If I Were the Commissioner of the NFL

This past Sunday, the Miami Dolphins pulled off a big upset against the Buffalo Bills, 21-19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. But their quarterback, Tuanigamanuolepola "Tua" Tagovailoa, who led the University of Alabama to the 2017 National Championship, suffered a concussion and had to be removed from the game.

Just 4 days later, last night, the Dolphins played again, losing to the Cincinnati Bengals, 27-15 at Paycor Stadium (formerly named Paul Brown Stadium) in Cincinnati. Tua got sacked by Josh Tupou, and hit the back of his head on the artificial turf. At first, it looked like he was paralyzed. He did not move for 8 minutes until the ambulance came onto the field. He was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, regained full movement, was discharged, and was allowed to fly back to Miami with his teammates.

If I were the Commissioner of the National Football League, I would void Tua Tagovailoa's contract with the Miami Dolphins, and make him a free agent, eligible to sign with any other team. But I would also advise him to retire. I know, he's only 24 years old. And he needs a job. But he doesn't need a job that puts his central nervous system at further risk.

I would also ban all of the Dolphins' coaches, including head coach Mike McDaniel, their general manager Chris Grier, and their medical staff from the NFL for life. This was not just a failure. This was negligence. Possibly criminal negligence.

And I would strongly advise team owner Stephen Ross to sell the team. Team owners in other sports have been forced out due to racism. But not the kind of racism that has gotten people killed. This kind of negligence will get someone killed unless action is taken.

This was a Thursday game, with only 3 days off since the Dolphins' (and the Bengals') previous game. I would ban all Thursday games, except for Thanksgiving, and give all teams playing on Thanksgiving a bye the previous Sunday.

And this was a head-on-artificial turf injury. I would ban artificial turf. Starting next season, all fields have to be real grass. You can't grow grass under a fixed dome? Get the hell out of the dome. You NFL owners are filthy rich. You can afford to build your own stadiums without taxpayer dollars, and you can certainly afford to replace your current turf field with real grass, or rent another stadium in the interim.

Too many players have suffered and eventually died as a result of football-inflicted head trauma. Usually, the effects are long-term. But five players have died as a result of playing in professional football games in this country, the last being Chuck Hughes of the Detroit Lions in 1971. Six if you count Darryl Stingley, who lived nearly 30 years after his 1978 paralysis which did, indirectly, lead to his death. I don't want there to be another.

But then, I am not the Commissioner of the NFL. Roger Goodell is. And he is the weakest NFL boss since Elmer Layden in 1945. He proved that by letting the New England Patriots and Tom Brady -- together and separately -- get away with everything. Goodell is what English soccer fans would call a useless bastard. Nothing is going to be done, because the team owners aren't going to be scared into losing money if nothing gets done. They are going to go on as before, and there will be more players hurt like Tua.

And, eventually, there will be a player who dies as a result. Maybe it'll be like putting up a traffic light at a dangerous intersection: The right thing will only be done once someone dies.

Should the NFL Play the 2020 Season?

There are 55 players on an NFL team roster. There are 32 teams. That's 1,760 players. The COVID-19 death rate in America is 3.75 percent.

Imagine. It's 2040. It's been 20 years since the pandemic. At the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, an official memorial is dedicated to the 66 players who died from it.

There were 131 players selected to the Pro Bowl at the end of last season. At that rate, 5 Pro Bowlers will have died from it. It could be 3 players who might make the Hall of Fame anyway.

Because the NFL remains as tone-deaf as ever, the unveiling of the memorial is done by the Commissioner, Jared Kushner, who bribed the team owners into selecting him.

*

This past Wednesday, the NFL mandated that all fans coming into games wear masks. The Giants and Jets went a step further: In line with Governor Phil Murphy keeping restrictions on large gatherings in New Jersey, they won't let any fans into their respective home games at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.

Somebody once told me that, with the TV rights and the merchandising, the NFL could play all 16 games a week behind closed doors, and still make a profit for that week.

It may come to that.

None of the major sports played in North America has as much physical contact as football. No sport is sweatier. No sport gives the Coronavirus a greater chance of being spread.

The NFL is considering special helmets, with faceguards, as shown in the sample Baltimore Ravens helmet shown above, to better protect against the virus.

Will it work? I don't know. Several people in sports have caught it. Nearly all have recovered. But all it takes is one death to make us wonder what else we could have done, short of canceling the season.

Given how much damage football does to the human body, even without COVID-19, maybe canceling one season wouldn't be the worst of ideas.

Exhibition games may end up being canceled outright. For now, the regular season starts on Thursday night, September 10, with the defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, hosting the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium. That gives the current Commissioner, Roger Goodell, 47 days -- a little under 7 weeks -- to make the big decision.

