WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.580 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are tackling 00:00:02.580 --> 00:00:05.960 a story that is, well, it's a massive collision 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:08.419 point in the history of modern sports. It really 00:00:08.419 --> 00:00:10.599 is. It's a narrative that forces you to hold 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:13.240 two completely contradictory ideas in your head 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:15.320 at the exact same time. We are talking about 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:18.179 Ray Rice. And, you know, depending on who you 00:00:18.179 --> 00:00:20.359 are, maybe just depending on how old you are, 00:00:20.460 --> 00:00:25.149 that name... triggers one of two very very different 00:00:25.149 --> 00:00:27.370 images oh absolutely for one work he's the ultimate 00:00:27.370 --> 00:00:30.750 underdog hero yeah the kid who basically single 00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:33.509 -handedly saved rutgers football the fantasy 00:00:33.509 --> 00:00:35.729 football god and of course the guy who converted 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:38.539 a fourth and 29 that physically shouldn't have 00:00:38.539 --> 00:00:40.140 been possible. And then for the other group, 00:00:40.179 --> 00:00:42.200 and this is probably the broader cultural memory 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:44.840 now, he is the man in the elevator. He is the 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:47.259 face of a domestic violence incident in 2014 00:00:47.259 --> 00:00:49.939 that didn't just end a career. I mean, it fundamentally 00:00:49.939 --> 00:00:52.539 rewrote the NFL's rulebook and completely changed 00:00:52.539 --> 00:00:55.979 how we as a society talk about athletes and violence. 00:00:56.539 --> 00:00:58.640 Exactly. And that's our mission for this Deep 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:00.579 Dives. We want to bridge those two images. We 00:01:00.579 --> 00:01:02.560 aren't here to just, you know, read off this 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:04.849 Wikipedia page. We really want to understand 00:01:04.849 --> 00:01:07.310 the arc. The full projector. The full trajectory. 00:01:07.370 --> 00:01:10.930 How do you go from being one of the most beloved, 00:01:11.170 --> 00:01:14.069 productive, charitable players in the entire 00:01:14.069 --> 00:01:16.349 league? I mean, a guy who literally transformed 00:01:16.349 --> 00:01:19.930 a university program to becoming a pariah whose 00:01:19.930 --> 00:01:24.469 career just vanishes overnight at age 27. It's 00:01:24.469 --> 00:01:26.670 an extreme path. You know, usually when a star 00:01:26.670 --> 00:01:29.569 falls, it's a slow decline. It's injuries. It's 00:01:29.569 --> 00:01:33.230 age, diminishing returns. This was a cliff. Sheer 00:01:33.230 --> 00:01:35.730 cliff. One day you are a franchise icon. The 00:01:35.730 --> 00:01:38.390 next day they are recalling your jersey from 00:01:38.390 --> 00:01:41.090 the pro shop. It's just gone. And we've got a 00:01:41.090 --> 00:01:43.769 massive stack of sources today. Biographical 00:01:43.769 --> 00:01:46.329 deep dives, game tape analysis, court records 00:01:46.329 --> 00:01:49.129 from 2014, and a lot of reports on his life after 00:01:49.129 --> 00:01:51.569 football. So let's map this out for you. We're 00:01:51.569 --> 00:01:53.670 going to start at the very beginning, the tragedy 00:01:53.670 --> 00:01:55.650 in New Rochelle that really fueled his drive. 00:01:55.810 --> 00:01:57.730 Then we have to spend some real time on the Rutgers 00:01:57.730 --> 00:01:59.989 years. Oh, we have to. I just don't think people 00:01:59.989 --> 00:02:02.650 fully appreciate how bad that program was before 00:02:02.650 --> 00:02:04.870 he showed up. You can't. You can't understand 00:02:04.870 --> 00:02:07.329 the hero worship that came later without understanding 00:02:07.329 --> 00:02:09.909 the, I mean, the miracle he pulled off in college. 00:02:10.210 --> 00:02:12.689 Then we'll get into the NFL, the technical side 00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:15.389 of it, his leverage, his insane versatility, 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:17.210 and, of course, the hey -diddle -diddle play. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:21.580 then we have to go deep into the 2014 incident. 