This past Thursday, the Ravens played their first game since the notorious video of Ray Rice actually striking his fiancée (at the time) was made public and his eventual release from the team. Unfortunately with Ray Rice being well-known in the public eye and a professional athlete the support for a women beater was almost unwavering, especially among many female fans.
Then there were the comments which made you weep for humanity (via Deadspin, Fox Sports 1, the AP, FTW, and the Washington Post)
“I think whatever happened in that elevator happened in February and should have been done in February. I’ve met the guy. He’s such a sweet guy. He never said no when I asked for pictures or an autograph or anything. And it’s their business. His wife obviously forgave him, why can’t we?”
“I’m making a statement. I don’t believe in domestic violence, but I will say: any woman who can hit a man, a man shouldn’t have to sit there and take the abuse. The abuse goes both ways…As a woman, she shouldn’t have hit him.”
“I would tell Ray Rice I don’t agree with how far he went, but he’s human and I support him.”
“I’m supporting him all the way around. I think he’s an awesome guy, I think he’s an upstanding guy, and I think he’s an awesome football player.”
“There’s two sides to every story. I saw the video. That’s their personal business, and it shouldn’t have affected his career. I don’t agree with domestic violence, but she’s still with him, so obviously it wasn’t that big of a deal. Everyone should just drop it.”
“He is a Baltimore Raven always and forever. We make mistakes, we get over them. We don’t need America to judge him.”
“I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s a shame that his college has taken down his accomplishments. I think his wife is just as much to blame.”
Paul Kilduff, 65, put two pieces of duct tape over the letters “Ray R” on the back of his faded shirt so that it read “Be Nice” instead of “Ray Rice.” But the tape kept falling off, so he took off the jersey, then put it back on without the tape while uttering, “Ah, I might as well.” “Everybody deserves a second chance,” he said, a refrain heard often in the parking lot.
‘I took the bus here, so people were, like, “Good, I’m glad to see to someone out here showing support,”‘ said Gage Friend, 18, of wearing his Rice jersey. ‘But I’ve also seen a lot of people giving me dirty looks and people saying stuff to me like, “I can’t believe you’d wear that. Don’t you know what he did?”‘ The teenager added, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty aware of what he did. And, yes, it was awful and it was definitely a mistake on his part, but he deserves a second chance. … People have done so much worse in this league.’
‘There’s two sides to every story,’ said Bailey, a 23-year-old waitress from Baltimore who was wearing a black, rhinestone-decorated jersey with the white No. 27. ‘I saw the video. That’s their personal business, and it shouldn’t have affected his career. I don’t agree with domestic violence, but she’s still with him, so obviously it wasn’t that big of a deal. Everyone should just drop it.’
Some though… and I do stress some, didn’t share the same sentiment with the Rice apologists:
“He’s a coward,” said Stephanie Wright, 43, from Shrewsbury, Pa. “He was just scared of public opinion so that’s why he just terminated (Rice). … You should be held accountable. If he was a policeman or a firefighter, he would have lost his job immediately.”
The Ravens were also offering a jersey exchange for those who own Rice jerseys, however it didn’t look like that was being taken advantage of much:
All this kinda makes you wonder what an NFL player has to do for fans not to support them.
I guess it’s true you can’t fix stupid.
Photos: AP