We shall see.

*

Each of the following is tentative, and we don't yet know which of them will actually have anyone in attendance:

Days until Arsenal play again: 1. They play tomorrow, at 11:00 AM my time, home to Hertfordshire team Watford. Arsenal can finish as high as 8th in the Premier League if they win, as low as 10th if they lose. Either way, it will be the worst finish for the team in 25 years. And all the "real fans who actually go to the games," and "care," told us that anybody could do a better job managing the team than Arsène Wenger. They were wrong. Unai Emery couldn't. Mikel Arteta is trying, and he's gotten Arsenal into the FA Cup Final on the following Saturday, at 12:30 PM my time, at the new Wembley Stadium in London, against Chelsea. As for Watford, they need to win to avoid relegation, so they will be ready for us.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 20, on Friday, August 14, at Yankee Stadium II.

Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 21, on Saturday night, August 15, home to the Chicago Fire. They crashed out of the MLS is Back Tournament, which is being held entirely behind closed doors at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which is part of the Walt Disney World Resort, in the Orlando suburb of Bay Lake, Florida.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 29, on Sunday night, August 22, home to New York City FC.

Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown. The 2020-21 Premier League season is now scheduled to begin on Saturday, September 12. That's 49 days, or 7 weeks. But the fixture list can't be set until the League knows who's getting promoted and who's getting relegated, and it will take another couple of weeks to get all the answers. But it's incredibly unlikely that Arsenal will open the season against Tottenham.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 63, on Saturday, September 26, at noon.Just 9 weeks. The Big Ten's non-conference schedule has been canceled. So it's only league games this season, presuming they don't cancel it all outright. The 1st game is away to Ohio State. Pray for the Scarlet Knights. And Greg Schiano is back as head coach, but he is no god.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Unknown, and if they play at all this season, we don't know if fans will be let in. I have heard that it will be on Friday night, October 2, which would be 69 days, almost 10 weeks, but I can't be sure.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge football game: See the previous answer.

Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 101, on November 3, 2020. A little over 3 months.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 126, on Saturday, November 28, at home.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play again: Unknown, since the 2020-21 NHL schedule has not yet been released. We do know that the regular season won't start until at least December 1, which is 129 days away, and it is unlikely that the Devils will open the season against a nearby rival.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: See the previous answer.

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: Unknown.

Days until a fully-Democratic-controlled Congress can convene: 162, on January 3, 2021. A little over 5 months.

Days until Liberation Day: 179, at noon on January 20, 2021. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy. But it is now under 6 months. You've made it this far. Stay with us.

Days until the Yankees' 2021 Opening Day: 250, on Thursday afternoon, April 1, 2021, home to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Days until Euro 2020 begins, a tournament being held all over Europe instead of in a single host nation: 321, on Friday, June 11, 2021. Under 11 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 363, on July 23, 2021. Under 1 year, or under 12 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz become eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame: 535, on January 11, 2022. Under a year and a half, or under 18 months. We will then find out if it's okay for a Red Sox steroid cheat to be in the Hall, but not for a Yankee steroid cheat.

Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Beijing, China: 559, on February 4, 2022. Under 2 years, or under 19 months.

Days until the next World Cup is scheduled to kick off in Qatar: 849, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. Under 3 years, or under 28 months.

Days until the next Women's World Cup is scheduled to kick off: 1,080, on July 10, 2023. A little under 3 years, or a little under 36 months. Australia and New Zealand will be joint hosts.

The Patriots Will Go On, With Or Without Robert Kraft

"Bob, we've gotta stop meeting like this."

"Roger, it may soon be out of either of our hands."

For the moment, let us presume that there is nothing worse about the criminal case against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft than what we already know. Let us presume that he had no knowledge of any human trafficking.

That, of course, may turn out not to be the case, but unless and until it does, let's assume that the worst has already been revealed.

How does this affect the Patriots? Recall that other team owners have been forced to step down for things roughly as bad. Even with the Patriots. The reason Kraft is the owner in the first place is that Victor Kiam had to sell the team, to James Orthwein, who later sold out to Kraft.

We've also seen Jerry Richardson forced out of the Carolina Panthers, the team he founded. We've also seen Eddie DeBartolo Jr. forced out of the ownership of the San Francisco 49ers, handing them over to his sister Denise and her husband Jed York.

If Kraft -- who is 77 years old, and advancing age may force his hand even if neither the NFL nor the law does -- hands the team over to his son, Jonathan Kraft, about to turn 55 and already team president, that really won't change anything.