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:24.979 The video, the league's mishandling of it, the 00:02:24.979 --> 00:02:27.840 legal fallout, all of it. All of it. And finally, 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.280 we'll look at the aftermath, the redemption tour, 00:02:30.379 --> 00:02:32.639 the silence from the league, and what his legacy 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:34.639 actually looks like today. It's a heavy one for 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:37.360 sure, but it's a necessary deep dive if you want 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:39.939 to understand the modern NFL. All right, let's 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:43.240 get into it. Section one. origins. So Ray Rice 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:46.599 was born in New Rochelle, New York in 1987. And 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:48.719 when you start digging into the sources on his 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:51.460 childhood, it isn't just a story of, you know, 00:02:51.460 --> 00:02:55.460 hardship. It's profound, profound loss. It really 00:02:55.460 --> 00:02:57.939 is. You often hear that cliche, right? The athlete 00:02:57.939 --> 00:03:00.460 using sports to escape their circumstances. But 00:03:00.460 --> 00:03:02.680 for Rice, the trauma was incredibly specific 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:05.599 and it happened so early. How early were we talking? 00:03:05.740 --> 00:03:08.770 His father, Calvin Reed. was killed in a drive 00:03:08.770 --> 00:03:11.650 -by shooting when ray was just one year old wow 00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:15.870 one year old so he has no memory of him no organic 00:03:15.870 --> 00:03:18.789 memory whatsoever he's growing up with this this 00:03:18.789 --> 00:03:21.030 void where a father figure is supposed to be 00:03:21.030 --> 00:03:23.830 right from the very start a phantom limb basically 00:03:23.830 --> 00:03:26.129 yeah navigating the world with something missing 00:03:26.129 --> 00:03:29.129 that he never even had precisely and tragically 00:03:29.129 --> 00:03:31.830 that wasn't the only major loss When Ray was 00:03:31.830 --> 00:03:34.909 10, which is such a formative age, you know, 00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:36.789 you're right on the cusp of becoming a teenager. 00:03:37.509 --> 00:03:40.229 His cousin, my Sean Rice Nichols, was killed 00:03:40.229 --> 00:03:44.010 by a drunk driver. So you have two violent. Completely 00:03:44.010 --> 00:03:46.830 senseless deaths, taking away these male role 00:03:46.830 --> 00:03:49.569 models before he's even hit puberty. I mean, 00:03:49.590 --> 00:03:52.389 how does a kid even begin to process that? Well, 00:03:52.449 --> 00:03:54.469 from all the biographical accounts, he processed 00:03:54.469 --> 00:03:57.150 it by funneling absolutely everything into competition, 00:03:57.330 --> 00:03:59.710 into sports. The football field. The football 00:03:59.710 --> 00:04:02.009 field became the one place where the world actually 00:04:02.009 --> 00:04:04.270 made sense. It's controlled chaos, right? You 00:04:04.270 --> 00:04:05.789 can't control a stray bullet, you can't control 00:04:05.789 --> 00:04:07.530 a drunk driver, but you can control whether or 00:04:07.530 --> 00:04:09.530 not that linebacker is going to take you down. 00:04:09.750 --> 00:04:13.139 And he took that control with him. to New Rochelle 00:04:13.139 --> 00:04:15.639 High School. He played for a coach named Lou 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:19.060 DiRienzo. Now, I was looking at these high school 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:20.899 stats you pulled, and I honestly had to read 00:04:20.899 --> 00:04:22.860 them twice. They look like video game numbers. 00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:25.360 They're almost comical. They really are. He was 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:26.920 the running back for the Huguenots, which, by 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:28.720 the way, is a fantastic team name. Great name. 00:04:29.339 --> 00:04:32.220 Let's zoom in on one specific day, October 24, 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:35.839 2004. This is his senior year. Just paint the 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:37.600 picture for us. What happened? Okay, so this 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:41.319 was a game that has become like... local folklore 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:44.480 in New Rochelle. Rice didn't just have a good 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:47.040 game. He didn't just have a great game. He carried 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:49.720 the football 42 times. Wait, hold on. Pause there. 