COMMENTARY: Ray Rice Got Off Too Easy

Yesterday, our columnist Tonya Pendleton penned her version of the Stephen A. Smith/Ray Rice Controversy. Today, Michael Cottman provides the male point of view.

Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith has been roundly criticized for his comments about domestic violence in the case of Ray Rice, the stocky Baltimore Ravens running back who punched his fiancée so hard, she was rendered unconscious. Smith has since apologized.

I’m less interested about what Smith thinks about Rice as more concerned about what Rice thinks about himself. What kind of man unleashes a vicious attack on an unsuspecting woman? I don’t know Rice, but I do know that it takes more than a simple apology to sort out domestic violence issues.

The NFL has punished Rice with a two-game suspension when the season begins in September – and a $500,000 fine, a pittance for a man who signed a $25 million contract.

The reprimand would be comical if the situation wasn’t so egregious. A two-game suspension in my view doesn’t even begin to address the seriousness of this abuse.

This punishment does not say to NFL players that the league won’t tolerate domestic violence. It tells me that if players beat up women, they can slide with a slap on the wrist.

Rice needs counseling, soul-searching and a tougher punishment. He was charged with third-degree aggravated assault after a surveillance camera in an Atlantic City casino caught him dragging his then-fiancée Janay Palmer out of an elevator. Palmer, who is now Rice’s wife, was knocked out.

Because Rice takes a beating on the field on Sundays, does he feel it’s appropriate to deliver a beating?

“I failed miserably,” Rice said two months ago. “But I wouldn’t call myself a failure cause I’m working myself back up.”

And since the incident, Rice has promised that he is “working every day to be a father, a better husband and a better role model.”

It’s a sorry man who beats a woman. And although Palmer did not want to press charges and says Rice has never been violent before, many experts who counsel battered women will tell you that if it happens once, another beating is likely to happen again.

I’m not suggesting that Rice will repeat his abuse, but I am saying that Rice needs to work on his anger issues and Palmer needs to understand the psychology behind Rice’s rage. Palmer married Rice one day after he was indicted.

Rice avoided jail by applying for pre-trial intervention program that allows for charges to be dismissed against first-time offenders who participate in the program. Rice may also need to participate in an anger management program.

So did Rice get a pass because he’s a superstar in the NFL? Yes, I believe so. And does the punishment fit the crime? Absolutely not.

What concerns me is not only the violent act that Rice displayed, but the callous disregard for his fiancée by dragging her out the elevator like a sack of potatoes after he knocked her out cold.

What about rushing to call 911 in case she needed immediate medical attention? And how about talking through a disagreement instead of lowering the hammer on a woman who Rice professes to love?

And what does it say about Palmer for marrying Rice weeks after she regained consciousness?

Rice claims that he wants to be a role model but I would never want my kids to emulate Rice. Black men – and all men – should never strike a woman under any circumstances and Rice, I assume, knows right from wrong. I hope he gets the help he needs to end his violent tendencies.

I’m sure Palmer will be in the stadium cheering for her husband on Sunday afternoons but, perhaps privately, she may also pray that she doesn’t end up a victim of domestic violence – again.

What do you think?

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