As long as Bill Belichick is the head coach, the Patriots are going to continue to win, possibly cheating to do so. Belichick, though soon to turn 67, is likely to remain the head coach for some time to come. And Tom Brady, who will be 42 before the 2019 NFL season kicks off, is likely to remain the starting quarterback for at least one more season.

So unless NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell punishes the Patriots organization, not just Kraft himself, nothing is really going to change. Barring outright bankruptcy, and a sale to someone who can afford to buy the team, a sale which could take a while to complete for various reasons, the operating owner of the Patriots is not the key man. Belichick is the key man.

And he will be allowed to continue to do what he does, without being punished, unless and until he gets caught up in something, criminal, as Kraft has.

Who knows? Maybe the alleged "bigger name" in this scandal isn't, as many are hoping, Donald Trump. Maybe it's Belichick.

I find that hard to believe.

But then, until now, I wouldn't have believed it of Kraft, either. Unlike his coach, his quarterback, and many of his other players, he seemed to be a classy individual.

That is one fumble he can, now, never recover.

So How Did the Trump Supporters' NFL Boycott Go?

So how did that NFL boycott go? The one that Traitor Trump wanted, because a few players were kneeling during the National Anthem?

Columns: 1st, rank; 2nd, team name; 3rd, 2017 per-home-game regular-season attendance; 4th, increase or decrease from 2016.

1. Dallas Cowboys, 92,721, +182
2. Green Bay Packers, 78,092, -123
3. New York Jets, 77,562, -598
4. New York Giants, 77,179, -1,610
5. Denver Broncos, 76,355, -389
6. Washington Redskins, 75,175, -3,129
7. Kansas City Chiefs, 74,106, 778
8. Los Angeles Rams, 73,736, -385
9. Carolina Panthers, 73,617, -175
10. New Orleans Saints, 73,139, +30
11. Atlanta Falcons, 71,960, +1,961
12. Houston Texans, 71,774, -94
13. Baltimore Ravens, 70,588, -514
14. San Francisco 49ers, 70,144, -34
15. Philadelphia Eagles, 69,596, same
16. Seattle Seahawks, 68,976, -97
17. Buffalo Bills, 66,775, -1,734
18. Minnesota Vikings, 66,721, -65
19. New England Patriots, 65,878, -951
20. Tennessee Titans, 65,651, +1,092
21. Miami Dolphins, 65,228, -284
22. Arizona Cardinals, 64,217, -614
23. Detroit Lions, 64,137, +3,345
24. Cleveland Browns, 63,882, -429
25. Indianapolis Colts, 63,440, -2,109
26. Pittsburgh Steelers, 62,471, -1,841
27. Jacksonville Jaguars, 61,405, -510
28. Chicago Bears, 61,142, +774
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 59,952, -672
30. Oakland Raiders, 54,977, +393
31. Cincinnati Bengals, 53,242, -7,269
32. Los Angeles Chargers, 25,311, -31,713

First, let's take the Chargers out of the mix, because they willingly moved into a stadium that seats just over 25,000 people. But let's also note that Atlanta was coming off a Super Bowl appearance and moving into a new stadium. And that the Raiders announced they were leaving Oakland... and still gained almost 400 fans per game.

And, let's note that Cleveland finished with only the 2nd 0-16 season ever, and only the 3rd all-losses season since the NFL went to a schedule of at least 14 games... and still only lost 429 fans per game. And that the Giants crashed to 3-13. And that Indianapolis and Houston, both Playoff contenders the season before, both fell to 4-12... and Houston still only lost 94 fans per game.

But even if you include the Chargers' dropoff... NFL teams lost an average of 1,462 fans per game this season.

If you don't include it, they lost an average of... 486 fans.

Four hundred and eighty-six.

Yes, 23 of the 32 teams lost fans. But only half, 16, lost at least 1,000 per game. 10 lost less than 500. 4 lost less than 100. A quarter, 8 teams, gained fans.

9 teams averaged a sellout every game. 15, nearly half the League, averaged 99 percent of capacity or higher. Only 5 teams averaged less than 90 percent of capacity. Oddly, 1 of these was a Division Champion: The Rams. But then, they play in the Los Angeles Coliseum, current capacity 93,607, and their average home attendance of 73,736 was still 8th in the League. The others were Oakland, Cleveland, Washington, and Cincinnati came last, 81.3 percent.

So, how much did the Trump fans' boycott hurt the NFL?

Probably not at all. An average dropoff of 486 fans per game could be explained by any number of factors:

* Bad weather.
* A bad economy. (Whether we have one now is a matter of debate.)
* A large number of usually good teams having bad years.
* People being sick of the Patriots winning.
* A nearby college team doing well, which would certainly explain dropoffs in Ohio, Wisconsin, Los Angeles, Miami and the Carolinas (Clemson and South Carolina ).
* And, of course, Black Lives Matter also asked for a boycott. Maybe the liberal boycott cost the NFL more fans than the conservative one did.