00:04:50.100 --> 00:04:54.139 42 carries in a single high school game. 42. 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:57.480 That sounds, I mean, that's almost negligent, 00:04:57.480 --> 00:04:59.279 isn't it? That is an insane amount of physical 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:01.980 punishment for a 17 -year -old kid. It's an immense 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:04.379 workload. I mean, in the modern NFL, a workhorse 00:05:04.379 --> 00:05:07.259 back might get 20, maybe 25 carries on a heavy 00:05:07.259 --> 00:05:10.120 day. 42 is just attrition warfare. What does 00:05:10.120 --> 00:05:11.839 that tell you, though? It tells you two things. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:15.800 One, his coach's absolute total reliance on him. 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:19.540 He was the offense. And two, Rice's just freakish 00:05:19.540 --> 00:05:22.279 durability. He wasn't a big guy, but he was built 00:05:22.279 --> 00:05:25.649 like a little fire hydrant. A tank. Okay, so 00:05:25.649 --> 00:05:27.750 what did he do with those 42 carries? He gained 00:05:27.750 --> 00:05:33.250 462 yards. Four. 462 yards. On the ground. In 00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:35.589 one game. That's a season for some high school 00:05:35.589 --> 00:05:37.370 players. I mean, that's half a season for a good 00:05:37.370 --> 00:05:39.949 college player. Exactly. He averaged over 10 00:05:39.949 --> 00:05:43.290 yards every single time he touched the ball. 00:05:43.509 --> 00:05:46.509 And that's over a huge sample size of 42 touches. 00:05:46.750 --> 00:05:49.790 That is statistically absurd. It means that every 00:05:49.790 --> 00:05:51.689 time the quarterback handed him the ball, on 00:05:51.689 --> 00:05:53.730 average, the team was guaranteed a first down. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:55.759 You don't just beat the other team with that. 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:57.860 You completely demoralize them. And this wasn't 00:05:57.860 --> 00:06:00.540 just a flute game in a mediocre season. The year 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:04.000 before, as a junior in 2003, he led them to a 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:06.500 state title. Right. They beat Webster Schroeder, 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:09.160 I think it was, 32 -6 at the Carrier Dome. He 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:12.040 was the engine, the absolute engine of that entire 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:14.079 program. And we should probably touch on the 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:15.459 Turkey Bowl, too, because if you're from that 00:06:15.459 --> 00:06:17.500 area of New York, you know about this. The huge 00:06:17.500 --> 00:06:20.220 Iona -New Rochelle rivalry. It's an institution. 00:06:20.339 --> 00:06:22.120 It had been played every single Thanksgiving 00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:25.500 since 1949. Rice played in the very last one 00:06:25.500 --> 00:06:28.480 back in his sophomore season in 2002. They won 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:32.160 53 -6. He was kind of part of the closing chapter 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:34.699 of that history. But his senior year, despite 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:38.060 that monster 462 -yard game, it actually ended 00:06:38.060 --> 00:06:40.139 on a bit of a sour note, didn't it? It did. In 00:06:40.139 --> 00:06:42.540 the state championship game in 2004, they lost 00:06:42.540 --> 00:06:45.899 a heartbreaker. It was a shootout, 41 -35, to 00:06:45.899 --> 00:06:48.139 a team called Christian Brothers Academy. And 00:06:48.139 --> 00:06:50.300 who was on that other team? Because that's a 00:06:50.300 --> 00:06:52.420 fascinating little piece of trivia. It is. The 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:54.379 star quarterback for Christian Brothers was a 00:06:54.379 --> 00:06:57.000 guy named Greg Paulus. No way. The Duke point 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:00.060 guard, Greg Paulus. The very same. Before he 00:07:00.060 --> 00:07:02.779 was throwing alley -oops to J .J. Redick at Duke, 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:05.339 or, you know, playing quarterback at Syracuse 00:07:05.339 --> 00:07:08.500 later on, he was the guy who beat Ray Rice in 00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:10.720 a high school football championship. It