NEW YORK, NY Jan. 9 (DPI) – Reader comments boards were awash yesterday with sarcasm and skepticism over a former FBI director’s report that largely exonerated the NFL in its handling of the Ray Rice domestic-violence case.
Readers of The Washington Post and The New York Times sites offered zero defense or support of Robert S. Mueller III’s four-month investigation of the league. Mueller concluded there was no evidence that anyone in the 500-employee NFL – including Commissioner Roger Goodell — saw the damning videotape that’s been central to the Rice case. Most readers were simply contemptuous of what they saw as a whitewash.
Rice, then on the roster of the Baltimore Ravens, last summer punched his then-fiancee (and now wife) on an elevator of an Atlantic City casino. The latter part of the incident – Rice dragging his unconscious fiancee off the elevator – was captured by a video camera, and the video has been the focus of a roaring controversy this fall over when and who at the NFL saw the tape. The league initially meted out a small two-game suspension, but after a public backlash Rice was suspended for the season and released from the Ravens.
Much of the controversy seems to stem from growing public resentment of not simply player conduct but unrelated issues, many of them offshoots of the league’s huge growth and influence in recent years. Many readers scoffed at the notion that Mueller – now employed by a Washington law firm with links to the league – was an impartial arbitrator in the Rice case. Mueller’s report concluded that the league could have done more to investigate the Rice case, its conclusions were hardly the basis for any indictment against the league.
The Times seemed to anticipate a reader backlash after Mueller’s report was released. As reporter Ken Belson wrote, “Like so much involving the Rice case, even the choice of Mr. Mueller created controversy. A former F.B.I. chief for 12 years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Mr. Mueller now works at a Washington law firm that has done work for the league.”
The most recommended reader comments reflected that backlash:
So the NFL investigated itself using two owners of NFL teams and a former FBI director, who has ties to the league through his Washington law firm…very independent investigation!!! Bravo!
So the investigator who is pals with an NFL owner and was just paid millions by the NFL found that the head of the NFL didn’t do anything wrong. Absolutely shocking!
Nothing like politics to solve a crime.
And one comment, with no recommendations:
The NFL has been doling out random disciplinary suspensions for years. Then, with the concussion lawsuit, the league became a pariah. Suddenly, millions who had no interest in the sport wanted it abolished and started looking around for things to complain about. The Rice case, just another random disciplinary matter, became a cause celebre. Most football fans could care less. But the anti-football crowd has the momentum and they seized it.