Hypothesis: The Trump supporters' boycott hurt NFL attendance.

Results: Inconclusive. Insufficient evidence to confirm the hypothesis.

In other words, Trump and his fans failed again!

Brady Case Proves: Cheating Is Legal If New England Does It

The good news: The great power wielded by the Commissioner of the National Football League has been broken. No longer can he legitimately fine a player for wearing his socks wrong.

The bad news: It was broken by Tom Brady. It's official: In the NFL, cheating is legal.

Apparently, if you're caught ordering the deflating of footballs, and that cheating gets you into the Super Bowl, and you win it, not only is your title allowed to remain in the record books, but the Commissioner can't suspend you for your blatant cheating.

Not that the people of New England will ever admit that you cheated. Even after head coach Bill Belichick admitted to "Spygate." All 4 of the New England Patriots' Super Bowls are tainted: None can be accepted as legitimate.

*

Yes, cheating is legal in the NFL now.

Or... is cheating only legal if a New England sports team does it?

(Note: For these hypothetical situations, I'm using the Jets as the Patriots' opponent because of the rivalry. I am not a Jets fan. Thank God.)

Hypothetical situation A: Whoever's quarterbacking the Jets (and who knows who that's going to be) throws to an ineligible receiver. Touchdown. No, not a touchdown: The ref flags it.

But if Brady and the Pats had done it... it would count.

Hypothetical situation B: It's 21-17 Pats, and there's time for one more play. The Jets' quarterback throws the bomb, and the receiver nearly has his head taken off by the Pats' safety. Anybody can see it's a dirty play, and, since neither half can end on a defensive penalty, the Jets should get one more play, at the spot of the foul. They get, essentially, 4th-and-goal at the 5-yard line.

Except... No official flags the safety for pass interference. Coach Todd Bowles demands that the instant replay be used. He's told no, he can't have it. What the hell? The Pats just got away with cheating again!

Hypothetical situation C: The Jets put the cornerback blitz on. Brady gets the pass away, but Darrelle Revis grabs him, and slams him hard into the artificial turf, injuring him.

The Jets are assessed a penalty of 15 yards for "unnecessary roughness," and Revis is thrown out of the game.

Revis: "Sorry, ref, but I'm allowed to do that. You see, this very asshole now lying on the ground, writhing in pain like the little bitch that he is, proved that there are no rules in the National Football League anymore. He and his team do whatever they want, and they can't be punished for it. 

"Therefore, according to the equal protection clause of the Constitution of the United States, the rules, or in this case the lack thereof, that apply to one team must apply to all teams. Therefore, what I just did, it's completely legal, and you have no authority to penalize either myself as an individual, or my team, for my having done it."

Referee: "What? What are you, a Communist? Additional 15-yard penalty, unsportsmanlike conduct, Number 24, defense, still first down!"

You see, that's the way it works: New England team cheats, it's okay; New York team tries to get even, it's not okay:

* Baseball: The Red Sox can use steroids, and not only are their players not punished for it, they are treated as heroes. But a Yankee accepts his punishment for it, and he still gets "Ster-oids!" chanted at him by 30,000 ignorant boobs who still can't accept the proven fact that their team set new standards for cheating.

Also, a Red Sox pitcher can throw a pitch at a Yankee's head, or hands, or back, on purpose, and he gets away with it every time. Not even a warning. A Yankee pitcher hits a Red Sox hitter on purpose, and he's thrown out of the game and fined, possibly even suspended.

* Basketball: Okay, I still haven't figured out how the Celtics cheated to win the 2008 NBA Championship. But they cheated many times in the old days. Once, Sam Jones elbowed Wilt Chamberlain in the head. No foul called. Wilt went after him. Sam ran to the bench and got a chair to protect himself. Guess who got punished?

Then, as the NBA got expanded, and the season got later and later it got hot in the Boston Garden, and the Celtics wouldn't turn on the air-conditioning in the visiting team's locker room. We all remember the image of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar taking in oxygen on the Los Angeles Lakers' bench in the 1984 NBA Finals. (Or maybe we don't: In the public memory, it was in Game 7; in reality, it was in Game 5.) Okay, New York teams weren't involved in any of this, but you get the idea.

* Hockey: No, I'm not talking about the Big Bad Bruins' rough play of the 1970s. I'm talking about how they let the ice melt at the TD Garden before Game 6 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, slowing down the Vancouver Canucks. This resulted in the only Cup they've won since before the Watergate break-in. Again, no New York Tri-State Area team was affected, but it was still a cheat.