just 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:13.079 shows you the level of elite talent that was 00:07:13.079 --> 00:07:15.720 concentrated in that one high school game. So 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:18.779 Rice leaves New Rochelle a legend. He's got the 00:07:18.779 --> 00:07:20.939 tragic backstory that fuels his engine. He's 00:07:20.939 --> 00:07:23.420 got the state records. And now he has to pick 00:07:23.420 --> 00:07:25.759 a college. And this is where the story takes 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:28.439 a really interesting turn. Because he doesn't 00:07:28.439 --> 00:07:32.300 go to, you know, Ohio State or Michigan. He chooses 00:07:32.300 --> 00:07:34.829 Rutgers. Which, to a modern listener, you hear 00:07:34.829 --> 00:07:36.670 Rutgers, you think Big Ten, you think, OK, that's 00:07:36.670 --> 00:07:39.290 a normal power five choice. But we have to contextualize 00:07:39.290 --> 00:07:42.050 what Rutgers football was in the early 2000s. 00:07:42.069 --> 00:07:44.129 It is not a football factory. Not a factory. 00:07:44.170 --> 00:07:47.189 It's being incredibly polite. Rutgers was, and 00:07:47.189 --> 00:07:48.949 I'm not exaggerating here, it was essentially 00:07:48.949 --> 00:07:52.040 a graveyard for football ambition. Wow. They're 00:07:52.040 --> 00:07:54.040 technically the birthplace of college football. 00:07:54.180 --> 00:07:56.980 They played in the first ever game back in 1869. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:07:59.720 But by 2005, they had been completely irrelevant 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:02.540 for decades. They were the doormat of the Big 00:08:02.540 --> 00:08:04.639 East Conference. I have a note here that just 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:09.779 blows my mind. In the 136 year history of their 00:08:09.779 --> 00:08:12.759 football program up to that point, they had been 00:08:12.759 --> 00:08:16.259 to two bowl games. Total. Two. Two bowl games 00:08:16.259 --> 00:08:18.459 in a century and a half of football. That is 00:08:18.459 --> 00:08:21.720 the definition of historical futility. So when 00:08:21.720 --> 00:08:23.639 Greg Sciano, the head coach at the time, was 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:26.139 recruiting Ray Rice, he wasn't selling him on 00:08:26.139 --> 00:08:28.600 a trophy case. He was selling him on a construction 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.220 project. He was saying, come here and be the 00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:33.000 cornerstone, be the foundation of everything 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.100 we're trying to build. And Rice gets to campus 00:08:35.100 --> 00:08:38.539 in 2005 as a true freshman. So does he redshirt? 00:08:38.990 --> 00:08:40.669 Does he sit on the bench and learn the system? 00:08:40.830 --> 00:08:42.470 Not for a second. He starts immediately. And 00:08:42.470 --> 00:08:44.549 the impact was, it was seismic. It was immediate. 00:08:44.690 --> 00:08:46.850 In his freshman year, Rutgers had their first 00:08:46.850 --> 00:08:49.490 winning season in 13 years. They went to the 00:08:49.490 --> 00:08:51.970 Insight Bowl. Just his presence on the field 00:08:51.970 --> 00:08:54.269 completely flipped the script for them. He rushed 00:08:54.269 --> 00:08:57.250 for 1 ,120 yards as a true freshman. He had a 00:08:57.250 --> 00:09:00.730 217 -yard game against UConn. He proved instantly 00:09:00.730 --> 00:09:03.409 that his size, and he's only 5 '8", wasn't a 00:09:03.409 --> 00:09:07.100 liability. It was an asset. But 2006. That's 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:08.700 the year, isn't it? That's the year that everything 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:11.919 changed for Rutgers football. That is the pandemonium 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:14.820 and Piscataway season. This is when Rutgers became 00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:17.899 a national brand, a national story. The team 00:09:17.899 --> 00:09:20.720 won 11 games, which tied a school record. They 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:22.980 finished the season ranked number 12 in the entire 00:09:22.980 --> 00:09:25.679 country. For a team that used to celebrate getting 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:27.879 three wins in a season, finishing 12th in the 00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:32.529 nation is, it's unimaginable. Rice was the reason. 00:09:32.649 --> 00:09:36.610 He was the engine. He rushed for 1 ,794 yards. 