hands on the video, despite their best efforts to get their hands on the video — assuming that their best (or any) efforts actually were undertaken to get the video.

Maybe the advice from Cass to Rice is advice that should extend to everyone, including former FBI director Robert Mueller.

Assume the league saw all the video.

It’s a fair assumption to make. Even if the league didn’t actually see the video, the league easily could have gotten the video. All the league had to do was ask Rice for the video; during the appeal hearing, Rice said he had the video, and that he would have provided it to the league if the league has simply asked for it.

Making the assumption even more fair is the mounting proof that the NFL didn’t need to see the video because the NFL knew what happened. It knew what happened in part because Cass specifically advised Rice to “[a]ssume the league saw all the video” — and because a former federal judge appointed by the NFL and NFLPA to resolve Rice’s appeal specifically concluded that Rice gave information consistent with the contents of the video that Rice assumed the league had seen.

 

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...