* Soccer: No MLS team dives more than the New England Revolution (not even the Los Angeles Galaxy), and no team puts in more "horror tackles" than the Revs. They are by far the dirtiest team in the league.

Same New England: Always cheating.

I'm not saying that the various New York teams are angelic. Certainly, the Yankees have had their issues over the years, and so have the Mets, and the Knicks have been dirty now and again. And, as far as dirty play goes, for much of their history (long before the Islanders or Devils came along, and well before they started "sucking"), the Rangers have left a lot to be desired.

But the New England teams not only take the cake, they burn down the bakery.

And no one seems willing to stop them. No one is willing to stand up and tell them, "No, you can't do that, because it is wrong."

There's an old saying: "It ain't cheatin' if ya don't git caught."

Now, it should be, "It ain't cheatin' if you play for Boston."

Yes. It is cheating. And it's about time somebody did something about it. Something legal. I don't want anybody in any more trouble than they might already be in.

Because until somebody steps in, the New England teams have this unfair advantage.

And if Roger Goodell lets this stand, doesn't appeal it to a court with a clue, then the National Football League will be a big fat joke.

After all, who's running this league? The Commissioner, or The Cheater?

There Is Nothing Good About the Ray Rice Story

Later today, I'm going try to put up a post about the Yankees' loss last night, and a tribute to Roger Maris on what would have been his 80th Birthday. Hopefully, either today or tomorrow, I'll be able to get my travel guide for the Jets' trip to Green Bay this weekend.

But I need to discuss the Ray Rice incident.

*

Raymell Mourice Rice was born January 22, 1987 in New Rochelle, in Westchester County, New York. He grew up there. He was the biggest star of Rutgers University's rise from football jokehood to a school that could be taken seriously. He was one of the best running backs in the country in the 2005, '06 and '07 seasons.

And, at the time, he seemed like a good person. As far as I know, he was not a disciplinary problem at RU, nor was there ever a report of him being arrested. No fights, no public drunkenness, no traffic accidents, no parking tickets (which is a shock, because the University Police, and the cops in New Brunswick and neighboring Highland Park, love to give out parking tickets). We never even heard of him so much as missing a class. (Surely, he missed some, every student misses at least a few, but we never heard about it.)

And never, not once, did we hear about him mistreating a woman. Or a child. Or an animal, unlike Michael Vick, whom I saw lead Virginia Tech into Rutgers Stadium and torch the Scarlet Knights 59-19.

(That was in 1997, RU's winless 0-11 season. I have previously stated on this blog that the score was 70-14. That score did happen to Rutgers, but it was a year later, against Syracuse, on the road, and I did not attend. When you get hit with as many blowout losses as Rutgers football has, they tend to blend together, barring a single shocking play, like their disaster against Louisville that cost them the outright 2012 Big East title.)

Now, Rice has put himself in a massive scandal.

Rice is the most heralded Rutgers football player since Paul Robeson, an All-American end (in modern terms, tight end and defensive end) in the late 1910s, who went on to become a lawyer, singer, actor and activist. He took a lot of strong stands for people who could not stand up for themselves. But he was also a Communist, who openly spoke of his admiration for Josef Stalin.

Rutgers University: My favorite college football team's 2 most-heralded players ever are a Communist and a wife-beater.

At least we're not Penn State. They'll be Jerry Sandusky U. for years to come.

*

When he entered the professional ranks, he helped the Baltimore Ravens rise from mediocrity to a Super Bowl win. Through the end of last season, there was never a mention of him being a problem, on the field or off.

In 2009, I saw Rutgers play the University of Maryland, at Byrd Stadium in College Park, just outside the Capital Beltway, and not far from Baltimore. Maryland Terrapins football would not be the institution that it is without players, and fans, from the Baltimore area. On that very rainy day, Rutgers trailed at the half, but came from behind to win 34-13. I saw a lot of Ray Rice Number 27 jerseys in the stands, some of them Rutgers red, some of them Ravens purple.

At the time, Ray Rice was considered a hero. And this was before he had a Super Bowl ring, winning with the Ravens on February 3, 2013, as his 59 yards rushing, and 4 catches for 19 yards, helped them beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Thus far, in regular-season NFL play, he has rushed for 6,180 yards for 37 touchdowns; and caught 359 passes for 3,034 yards and 6 touchdowns. Coming into this season, he is 27 years old, and he looked like he was headed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Then came the night of February 15, 2014. Ray and his girlfriend, Janay Palmer, were at the Revel Casino & Hotel, at the northern end of the Atlantic City Boardwalk. (It is the 2nd-tallest building in New Jersey, behind the Goldman Sachs Tower on the Jersey City waterfront, and easily the tallest building in South Jersey. The Revel was also the newest casino in AC, and closed after just 2 years earlier this month. What will happen to the building now is not clear.)