00:09:36.769 --> 00:09:39.549 He shattered the school's single season rushing 00:09:39.549 --> 00:09:43.029 record, a record that had stood since 1973. He 00:09:43.029 --> 00:09:45.330 scored 20 touchdowns. He was just an absolute 00:09:45.330 --> 00:09:47.870 machine. I want to talk about the dynamic in 00:09:47.870 --> 00:09:49.909 that backfield, though, because it wasn't just 00:09:49.909 --> 00:09:51.990 a solo act. And I feel like this really speaks 00:09:51.990 --> 00:09:54.809 to that character narrative that was built around 00:09:54.809 --> 00:09:56.669 Rice at the time. Let's talk about Brian Leonard. 00:09:56.789 --> 00:09:59.190 This is a crucial part of the story. Brian Leonard 00:09:59.190 --> 00:10:01.840 was the fullback. But before Rice showed up, 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:05.000 Leonard was the guy. He was the star. He was 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:06.460 the one on the posters, the one leaping over 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:09.279 linebackers. He was so good, he could have easily 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:12.360 gone to the NFL after the 2005 season. He had 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:15.200 legitimate NFL talent, no question. He did. But 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:17.860 he chose to stay for his senior year in 2006. 00:10:18.570 --> 00:10:20.909 And he didn't stay to be the star. He stayed 00:10:20.909 --> 00:10:24.690 to block for Ray Rice. He voluntarily took a 00:10:24.690 --> 00:10:27.190 lesser role, carried the ball less, sacrificed 00:10:27.190 --> 00:10:30.490 his own stats, his own glory, to clear the way 00:10:30.490 --> 00:10:33.250 for this younger, smaller running back. That 00:10:33.250 --> 00:10:35.289 says a ton about Brian Leonard, obviously, but 00:10:35.289 --> 00:10:37.090 it also says something really powerful about 00:10:37.090 --> 00:10:39.470 Rice, doesn't it? Right. That a senior and established 00:10:39.470 --> 00:10:43.289 star was willing to basically become a battering 00:10:43.289 --> 00:10:46.169 ram for him. It implies that Rice was a teammate 00:10:46.169 --> 00:10:49.909 worth sacrificing for. It created this halo around 00:10:49.909 --> 00:10:52.610 him. Rice wasn't just a talented player. He was 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:54.669 seen as the humble leader of this brotherhood. 00:10:54.970 --> 00:10:58.190 That 2006 team felt special because of that chemistry. 00:10:58.529 --> 00:11:00.629 I mean, Rice finished seventh in Heisman voting 00:11:00.629 --> 00:11:02.250 that year, but he'd be the first one to tell 00:11:02.250 --> 00:11:04.039 you. that he owed half of those yards to Brian 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:05.899 Leonard's lead blocking. And he didn't slow down 00:11:05.899 --> 00:11:08.480 after that. 2007, his junior year, he kept it 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.759 going. If anything, he sped up. He was named 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:12.360 the Big East Offensive Player of the Week three 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:14.600 separate times, and in all three of those games, 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:18.139 he rushed for over 200 yards. 200 yards. Three 00:11:18.139 --> 00:11:21.759 times. 201 against North Carolina, 202 against 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:25.179 South Florida, and a career -high 225 against 00:11:25.179 --> 00:11:28.200 Pitt. He was just, he was unplayable at the college 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.830 level. And then comes the swan song. The final 00:11:31.830 --> 00:11:36.789 game. The International Bowl in 2008. January 00:11:36.789 --> 00:11:39.450 5, 2008. They played up in Toronto against Ball 00:11:39.450 --> 00:11:42.190 State. And this was basically his goodbye letter 00:11:42.190 --> 00:11:44.639 to college football. He went out and ran for 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.740 a school record 280 yards and four touchdowns. 00:11:47.740 --> 00:11:50.200 280 yards in his last game. It's like he was 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:51.779 trying to see if the scoreboard had a limit. 00:11:51.919 --> 00:11:54.519 He had a 90 -yard touchdown run in that game. