Ray Rice allegedly knocked a woman unconscious.
Rice, Baltimore Ravens running back, hit his then-fiancée in the face. She temporarily lost all sensibility in her body and fell to the floor of a casino elevator. Rice then dragged her body out of the elevator before being confronted about what had happened allegedly.
Rice pled not guilty when first charged with assault, and did not talk about the incident until months afterward. Somehow, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell only punished Rice with a two-game suspension.
There are a lot of things that can be debated about in this story. Provocation is not one of them.
I’m referring to comments made by ESPN talking head Stephen A. Smith on Friday’s episode of “First Take.” Smith said that while men have no business putting their hands on a woman, there needed to be discussion about “the elements of provocation and how to address them.”
It is obvious that Smith’s comments were foolish, but what is more perplexing is that he could have talked about so many other elements of the story.
Smith could have talked about the need for more training sessions for rookies coming into the NFL so they can be more educated before entering the league. He could’ve compared the suspension to more strict rulings in the Goodell era, such as Jonathan Vilma’s 16-game suspension in the Saints “Bountygate” scandal.
Goodell seemed deadset on bringing down a player who tried to physically injure another player in his league, but lenient when it came to a player hitting someone in a public setting. That’s an interesting story if I ever saw one.
Smith instead chose the theme of provocation, and the response was about what you would expect. He was ripped apart on Twitter, including by his own colleagues, while ESPN strategized all week how they could control the mess.
They settled on having Smith release a public apology Monday, a taped two-minute long statement which actually came off sincere. After the statement, “First Take” host Cari Champion thanked Smith for the apology and spoke momentarily about the importance of word choice and personally said the NFL should have been stricter with their punishment.
The funny thing is, her own network just made the same weak choice the NFL did.
By not disciplining Smith, ESPN made clear how important he is to the network. Like the NFL, it also lost an opportunity to send a message that domestic violence is not tolerated.
Rice and Smith can talk about how sorry they were for the “mistake” they made all they want, I don’t care. Actions like Rice’s go far beyond a simple slap on the wrist, and Smith’s comments Friday go beyond a simple apology.
“First Take” is a far too simple show for that decision to be made. It is a show filled with barely-thought-out sports opinions made for fans with barely-thought-out sports opinions. To take a definite stance on something this serious, it would have to be a serious show.
In a week, everything will return to the status quo. Smith will have regained all composure and begin yelling on “First Take” again, while the Rice suspension will be old news for NFL fans.
Meanwhile, the subject of domestic abuse will be swept back under the rug, waiting to come back when another athlete makes an inexcusable mistake.
Tommy Romanach is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from Dallas, Texas.