They got into an elevator, and started arguing, and he punched her in the face, knocking her unconscious. When the elevator doors opened, he dragged her out.

This was caught on a security camera. It was publicly revealed. 

It was caught on camera, and the world found out about it.

At first, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended him for 2 games.

*

Now, before we get into what happened after that, let me go off on this rant.

One of the things the NFL lost me for doing was stupid disciplinary issuances. Like when Johnny Unitas died in 2002. The Baltimore Colt legend was once considered the greatest quarterback who ever lived. By the time he died, The Sporting News had released its list, picked by "experts," of the 100 Greatest Football Players. Unitas was ranked Number 5 -- among all players, trailing only Jim Brown, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana and Lawrence Taylor.

In 2004, TSN backed this up by releasing a poll of the 50 Greatest Quarterbacks. Again, Unitas ranked 2nd behind Montana. In 2010, the NFL Network did a 100 Greatest Players. Unitas came in 6th among all players, behind Rice, Brown, Taylor, Montana and Walter Payton -- so, yet again, 2nd to Montana among quarterbacks. Even today, with Brett Favre, Tom Brady and the Manning brothers having achieved much, the title "Greatest Quarterback Who Ever Lived" is pretty much a discussion about Unitas and Montana.

Upon his death, the current Colts quarterback, Peyton Manning, ignored the fact that the Colts were no longer in Baltimore, and wanted to pay tribute to Johnny U by wearing his trademark, black high-top cleats, during a game. The NFL said no, that he would be fined $25,000 if he did that. Manning accepted this order, and wore his usual cleats.

There are a few men without whom the NFL would never have become the gigantic league it is today. Among them are George Halas, Paul Brown, Vince Lombardi, Lamar Hunt, Tom Landry and Bill Walsh. Among players, it's pretty much limited to three: Red Grange, who saved it in the mid-1920s; Joe Namath, who made it hip in the late 1960s; and Johnny Unitas, who made it a big deal in the media in the late 1950s.

And Paul Tagliabue, then the NFL Commissioner, wouldn't allow a one-time tribute to one of those three men.

In 2004, former Arizona Cardinal safety Pat Tillman was killed while serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. (The circumstances of how that was handled are also atrocious, but have nothing to do with the NFL.) The NFL ordered that all teams wear a memorial decal for Tillman on their helmets in the games played on September 24 of that year.

Jake Plummer, who had been Tillman's teammate on the Cardinals, and also before that at Arizona State University, wanted to keep the decal on his helmet for the rest of the season. But, but that point, Jake the Snake was a member of the Denver Broncos, and thus, once his teammates' Tillman decals came off, his uniform would not match the rest of his team's. For that reason the NFL told him he couldn't do it.

Plummer was so enraged by this that, for the next season, he grew his hair long, as Tillman had before enlisting. He became disillusioned with the NFL, and retired before the 2007 season.

It should be noted that, while Plummer has taken several moral stands for which he should be applauded, he may have done so out of guilt. He was charged with sexual misconduct while an Arizona State student, and struck a plea deal that kept him out of jail but got him probation, community service, and a fine.

The NFL has fined lots of players for violating the uniform code. For things like taking your helmet off while you're still on the field. (Such fines were not always levied.) For things like not having your chinstrap snapped. For things like not wearing your socks the right way!

And several NFL players have been suspended for four games for being caught with marijuana. Marijuana makes some people do stupid things, but it's never been known to make anyone violent.

And Ray Rice, initially, got two games for punching a woman in the face and dragging her out of an elevator. Two games.

*

On March 27 of this year, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office indicted Rice for third-degree aggravated assault. If convicted, he could be fined $15,000 -- not a small amount of money for a modern pro athlete, but still more of an insult than a hardship -- and could be sentenced to 3 to 5 years in prison. The case has yet to go to trial.

The day after the indictment, Ray and Janay were married.

Rice has called his actions "inexcusable," and said this is "something I have to live with the rest of my life... I know that's not who I am as a man. That's not who my mom raised me to be. If anybody knows me, they know I was raised by a single parent, and that was my mother. I let her down, I let my wife down, I let my daughter down. I let my wife's parents down. I let the whole Baltimore community down. I let my teammates down. I let so many people down, because of 30 seconds of my life that I know I can't take back."

As I said, there were no similar incidents before this happened. There have been no reports of any such incident since. That doesn't make what he did any less horrible. It does suggest that he may be right: That this isn't the kind of thing he would regularly do.