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:56.399 It was the longest of his entire career. He essentially 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:57.899 just looked around at the collegiate level and 00:11:57.899 --> 00:12:00.360 said, OK, I've conquered this. There is nothing 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:02.299 left for me to do here. And he declared for the 00:12:02.299 --> 00:12:05.860 NFL draft right after. So he leaves Rutgers as 00:12:05.860 --> 00:12:08.379 a deity. I mean, he put the entire school on 00:12:08.379 --> 00:12:10.419 the football map. He has the production. He has 00:12:10.419 --> 00:12:13.039 the tape. But now he's heading to the NFL combine 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:15.519 and the scouts start taking out their measuring 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:17.519 tapes. And suddenly being five foot eight isn't 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:20.840 just a quirky detail. It's a problem. The NFL 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:23.259 is obsessed with prototypes. They are. They want 00:12:23.259 --> 00:12:26.639 the six foot one, 220 pound slasher with long 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:29.500 strides. Rice measured in at five foot eight. 00:12:30.299 --> 00:12:33.019 206 pounds. And despite everything he did in 00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:35.600 college, every record he broke, he slid out of 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:38.000 the first round. He fell all the way to the second 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:40.460 round, pick 55, where he was scooped up by the 00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:43.120 Baltimore Ravens. Which in hindsight was the 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:46.259 absolute steal of that draft. But we need to 00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:48.720 unpack why he was so successful at that size. 00:12:48.980 --> 00:12:51.580 Because the big critique from the scouts was 00:12:51.580 --> 00:12:53.840 that he was too small to see the holes to see 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.919 over his offensive line. Right. How can you see 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:57.379 where you're supposed to run when your linemen 00:12:57.379 --> 00:12:59.500 are all six foot five and basically blocking 00:12:59.500 --> 00:13:02.000 your view of the entire defense? And the irony 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:04.710 is that was his superpower. In football, we always 00:13:04.710 --> 00:13:07.169 talk about leverage. The low man wins. Well, 00:13:07.309 --> 00:13:10.190 when a linebacker who is 6 '3 tries to tackle 00:13:10.190 --> 00:13:13.210 a 5 '8 Ray Rice, that linebacker has to bend 00:13:13.210 --> 00:13:16.169 at the waist, drop his hips, and completely fold 00:13:16.169 --> 00:13:19.210 his body to get down to Rice's level. It's biomechanically 00:13:19.210 --> 00:13:21.669 awkward for the defender. Incredibly awkward. 00:13:21.789 --> 00:13:24.549 It takes a split second longer, and it compromises 00:13:24.549 --> 00:13:28.440 the linebacker's balance. Meanwhile... Rice is 00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:31.259 staying compact and powerful, and visually he 00:13:31.259 --> 00:13:34.000 would just disappear. He'd hide behind a massive 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.179 offensive tackle like Jonathan Ogden, and the 00:13:36.179 --> 00:13:38.940 defense would literally lose track of him. Then, 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:40.980 boom, he'd burst out of a gap at full speed. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:42.799 By the time a linebacker even saw him, it was 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:46.259 way too late. He weaponized his height. He turned 00:13:46.259 --> 00:13:48.580 a perceived negative. into a tactical advantage. 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:51.080 Exactly. And the Ravens figured this out very, 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:53.299 very quickly. He signed a four -year deal, and 00:13:53.299 --> 00:13:56.059 by his second season, 2009, he had already taken 00:13:56.059 --> 00:13:57.820 the starting job away from a very good running 00:13:57.820 --> 00:14:00.120 back in Willis McGaughy. And this brings us to 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:02.460 the core of what made him so dominant in the 00:14:02.460 --> 00:14:05.620 NFL, his versatility. If you just look at Ray 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:08.159 Rice as a runner, you are missing, like, half 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:10.200 the story. At least half. He was a dual threat 00:14:10.200 --> 00:14:12.299 back before that term was really, you know, in 00:14:12.299 --> 00:14:14.159 vogue for running backs. So let's look at 2011. 