I have never met Ray Rice. I never met him when he starred for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. I have never met him since he has been a Pro-Bowl running back and Super Bowl winner for the Baltimore Ravens. I have never spoken with him. I have never emailed him. I have never even tweeted with him.
I have watched him play football. I have watched him give it his all after many said he was too small to ever play in the NFL. I have watched him make amazing plays on the field that show his effort and dedication to his teammates and his sport. I have even spent a first-round pick to draft Rice on my fantasy football team. It didn’t go well, but I cannot hold that against. Not as a person, at least.
Yesterday, however, I watched the 10 minute press conference that Rice held, alongside his newlywed wife, Janay Palmer. It was the first time that the two had spoken in public since they were both arrested following an incident in an elevator in Atlantic City in February. While both were arrested, it was Rice who was seen dragging an apparently unconscious Palmer from an elevator following a knockout blow he must have delivered moments earlier. He knocked down his then fiancée and was seen dragging her body because she could not get up.Then, he began their press conference with the following statement:
“Failure is not getting knocked down, it’s not getting up.”
Again, I have never met Rice, but, perhaps, he could have chosen his words a bit more carefully.
Or, wisely.
Rice apologized to the Ravens. He apologized to his teammates. He apologized to his fans. He apologized to the kids.
Rice failed to apologize to his wife. Janay, however, did issue an apology for the “role that she played in the incident.” The Ravens then tweeted her apology on the team’s official Twitter page.
Having never met Rice, I always admired what he stood for as a person, at least from what I saw on television. I thought of him as a hard-worker who put in the time and effort to do everything possible to help his team win. He overcame what many said was a ‘too-small’ build to be a durable NFL running back. He made amazing plays and seemed to be a strong leader within the community.
Then, I saw what took place on the elevator. He knocked out his wife. He dragged her motionless body out of an elevator. He was charged with third-degree assault. He held a press conference with his wife to issue an apology, and that actually made things appear even worse for him. He talked about lost sponsorship deals and that no relations ships are perfect. He allowed his wife to apologize because she supposedly provoked him to hit her. He didn’t apologize for dropping her and dragging her in public.
This may have been one isolated incident. Maybe Rice isn’t really a bad guy. Maybe he and Janay can overcome this tragedy and go on to live a long and happy life together. Personally, I hope that they do.
But, with all of that being said, having never met Rice or Palmer, I don’t know if I can ever forget what happened in February, or at what I felt was an awful apology press conference from a player whom was once idolized by many.
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