She has appeared by his side during this controversy, and appears to have forgiven him. She posted this on her Instagram account yesterday:

I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I'm mourning the death of my closest friend. But to have to accept the fact that it's reality is a nightmare itself. No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted [opinions] from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret everyday is a horrible thing.

To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass off for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE! What don't you all get. If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you've succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow & show the world what real love is! Ravensnation we love you!

Whether she has truly forgiven him, and whether she should have, is up to her. No one can decide that for her.

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But now, the video has been seen by Goodell and Ravens officials. They already knew that it had happened. Actually seeing the video doesn't change the facts: If he was wrong to have done it, it doesn't make it more wrong now that you've actually seen it.

The Ravens organization has cut Rice. They did the right thing by doing this. Regardless of what his wife, or anyone else who cares about him, thinks, neither he nor any other person has the unalienable right to play professional football.

However, now that Goodell has seen the video, of an incident he already knew had happened, he has suspended Rice indefinitely -- admitting that he "didn't get it right" the first time. No one doubts that.

But he's been suspended indefinitely for something for which Goodell had already suspended him for 2 games. Yes, the initial punishment was not enough. Yes, the indefinite suspension should have happened first.

But suspending him twice for the same crime? That's not right. In legal terms, that's "double jeopardy." If a man commits a crime, and he's convicted based on forensic evidence, and he's sent to prison, you can't add prison time just because video of the crime has surfaced.

"The ballistics prove that the bullets came from Bob's gun? And there's forensic evidence that proves that he was at the scene of the murder at the time that it happened? And he has no alibi? And there's no evidence that suggests that someone else could have done it? Guilty, put him in prison for 25 years to life. Oh, now that he's already in prison, we have found video footage of him committing the murder? That's it: New sentence, strap him to the gurney and give him the death penalty!"

No, it doesn't work that way. And it shouldn't work that way here, either.

But then, if Rice hired a lawyer to sue the NFL for unfair suspension based on that argument, it would cause a backlash that would make his current public-relations nightmare seem like small potatoes. Right now, all anyone wants him to do is shut up and be good to people, especially his wife.

Kobe Bryant is still allowed to play basketball. We've never actually seen what he did to get indicted in Colorado in the Summer of 2003 -- though he did plead out, and avoided jail time.

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Ray Rice wasn't released by the Ravens because he committed a crime. We already knew that he committed a crime. He was released because he embarrassed his team.

He wasn't suspended indefinitely by the NFL because he committed a crime. He wasn't even suspended indefinitely because the video, which we have now seen, made him look worse. He was suspended indefinitely because the video, which we have now seen, made the NFL look stupid for not getting it right the first time.

You can do whatever you want in the National Football League, as long as you aren't seen embarrassing your team, or causing the League to look bad.

If you doubt this, wait until January 2016, when Terrell Owens becomes eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and see if he is elected in that first year of eligibility. And his only "crime" was throwing his quarterbacks (that's plural) overboard. ("Throw him overboard," kids, is what we used to say, before you came up with "Throw him under the bus." I can't stand that expression.) In so doing, he embarrassed multiple organizations.

Or, to put it another way: If there was footage of Ray Lewis doing what he did to get into the legal system in 2000, he wouldn't have that new statue outside the Ravens' stadium. And it will be interesting to see if he is elected when he becomes eligible in January 2018.

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As is so often the case, and in cases with profiles far lower than this one, some men are actually coming out to blame the victim. Saying things like, If you don't want the man to beat you, don't provoke him; or that she must have done something to deserve it.

Nothing she could have done deserved this. Period.

Anyone who doesn't get that is more of a monster than Ray Rice was in those 30 seconds.

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Rice is the most notorious domestic-violence case in NFL history thus far. The previously most notorious is as follows:

Ben Roethlisberger has quarterbacked the Pittsburgh Steelers into 3 Super Bowls, winning 2. In terms of statistics and achievements, he's a good candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In 2009, he was investigated for an incident that happened the year before, at Harrah's Casino resort in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. A woman alleged that he had raped her. The police couldn't find enough evidence to back this up. So she filed a lawsuit. A co-worker demolished her claim, saying that she pursued him, and the case was dismissed.

And had that been the last such story involving Big Ben, it could have been swept under the rug.

It wasn't. In 2010, he was accused of raping a Georgia State University student in the bathroom of a nightclub in Milledgeville, Georgia. Yet again, the evidence was flimsy, and no charges were filed. There was no civil suit, either.

Since the first incident, the NFL had established a "personal conduct policy." Under this policy, Goodell suspended Roethlisberger for the first 6 games of the 2010 season. He later reduced it to 4 games.

That time, did he "get it right the first time"?