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:16.039 That was his statistical masterpiece, right? 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.600 Yeah. It was his peak. He rushed for 1 ,364 yards, 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:23.679 a great number, second best in the league. But, 00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:27.139 and this is the key, he also caught 76 passes 00:14:27.139 --> 00:14:31.240 for 704 more yards. 700 receiving yards. That's 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:33.100 a solid season for a starting wide receiver, 00:14:33.220 --> 00:14:35.299 let alone a running back. Exactly. You add it 00:14:35.299 --> 00:14:38.600 all up, and he led the entire NFL in yards from 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:41.970 scrimmage with 2 ,068. That means he was responsible 00:14:41.970 --> 00:14:44.970 for more forward progress, more total offense 00:14:44.970 --> 00:14:47.730 than any other single skill player in the league. 00:14:47.809 --> 00:14:49.610 He was the entire offense. You couldn't take 00:14:49.610 --> 00:14:51.370 him off the field on third down because he was 00:14:51.370 --> 00:14:53.690 your best short yardage receiver. And the Ravens 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:56.470 knew exactly what they had. In 2012, they paid 00:14:56.470 --> 00:15:00.210 him. Big contract. Five years, $35 million. He 00:15:00.210 --> 00:15:01.809 was a franchise cornerstone. He was the face 00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:03.470 of the offense. Joe Flacco was the quarterback, 00:15:03.629 --> 00:15:05.570 sure, but Ray Rice was the engine. He was the 00:15:05.570 --> 00:15:07.730 guy that made everything go. Let's talk highlights 00:15:07.730 --> 00:15:11.100 because stats are great. But legacy is built 00:15:11.100 --> 00:15:13.460 on moments, and Rice had some moments that are 00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:15.759 still played on highlight reels to this day. 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:18.879 The first one that really announced his arrival 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:21.159 on the big stage was in the playoffs, January 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:24.340 2010. It was the wildcard round, and they were 00:15:24.340 --> 00:15:26.919 playing the New England Patriots in Foxborough. 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:29.940 Which is a notoriously tough place to play, especially 00:15:29.940 --> 00:15:32.620 in the postseason. Very tough. And it was the 00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:34.980 very first offensive play of the game. First 00:15:34.980 --> 00:15:38.129 snap, Rice takes the handoff. Finds a little 00:15:38.129 --> 00:15:41.470 seam on the left side and he just goes 83 yards 00:15:41.470 --> 00:15:44.730 for a touchdown. Just silenced the entire stadium 00:15:44.730 --> 00:15:46.470 on the first play. You could hear a pin drop. 00:15:46.590 --> 00:15:49.289 It was the second longest run in NFL postseason 00:15:49.289 --> 00:15:51.669 history at that time. It completely set the tone 00:15:51.669 --> 00:15:53.649 for what ended up being a blowout victory for 00:15:53.649 --> 00:15:55.629 the Ravens. But that's not the play. The play 00:15:55.629 --> 00:15:57.629 that really defines him, the one that seems to 00:15:57.629 --> 00:16:00.269 defy the laws of physics, is Hey Diddle Diddle. 00:16:00.330 --> 00:16:03.629 Oh man, the Hey Diddle Diddle play. November 00:16:03.629 --> 00:16:07.649 25, 2012. Ravens versus the San Diego Chargers. 00:16:08.009 --> 00:16:10.929 I feel like every single Ravens fan remembers 00:16:10.929 --> 00:16:12.809 exactly where they were for this. You have to 00:16:12.809 --> 00:16:14.769 set the scene for us to really understand the 00:16:14.769 --> 00:16:17.730 impossibility of what happened. Okay. So the 00:16:17.730 --> 00:16:20.110 Ravens are losing by three points. There is under 00:16:20.110 --> 00:16:22.309 two minutes left on the clock. It is fourth down 00:16:22.309 --> 00:16:26.840 and 29 yards to go. Fourth and 29. That is, for 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:28.940 all intents and purposes, a death sentence in 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:31.299 football. The probability of converting that 00:16:31.299 --> 00:16:33.539 is, what, less than 1 %? It's basically zero. 00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:35.700 It's zero. Usually you just punt the ball away 00:16:35.700 --> 00:16:37.659 or you throw a Hail Mary deep down the field 00:16:37.659 --> 00:16:39.399 and you just pray for a pass interference penalty. 