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The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
Steve Bisciotti is a smart and extremely successful businessman with a franchise worth a billion dollars. The Rice thing blows up with a hot button issue (domestic violence) and the first videotape which makes people cringe when they watch it. The incident happens in a casino elevator in which there is certainly a video camera with more video.
They speak to Rice who gives them some BS song and dance essentially, "Yeah, I knocked her out but she started it and I overreacted"
Obvious questions:
1. Why believe Rice's version at all?
2. Even if you believe him, why not view the video his lawyer has before supporting him?
3. If denied access to video by Rice or lawyer, why not be suspicious enough to slow play everything until the video comes out down the road?
There was so much to lose and so little to gain by believing Rice's word from the beginning with nothing to corroborate it other than the victim who may have been afraid or had other motives to play along with the BS verson. There's a lot of brainpower and experience in the room with Bisciotti, Ozzie, Cass and Harbs. What the hell happened?Last edited by Mark; 09-09-2014 at 10:05 AM.
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Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
I don't see why they wouldn't believe Rice's version, whatever it was he told them. Why wouldn't they? What had Rice done prior to the incident that would make them think he wasn't being honest with them? There are a lot of things the NFL and the Ravens did wrong here but it's hard to fault them for believing whatever Rice told them, given his past history of being squeaky clean off the field.
back on twitter
"Well that was an appropriate last ride for Pees. A Bengals WR streaking in for a game winning touchdown in the closing minutes is the man’s preferred medium to express his art." - GreenWave52
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09-09-2014, 09:08 AM #3Regular 1st Stringer
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- Jan 2012
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- Baltimore, MD
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Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
I agree. This was a vote of confidence in Ray's truthfulness but in the end, they got screwed over by the real truth. Of course, Ray would spin it and Janay would back him up because they didn't want to lose their gravy train. Rice HAD to know at some point this video was going to surface. He should have just been upfront from the beginning and took his lumps. It still wouldn't have looked good but his honesty would have been respected.
“When I think of a Baltimore Raven — and I’m a Baltimore Raven – what I think of is we go in there, we take your lunch box, we take your sandwich, we take your juice box, we take your applesauce, and we take your spork and we break it. And we leave you with an empty lunch. “That’s the Baltimore Raven way, that’s the bully way, and that’s football.” - Steve Smith Sr.
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Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
It's rather astounding how much they have dropped the ball on this. They have an opportunity to repair some of it last night after cutting Rice and they trot John Harbaugh out there by himself in front of the largest media contingent they've had since the Super Bowl. Where is Steve Bisciotti, Dick Cass, Ozzie Newsome and Kevin Byrne? I feel like they let John Harbaugh stand in front of the firing squad by himself. It's like they were totally unprepared for any of this. They had to know that 2nd video would surface at some point. Very disappointing for an organization that has done almost no wrong since coming here in 1996.
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09-09-2014, 09:10 AM #5
Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
You've got to remember the history of the league on domestic violence cases. If you take the video out of the situation, they handled it in the same way every other team has handled every other domestic violence case in the history of the NFL. Let the process play out, let the league handle the penalty, stand by your player while condemning his actions, and help him resume his career when the time is right. The ONLY difference in this case is the video.
"Chin up, chest out."
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Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
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09-09-2014, 09:32 AM #7
Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
It's really easy to sit around and throw stones after the fact, after the video that someone was sandbagging gets dropped into the public eye. Hindsight and all that. They were in a very tough situation. Shit happens and you do the best that you can.
Never get in a fight with a pig; you both get muddy, and the pig likes it...
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09-09-2014, 09:35 AM #8
Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
I think it is VERY telling that Harbaugh was ALONE at the presser. He looked very annoyed and quite frankly his stick is running thin with me. I Think he's going to be canned at the end of the season
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09-09-2014, 09:36 AM #9On The Practice Squad
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Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
Exactly. Not only Ray and Janay, but NJ's DA thought it only warranted a class/program. Slow rolling it would have been as bad or worse since everyone months ago was wondering why it was taking so long for Goodell to announce the punishment. I can't imagine everyone being patient while Goodell claimed to be waiting for the full video.
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Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
Everybody is a hindsight expert. Exhibit a: Keith "Blowhard" Olberman.
Right now the Raven hating cockroaches are having a field day. No matter what move the Ravens did or didn't make, they were going to be skewered.
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09-09-2014, 09:47 AM #11Regular 1st Stringer
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Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
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09-09-2014, 09:48 AM #12
Re: The PR Disaster: What were they thinking?
Could the NFL have handled it better? Probably. But up to this point what they did was consistent with how it was dealt with in the past.
Did the Ravens handle it poorly? I don't think so. Rice got the benefit of the doubt prior to the release of the video.
The only guilty person in all of this is Ray Rice, and his suspension and being cut is his punishment. What do people want?
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