Nearly a decade after he was arrested for domestic violence, initially suspended just two games by the NFL, and then later released by the Baltimore Ravens after video of the incident emerged, ending his career, the Ravens are bringing running back Ray Rice back into the family, honoring him Sunday against the Miami Dolphins Sunday.
Rice will be honored as their “Legend of the Game”. That honor is a franchise game day tradition, which recognizes a former player for his accomplishments both on and off the field.
How Rice fits into that category is anyone’s guess.
In 2014, Rice was seen on video punching his then-fiancée (now wife) in an elevator. The force of the punch from Rice was enough to knock out his then-fiancee, and then the video showed Rice dragging her out of the elevator while unconscious.
Rice was arrested on domestic violence charges and was initially hit with a two-game suspension from the NFL, which sparked outrage from NFL fans. Then, when video emerged of the incident, showing how bad the situation was, that outrage grew, leading to the Ravens cutting ties with the running back, ending his career.
Yet, despite the ugly, quick end to the pairing of Rice with the Ravens, the franchise somehow sees fit to bring him back and honor him.
“He was also consistently in the community, giving back. Importantly, after Ray’s incident, he owned it,” Ravens’ President Sashi Brown said to Ravens.com regarding Rice and the decision to honor him. “On his own accord, Ray undertook critical work within himself to bring awareness to and educate others on domestic violence.
“Nothing will change his past or make it right, but Ray’s work has allowed him to atone for his actions and rebuild relationships personally and professionally, including with the Ravens.”
To Rice’s credit, he did own the incident (although how couldn’t you with the video emerging). He took the necessary steps after the incident and after his career ended to work on himself, try to make amends, and help educate others and help them avoid the mistakes that he made.
That’s all commendable and all, and there’s certainly something to be said about second chances and one incident not defining you as a person. But that doesn’t mean that the team needs to honor him and trot him out there like some franchise legend and give him a hero’s welcome.
“I knew it would be hard to forgive me, but the one thing I have been consistent with was that I was going to be better. I’m not going to be a victim of my past,” Rice said to Ravens.com. “My legacy won’t be domestic violence. My legacy will be what I became after.”
People can change, certainly. Rice seems to have changed, atoned for his mistakes and has worked towards impacting the community in a positive way since his playing days ended abruptly. But that only happened because of something awful he did. It didn’t happen to him, and it wasn’t some tragic incident that changed his career.
It was his own doing.
The Ravens shouldn’t be trotting him out there as a legend of the past. It’s rather tone-deaf.
