2014 NFL Season

[gunnar hendershow]

Did McCown ever officially retire?

[Lint]

The United States Congress has inserted itself in the Ray Rice scandal ... the House Judiciary Committee has just fired off a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ... demanding that he come clean.

The letter -- signed by 12 members of the Committee and obtained by TMZ Sports -- notes that Goodell has said he had requested the video but never got it. But the Committee is skeptical, writing, "To our knowledge the public has not been informed as to specifically how and in what context the request was made, and specifically how relevant law enforcement responded."

TMZ has reported ... Goodell's request was to law enforcement but NOT the Casino, which would have gladly anted up the video. And we reported Rice's lawyer had a copy.

The Committee goes on, "Nor has there been a full explanation as to whether the video was requested of others, such as Mr. Rice's attorney or the casino where the incident occurred (and if not, why not), or whether any employees, agents, or consultants of the league or any of its teams outside of your office had access of the video prior to September 8."

The Committee is demanding "greater transparency and explanations on these matters."

http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0910-comissioner-letter-doc-tmz.pdf

[GoGo Yubari]

BREAKING: AP Source: Law enforcement official sent copy of Ray Rice tape to NFL executive in April

[RoHitman Reigns]

Mind you all this is coming after the Ravens HQ has said they asked cops, they asked the casino, and noone was able to get any copy of the video from inside the elevator as they say.

I think alot of house cleaning is about to happen and disgruntled fans being made.

[gunnar hendershow]

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- A law enforcement official says he sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee to an NFL executive three months ago, while league officers 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 they were unauthorized to release the video but shared it unsolicited, because they 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.

The league says it has no record of the video, and no one in the league office had seen it until TMZ released it. When asked about the voicemail Wednesday, NFL officials repeated their assertion that no league official had seen the video before Monday.

The person said he sent a DVD copy of the security camera video to an NFL office and included his contact information. He asked the AP not to release the name of the NFL executive, for fear that the information would identify the law enforcement official as the source.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell initially suspended Rice for two games following the February incident, but the Ravens released Rice on Monday and the NFL suspended him indefinitely after the website TMZ released the video.

Goodell told CBS on Tuesday that "no one in the NFL, to my knowledge" had seen a new video of what happened on the elevator until it was posted online.

"We assumed that there was a video. We asked for video. But we were never granted that opportunity," Goodell said.

In a memo to the NFL's 32 teams on Wednesday, Goodell said that the league asked law enforcement for the video, but not the casino. "In the context of a criminal investigation, information obtained outside of law enforcement that has not been tested by prosecutors or by the court system is not necessarily a reliable basis for imposing league discipline," he wrote.

The video, shown to the AP on Monday, is slightly longer than the TMZ version, and includes some audio.

Rice and Janay Palmer -- now Janay Rice -- can be heard shouting obscenities at each other, and she appears to spit at Rice right before he throws a brutal punch. After she collapses, he drags her out of the elevator and is met by some hotel staff. One of them can be heard saying, "She's drunk, right?" And then, "No cops."

Rice had been charged with felony aggravated assault in the case, but in May he was accepted into a pretrial intervention program that allowed him to avoid jail time and could lead to the charge being purged from his record. A prominent New Jersey lawmaker called Tuesday for that decision to be reviewed.

Hours after portions of the video were made public by TMZ, Goodell suspended Rice indefinitely and Baltimore terminated his contract. He had originally been suspended for two games, and team officials had praised him for his apologies and actions after his arrest for aggravated assault.

Goodell and team officials said they were taking more severe action because of the violence in the video.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11503851/ray-rice-videotape-sent-nfl-executive-april

[Meacon Keaton]

BREAKING: AP Source: Law enforcement official sent copy of Ray Rice tape to NFL executive in April

Shart is goin' down, gents. Shart is goin' down.

I think it was pretty obvious that the NFL had seen the tape beforehand, but I'm so glad that it's all finally coming out. I hope Goodell loses his job for this. He's been an awful commissioner as far as I'm concerned. And now it's becoming even more apparent that he's an awful person to boot.

[Cole]

It's definitely damn obvious the Ravens and NFL had both seen the tape but hadn't done much. Looks like Goddell might get nailed to the wall now as well. Hopefully not Harbaugh who is a great coach, but we'll see... Jeez.

It's their lack of action and stupidity though.

