On Domestic Violence the NFL Can't Win

     If you read me regularly you know how critical of sports commissioners in general and Goodell in particular-for throwing the book at Tom Brady with no direct evidence on a charge that is the equivalent of jaywalking or changing lanes without signaling. 

     Sure it may be 'breaking the rules' but not quite like attempted murder is 'breaking the rules.'

     Brady has been treated as if he committed attempted murder. 

     However, on the question of Ray Rice, here is someone who has done something much worse than jaywalking, indeed much closer to attempted murder. 

     Now the NFL is being accused of 'blackballing' Rice as he hasn't gotten a contract:

     "NFL Players Association head DeMaurice Smith thinks it doesn’t speak well for the NFL that no team is willing to give Ray Rice another chance."

     "Smith told Sal Paolantonio of ESPN that Rice, who is not suspended and is eligible to play as soon as a team signs him, would be back in the NFL if teams were willing to give him a fair chance."

   “This, unfortunately, is a league that has a history of blackballing players. I find it hard to believe that a player of Mr. Rice’s caliber hasn’t at least gotten one offer from a team to come work out,” Smith said

     http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/28/demaurice-smith-suggests-ray-rice-is-being-blackballed/

     I have a high regard for the work for Smith and the work he's doing for the players' union but I think this is erroneous to claim that the owners are somehow committing a crime in not giving Rice a contract-there's the suggestion that the league is basically engaging in collusion. 

    I find this ironic as after the video became public Goodell and the league was savaged or initially giving Rice only 2 games. The NFL was being accused of basically condoning domestic violence. 

    Feminist groups ripped the NFL; Gloria Steinem made it sound as if it was the personal responsibility of Goodell to see to it that the intractable social problem of domestic violence be ended ASAP. 

     Now that the NFL has come down hard on Rice they're being accused of collusion. Stephen A. Smith got it right today on First Take got it right today-'black list' is the wrong word for what's happening to Rice. 

     Collusion is where it doesn't' matter what you do, you are targeted in a discriminatory manner without reference to the market, etc. 

     In this case, who wants the poster boy of domestic violence on their team? Then they get picketed. So I can't buy the idea that Rice is a victim:

     "The term “blackballing” suggests something underhanded, but the reality is that NFL teams aren’t hiding the fact that they simply don’t want to do business with the man who last year became the poster boy for domestic violence in America. That’s the prerogative of each team, and while the union is free to advocate on Rice’s behalf, there’s not much the union can do about it."

    "If all 32 NFL teams have decided that they’re never going to give Rice another chance, then Rice has only himself to blame for that."

    As much as I believe in the union standing by players, I don't buy guys like Rice-or Adrian Peterson-as victims of the owners.