AP Source Contradicts NFL Commissioner Goodell, Stating That the NFL Did In Fact Have Video of Rice's "Terrible" Knockout Punch When it Suspended Him for Only Two Games

This is a hot potato because Goodell suspended Rice for a tiny two game span. Now that the video has been made public, Goodell has suspended him "indefinitely" (which could very well end up meaning "for life," giving the very short career spans of running backs).

So before the video tape was made public, Rice got a slap on the wrist; now that the public knows, he gets suspended indefinitely.

Goodell's explanation for this is that the NFL never saw the knockout tape (only the tape from outside the elevator, showing Rice dragging the inert body from the elevator car) and thus was just as in the dark about the full violence of the incident as the public was.

But was it?

A law enforcement official says he sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee to an NFL executive five months ago, while league executives have insisted they didn’t see the violent images until this week.

The person played The Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video arrived. A female voice expresses thanks and says: "You’re right. It’s terrible."

The law enforcement official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, says he had no further communication with any NFL employee and can’t confirm anyone watched the video. The person said he was unauthorized to release the video but shared it unsolicited, because he wanted the NFL to have it before deciding on Rice’s punishment.

The NFL has repeatedly said it asked for but could not obtain the video of Rice hitting Janay Palmer -- who is now his wife -- at an Atlantic City casino in February.

Allah has some thoughts about this as usual, wondering how Goodell will spin this, and what the actual truth is.

He makes the point that this tape was not supposed to be leaked to anyone but law enforcement and parties to the case, and yet someone (AP's source, maybe) leaked it to the NFL in violation of the law.

Could that be Goodell's spin? "I knew about it, but I had to protect a source"?

Although this spin won't save Goodell, part of his thinking might have been this:

1. This punch is atrocious, a potentially lethal full-on boxer's knockout punch.

2. However, the evidence of this is currently being withheld from the public by law.

3. Even though I know about this tape, I cannot use it as the basis for my decision, as it is in my hands illegally.

4. Further, I could not explain to the public, nor to the NFL Player's union, the reasons for a severe punishment, because they would cry foul and cry "PC over-punishment!" unless they see this horror in real time, which I have seen, but they have not, and maybe never will.

I don't know if that's what they were thinking (assuming Goodell saw it, and frankly, I don't know how he could not have seen it -- This is his job; punishing a player for an infraction is not something you delegate to the branch office in Cincinnati like Lois Lerner did (wink, wink)), and I doubt this would cut much ice even it it were.

Even if Goodell didn't think he could suspend Rice indefinitely absent the public unveiling of the tape -- Two Game Suspension? When another guy just got a four game suspension for some minor substance abuse rap?

Eh, all of this is overcomplicating the matter. Allah's right, the Goodell Era is over.

posted by Ace at 06:12 PM

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