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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

John Blanchette: NFL’s problem is much bigger than NFL

There is every chance, once that security video from the Atlantic City elevator crumbles to pixel dust from repeated replay, that Roger Goodell will do more hard time in the prison of public shame than Ray Rice.

For those of us whose default setting is ecstasy whenever weaselish oligarchs are exposed and dishonored, this would be a feast.

Just remember: Ray Rice hit her. Knocked her unconscious.

Remember, too: The victim here – and a little more every day this charade careens on – is Janay Palmer Rice.

And remember that the real issue isn’t that the NFL commissioner and his toadies cannot keep their stories straight and have seemingly engaged in a coverup that looks to have been orchestrated by Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. The issue is that the league, too many of its players and our culture – ours, not just football’s – have yet to come to grips with the disgrace and horror of domestic violence.

But as we cannot indulge ourselves too much when it comes to the National Football League, already its monumental fail in the Ray Rice episode has swamped any other talking points. Now the runaway thread is the inevitable what-did-Goodell-know-and- when-did-he-know-it story – fueled by an Associated Press report that someone at the NFL left a voice message with a law enforcement agent acknowledging receipt of the damning tape the commissioner said the league never saw.

It’s simply much easier to grab on to this narrative than the notion that we may be perpetuating the nauseating cycle of abuse with our own indifference. Or accepting that, deep down, we might be angry at Goodell for not getting it right back in July so we could get back to football, dammit.

When the first video of Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer from the elevator surfaced and Goodell handed the Ravens running back that initial suspension of two games, even the least-enlightened NFL obsessives knew it was inadequate punishment and a predictably tone-deaf response. And yet it was … something. The local D.A. had signed off on a diversion program for Rice that entailed counseling and nothing more. And, yes, Janay Palmer became Janay Rice the day after his indictment.

This is where the societal disconnect went into overdrive. If the legal system and the victim weren’t going to come down on Ray Rice, why should the NFL?

Never mind that counseling might have a chance of reaching him. Never mind that a sense of powerlessness, economic and emotional dependence, fear, shame or any of a hundred things can play into an abused partner’s reluctance to leave, and that we simply cannot lay blame.

Besides, it was the wrong question to ask. Few figured out the right one until this week, when the gruesome tape of the punchout went public and Goodell unsheathed his terrible swift sword of indefinite suspension.

Rog, how did you think she got to be a heap on the floor in the first place? A punch in the abstract is good for two games, but in digital it’s life?

Rice didn’t even try to shade the reality during the initial investigation, his Ravens bosses acknowledged. “What we saw on the (second) video was what Ray said,” admitted Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome.

Un. Believable.

We’re supposed to feel better that Goodell found religion in the interim and crafted get-tougher league-wide penalties on domestic violence. Here’s how that’s working out:

On Wednesday, the San Francisco 49ers suspended radio announcer Ted Robinson two games for some intemperate remarks about Rice’s wife during a talk show. Meanwhile, Niners defensive tackle Ray McDonald will suit up again this Sunday, two weeks after a domestic violence arrest.

So that’s two games for talking about it stupidly, and no games for being, you know, cuffed and booked.

Meanwhile, NFL players are getting in their shots. Ex-Steelers linebacker James Harrison, who Goodell used to fine almost weekly, taunted on Twitter, “Ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun huh?” Hilarious, James. Did that come to mind when you were going through diversion counseling to beat your domestic violence rap a few years back?

Quite the league you love every Sunday, isn’t it?

But then, no one seems to be turning down the volume on Chris Brown. Fellow abuser Floyd Mayweather will bank another $30 million in the ring Saturday night, much of it from people wringing their hands about Ray Rice. At least the Hope Solo-Jerramy Stevens jokes have abated for a while.

If “bitch slap” is still a beloved part of the lexicon and “wife beaters” are a fashion statement, how are we supposed to fix testosterthals whose only instinct is to hit?

The NFL has a problem, but the problem is far bigger than the NFL.

And its commissioner has another problem: credibility. In dishing out noogies two years ago for Bountygate, Goodell insisted the ignorance of the head coach and executives was no defense.

Now it’s the only one he has.