Olbermann on the NFL – FIRE EVERYONE
Man, I miss Keith Olbermann. I know I say this often but it’s moments like this, that one really remembers the old days of MSNBC. Keith would go on a uninterrupted 5 minute rant on something that Bush or Cheney did and it would be glorious. We’d all talk about it on MySpace or on ‘the facebook,’ and then there’d be the inevitable online and print backlash from ‘respectable’ journalists who didn’t like his firebrand ways. Well most of those journalists are out of a job now or working for some think tank figuring out a way to drag us into a way with Russia.
Well, Keith’s on sports now, something that I usually don’t tune in for. But occasionally there’s crossover from politics and football that catches my eye – and this time it was a doozy. Keith jumped on the newly released video of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice hitting his wife in an elevator. Before this new release it was considered a ‘mutual’ fight between 5 ft 8 in, 218 lb Rice running back and his wife. The Ravens went so far as blaming the fight on his wife for the beating she received, tweeting this:
The tweet has since been deleted. The Raven’s glowing defense of Ray Rice, though, is still up for all to see: “Don’t we all have days or moments or periods in our life we regret? Ray showed great character for the six years I’ve known him. He has shown remorse after a bad incident. It was out of character. I don’t think now is the time to abandon him. You say we are a Ravens’ family. I’ve come to believe that.”
Rice originally received a 2 game suspension – meanwhile according to Mother Jones, “Brandon Browner, New England Patriots [was] suspended for all of 2013 and for four games in 2014 for testing positive for marijuana, and was threatened with a lifetime ban.” With the video now released to the public, thanks to TMZ, the Ravens were forced to release him. He is still not banned from the NFL.
This is where I’ll let Olbermann pick up.
There’s a lot of victim-blaming going on, now that Janay has come out publicly supporting her husband. If you’re confused, read this:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/09/09/3564896/janay-rice-cycle-abuse/?
Right on cue Fake Noise jumped on the blame the victim bandwagon. Not going to post the video because everyone has seen this bit play out numerous times. U of Oklahoma has a similar predicament. A prized recruit is seen on video smashing a small woman’s face,breaking 5 of her facial bones. He has been suspended for a year. The school and others have seen the video which won’t be released to the public until November for some inexplicable reason.Olbermann is right that heads should roll and I really miss his tirades. One has to wonder what is wrong when higher ups in the Catholic Church claim they did not realize that sexual assaults on young boys was ever a crime. Are we,as a nation,really that “dumbed down”?
I detest American football. I make no apologies for this, I find it brutal and disgusting. Seeing Oliver Stone’s football film Friday Night Lights affirmed my hatred of the ‘sport.’ I’m not big on team sports in general, but I’d rather watch the games of ancient Rome if I want to see bloodshed.
I love Keith Olbermann, and miss him on MSNBC (online, that is, I don’t have cable TV). Fire everyone. Give Keith Olbermann his old job back, if he’ll take it.