I actually think Ben got hit harder because he had a track record of being a total pig, for a long time, and even after his suit in CO (even if it was BS), he clearly wasn't flying any more straight. The "investigation" found that Ben had a very lurid track record. He was known of being very piggish, and skipping on bar tabs and the Rooneys were embarrassed and felt sullied by Ben's act. The severity of his punishment may have even been sought by the team. They were red-hot angry over Ben acting in such a horrid manner.
Other than this particular case, I don't believe I've ever pulled the race card on this forum or the trib. My opinion is not some knee-jerk response, nor is it the product of some warped anti-whitey agenda I believe exists.
To me the thinking behind Goodell's decision-making is pretty plain to see. How else can you explain the punishment dished out to Roethlisberger...especially in light of every other instance of player discipline he has handed down.
Roethlisberger's case remains the lone example of a player being disciplined with no arrest or charges. He had no prior history of legal trouble or allegations of inappropriate behavior (aside from perhaps being boorish). Yet he was suspended 3 times longer than Ray Rice. I would be interested in your thoughts on any other possible reasons.
The only white quarterbacks ever suspended by the NFL other than Ben have been Art Schlichter (1 year in 1983 and lifetime in 1986 for gambling) and Frank Filchock (lifetime for fixing the 1946 NFL Championship game). As a matter of fact, until Roethlisberger, no white player at any position was suspended by the NFL since Schlichter. In that time period between the two QBs, there were 14 other player suspensions...all involving black players. Goodell was responsible for 12 of those 14 suspensions and there was a wide-spread belief that he and the league were targeting black players because of those skewed numbers.
If you don't think that Goodell looked at Roethlisberger as a prime opportunity to show everyone that he could come down hard on a white player...especially a star quarterback, then I would question the amount of thought you have dedicated to the question.
My opinion is 100% speculation, but it none-the-less remains the most plausible explanation for such a ridiculous discrepancy...easily. To say this explanation makes no sense is equally ridiculous. Again, I am interested to hear your thoughts on how Roethlisberger got the hammer and Rice got the pillow.
Actually, Rice's fiance got the hammer in Atlantic City, and Ben's concierge got the pillow in Lake Tahoe.I am interested to hear your thoughts on how Roethlisberger got the hammer and Rice got the pillow.
Steeler teams featuring stat-driven, me-first, fantasy-football-darling diva types such as Antonio Brown & Le'Veon Bell won no championships.
Super Bowl winning Steeler teams were built around a dynamic, in-your-face defense plus blue-collar, hard-hitting, no-nonsense football players on offense such as Hines Ward & Jerome Bettis.
We don't want Juju & Conner to replace what we lost in Brown & Bell.
We are counting on Juju & Conner to return us to the glory we once had with Hines & The Bus.
I imagine Rice thought he was going to get four games. After getting only two games.he's probably mad,now knowing he could have beat her up again.
If Ray Rice was white and had a Polish or Italian last name, he surely would have received a 4 game suspension.
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