On ESPN's Monday Night Countdown show yesterday, Suzy Kolber suggested to Ray Lewis that people would try to draw comparisons between the Ravens cutting Ray Rice, but standing behind Lewis during his trial 14 years ago. For anybody who doesn't remember, a pair of murder charges against Lewis were eventually dropped in exchange for him pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and testifying against two people who were with him on the night of a double homicide in Atlanta in January of 2000 (here's a link to a detailed description of the events).
Lewis responded to Kolber's question by saying "There's no comparison...It's night and day of anything we've ever been through...both situations are totally different." I assume a large portion of people watching thought it was a ridiculous response from Lewis. I'd expect a significant number of fans (including myself) think Lewis actually is guilty of murder.
Ray Lewis knows he owes his whole career to the absence of a security camera outside the Cobalt Lounge in January of 2000
— Jerry Thornton (@jerrythornton1) September 8, 2014
However, I do in fact agree with Lewis' remarks about the situations he and Rice have each been through being "night and day"--in 2000 Lewis didn't have to worry about the impact of social media.
When the video of Rice striking his fiancee got out early Monday morning (and I'm not even going to bother discussing the internet's role in that), the outraged responses on Twitter and Facebook were everywhere.
Am I the only one who believes it should be a lifetime ban for the first time a player commits domestic violence? They should be done period
— Brady Quinn (@3rd_Goal) September 8, 2014
Ravens have to waive Rice today or they are cowards. New video is appalling. I'd like to see someone in the NFL do the right thing for once.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 8, 2014
There's no doubt that seeing these reactions from the public played a huge role in Baltimore's decision to let Rice go. For anyone qestioning the impact of Twitter, the Ravens even chose to use it as the platform to announce Rice's release.
The #Ravens have terminated RB Ray Rice's contract this afternoon.
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 8, 2014
Last summer when word began to break of the impending charges against Aaron Hernandez, the Patriots immediately cut him to minimize their publicity nightmare as much as possible.
Now imagine the Lewis murder trial from the summer of 2000 happening today. The constant backlash on the internet in response to the Ravens' support of Lewis would be overwhelming. It seems next to impossible that he could manage to stay on the team; even the resulting obstruction of justice verdict would likely be enough to get him cut on it's own.
Just last week Baltimore unveiled a statue of Lewis outside of M&T Bank Stadium, and team owner Steve Bisciotti called him "the greatest linebacker of all time." Luckily for Lewis he played in an era where people didn't spend half their day looking at their smart phones. That's the only reason you can't compare Rice's situation to his.
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