[Maxx]

Olbermann just torched Goodell, again.

He's done, there's no chance that tape went to the NFL offices and he didn't know about it.

[HC]

Still don't think Goodell is going anywhere. It's still the owners decision is it not? It would be too good to be true.

[Your Mom]

Olbermann just torched Goodell, again.

He's done, there's no chance that tape went to the NFL offices and he didn't know about it.

Is there video of the Olbermann thing or was it just on TV?

[livid]

Still don't think Goodell is going anywhere. It's still the owners decision is it not? It would be too good to be true.

I don't think the owners are naive enough to assume that all the money they're making is directly because of Goodell so I can't imagine why he wouldn't be expendable to them. It's becoming too big for them to not do anything.

[HC]

Still don't think Goodell is going anywhere. It's still the owners decision is it not? It would be too good to be true.

I don't think the owners are naive enough to assume that all the money they're making is directly because of Goodell so I can't imagine why he wouldn't be expendable to them. It's becoming too big for them to not do anything.

Not so much that he isn't expendable as it is they don't have to get rid of him if they don't want too. If public outrage dictated the running the league, the Redskins would've changed their name by now.

[The Buscher]

Goodell is done. There is zero chance he survives this. The only question is how long it will take.

[livid]

Still don't think Goodell is going anywhere. It's still the owners decision is it not? It would be too good to be true.

I don't think the owners are naive enough to assume that all the money they're making is directly because of Goodell so I can't imagine why he wouldn't be expendable to them. It's becoming too big for them to not do anything.

Not so much that he isn't expendable as it is they don't have to get rid of him if they don't want too. If public outrage dictated the running the league, the Redskins would've changed their name by now.

The level of outrage associated with this is far greater than the Redskins name, though both highlight the fact that at the very best, the NFL offices are clueless and inept and at the very worst, just don't give a shit.

Edited September 10, 2014 by livid

[DMN in the House]

Did McCown ever officially retire?

I remember a report that he was going down to Florida, but never heard of him signing anywhere. Why else would he go down there and not sign with a team if not to retire?

[Maxx]

Do we really want Goodell to go? Touchdown celebrations could get out of control.

[Cole]

Do we really want Goodell to go? Touchdown celebrations could get out of control.

No-Fun-League

[Lint]

Olbermann just torched Goodell, again.

He's done, there's no chance that tape went to the NFL offices and he didn't know about it.

Is there video of the Olbermann thing or was it just on TV?

Here Srar

[GhostMachine]

If Goodell saw the tape back in April, then chances are the Ravens (Bisciotti, Harbaugh, etc) did, too.

[gunnar hendershow]

If Goodell saw the tape back in April, then chances are the Ravens (Bisciotti, Harbaugh, etc) did, too.

Ravens said they stopped pursuing any information in March and trusted the NFL with given them a proper ruling, or something to that effect. It's evident no one, not one of 32 owners, the league office, and most of the players or fans took this very seriously. It was only in light of the video being posted by TMZ that most people suddenly went "oh wow, domestic violence is a bad thing isn't it?" Nobody took this seriously at all, it was just your run-of-the-mill case involving a player. He got no conviction, apparently in line with what Atlantic County usually does for first-time offenders, and will have no record. The league saw this and figured that was all that mattered, after all that's how they decided domestic violence in the past. James Harrison had a successful career. Dez Bryant is considered one of the top players in the league. Brandon Marshall was accused twice. Going way back, Rod Smith is one of the more beloved Broncos of all time. That's just four people, all accused and all without records. Two games, at most, was always the norm for what the league didn't feel deserved more punishment. Suddenly, and fortunately, with the Rice case people woke up.

Who knows at this point what happened, 21 of 32 teams have players who have been charged with domestic violence or sexual assault. There's a certain boxer who on Saturday will be fighting a high-profile match and making over $30 million for it, he's been found to have attacked at least four women. It's an epidemic in sports and something nobody really ever paid attention to. Goodell has put a lot of authority in his hands and it reasons if the video reached the offices he very well saw it. But it also reasons, based on his past punishments, it didn't change his opinion about how he should handle the case. After all, nobody spoke out the countless times before.

As for whether Goodell is gone. He'll hang on, try to fight all of this, at least until sponsors start throwing punches. If a beer company says they're done with sponsoring the NFL Roger Goodell will be gone faster than you can say "up for whatever".