It's hard to say. We don't know all the facts of the case. Big Ben could have been guilty as sin, or the victim of an attempted railroad. After all, he is rich and famous, and thus an easy target. But it's not unscrupulous businessmen -- or "businessmen" -- who have "targeted" him, it's women. Not just one, but two. One time, it could be written off as one woman being nuts, or (to give her the benefit of the doubt) unsure of what had happened, or perceiving what happened incorrectly.

But it's two times. That's not a coincidence: That's a pattern. Even if Big Ben didn't actually commit a crime either time, he put himself in a second such situation, after he knew what could have happened the first time.

Since then, 4 years, there has been no new incident with him. He has since gotten married and had a child. He seems to have settled down and lived a stable, nonviolent life.

But what if video emerges of either incident? Is the fact that there isn't such a video in the public record what's protecting him now?

Or is it a second Super Bowl ring? (Rice has one.)

Or is it the fact that Big Ben plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers, a "family team," while Rice plays for the Baltimore Ravens, who already had a "thug" reputation thanks to the Ray Lewis incident years earlier?

Or... is it that Big Ben is white, and Rice isn't?

We may never know for sure.

*

Finally, one thing I am sure of it that many people think that some good will come from this story; that the NFL, and perhaps America as a whole, will finally get serious about domestic abuse, about mistreatment of wives and girlfriends.

Maybe that will happen.

But there is nothing good about the Ray Rice story. It is sordid through and through.

And I say that as someone who liked admired Rice, and cheered him on, both live at Rutgers Stadium and in front of my TV set.

Now... when he plays again (and if Michael Vick has, surely Rice will, eventually), who can cheer him?

His wife? If she does, can the rest of us get off our high horses and give him the benefit of the doubt? Should we?

I don't know. Surely, there are NFL players, past and present, who have done worse things. Some, like Rae Carruth, have gone to prison for murder. Aaron Hernandez has also been arrested for murder. Then there's O.J. Simpson, who is in prison, but not for the murders most people now believe he committed.

It had become harder and harder for me to watch the NFL these last few years.

This is America's favorite sport. And it is in multiple crises: Domestic abuse, concussions, other crippling injuries, steroids, teams holding cities hostage -- "Build us a new stadium, or we're moving to another city."

Just yesterday, a new scandal: A woman is suing Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, one of the League's marquee teams, for sexual assault, an incident she says took place in 2009.

Now it's one of the NFL's team owners. One of its most powerful owners. The finger is now pointed at one of them. How will the owners react? Will they turn on him, as the NBA's owners did with the racists who owned the Los Angeles Clippers and the Atlanta Hawks? Or will they circle the wagons and stand by Jerry?

This is America's favorite sport.

What does that say about us?

Comedian George Carlin used his "Baseball and Football" bit to examine what those 2 sports say about America at large. Some of the lines from that bit are worth mentioning here:

Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life. Football begins in the fall, when everything is dying!

In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there's kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there's not too much unpleasantness. In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that, at least 27 times, you are perfectly capable of taking the life of a fellow human being. Preferably, a stranger!

And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line!

In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! I hope I'll be safe at home! Safe at home! I'm going home!

Is anyone connected with football safe? At the stadium, elsewhere in public, or at home?

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UPDATE: On November 28, 2014, Ray Rice won an appeal to be reinstated to the NFL. On January 15, 2015, he and the Ravens reached a settlement for about $3.5 million in back pay that he would have received had the NFL handled his suspension properly and he had been allowed to play for most of the 2014 season, as he would have been allowed to do under the original penalty.

The criminal charges against him were dropped, on the condition that he undergo court-supervised counseling. In 2016, he announced that if he were signed by an NFL team, he would donate his entire salary to charities dealing with domestic violence. Nevertheless, through the 2018 season, Rice has never played professional football again, in any league.

On December 18 of that year, in the wake of the domestic violence charge against Kareem Hunt, formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs, Rice sat for an interview for CBS This Morning, he said, "I don't have to retire to tell you I'm done with football." Janay, still married to him (they have 2 children), was by his side, and says that he has never hurt her again.

Ray says he feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders by not being in the NFL spotlight. He's become a -- well, "motivational speaker" isn't really the right term. But he's kept his word about working with domestic violence charities, and has spoken before the NFL Players Association rookie program, and several college football teams, including such big names as Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame. He wants to prevent young men from becoming what he became that night in Atlantic City.

Ben Roethlisberger is not known to have added to his list of alleged misdeeds.

The assault suit against Jerry Jones was dismissed the following month. While Jones remains a figure of controversy, this remains the only allegation of private misdeeds against him.

Aaron Hernandez was convicted of murder in 2015, and hanged himself in prison in 2017.

And O.J. Simpson was released from prison in 2017.