00:16:39.539 --> 00:16:42.679 That's your only real shot. So Joe Flacco drops 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:44.379 back to pass. He's under immediate pressure. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:47.700 He looks deep, but everyone is covered. So he 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:50.440 does the only thing he can do to avoid a sack. 00:16:50.899 --> 00:16:53.299 He dumps the ball off to Ray Rice on a little 00:16:53.299 --> 00:16:55.799 check down. pass can we just explain check down 00:16:55.799 --> 00:16:57.960 for a second because that's a key detail for 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:00.759 sure a check down is the safety valve it's the 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:03.639 last resort it's a short pass to a running back 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:05.980 who's you know near the line of scrimmage and 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:08.019 it's almost never designed to gain big yardage 00:17:08.019 --> 00:17:10.859 in a fourth and 29 situation throwing a check 00:17:10.859 --> 00:17:12.819 down is basically seen as giving up you throw 00:17:12.819 --> 00:17:15.119 it two yards he gets tackled immediately game 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:17.940 over so flacco throws his passive desperation 00:17:17.940 --> 00:17:21.140 to rice who catches the ball Where? He's still 00:17:21.140 --> 00:17:23.400 like 28 yards away from the first down marker. 00:17:23.539 --> 00:17:25.660 Even worse. He catches it basically right at 00:17:25.660 --> 00:17:28.299 the line of scrimmage. And he has three charges 00:17:28.299 --> 00:17:30.720 defenders immediately closing in on him. The 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:33.940 play is over. And then? The magic happens. He 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:36.160 takes the short pass, and he makes the first 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.779 guy miss with this incredible little juke. Then 00:17:38.779 --> 00:17:41.299 he cuts back across the entire field. He gets 00:17:41.299 --> 00:17:43.779 a phenomenal block from Anquan Bolden, who just 00:17:43.779 --> 00:17:46.720 sells out. Rice then splits two more defenders, 00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:49.559 dives forward, and the referees spot the ball. 00:17:50.190 --> 00:17:53.130 at exactly 29 yards. It's the kind of play that 00:17:53.130 --> 00:17:55.190 just makes you believe in destiny or something. 00:17:55.329 --> 00:17:57.069 They brought the chains out to measure it, and 00:17:57.069 --> 00:17:58.970 he got the first down by the absolute nose of 00:17:58.970 --> 00:18:01.109 the football. It kept the drive alive. They went 00:18:01.109 --> 00:18:02.930 on to kick a field goal to tie the game, and 00:18:02.930 --> 00:18:05.369 they won it in overtime. It was called the GMC 00:18:05.369 --> 00:18:07.609 Never Say Never Moment of the Week, but honestly, 00:18:07.769 --> 00:18:09.829 it was the play of the year. It just showcased 00:18:09.829 --> 00:18:11.890 everything about him, his vision, his incredible 00:18:11.890 --> 00:18:14.690 balance, his sheer refusal to go down. And of 00:18:14.690 --> 00:18:17.369 course, that 2012 season ended in the best way 00:18:17.369 --> 00:18:21.299 possible. Super Bowl XL7, the Ravens go all the 00:18:21.299 --> 00:18:23.839 way and defeat the San Francisco 49ers. Ray Rice 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:26.420 gets his ring. He had 20 carries in that game. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:28.779 He was a champion. So let's just freeze the frame 00:18:28.779 --> 00:18:32.420 right there. It is February 2013. Ray Rice is 00:18:32.420 --> 00:18:34.160 a Super Bowl champion. He's a three -time Pro 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:36.819 Bowler. He is absolutely beloved in the city 00:18:36.819 --> 00:18:40.259 of Baltimore. In fact, in 2012, he was literally 00:18:40.259 --> 00:18:43.259 voted the city's most charitable person for all 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:46.220 his work with anti -bullying campaigns and homeless 00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:49.309 aid. He is at the absolute apex of his career. 00:18:49.509 --> 00:18:51.930 He has the money. He has a championship ring. 00:18:52.049 --> 00:18:53.950 He has the stats. And he has this impeccable 00:18:53.950 --> 00:18:56.349 reputation as a good guy. And almost exactly 00:18:56.349 --> 00:18:59.609 one year later, that entire edifice just crumbles 00:18:59.609 --> 00:19:01.589 to dust. And that brings us to section four, 00:19:01.750 --> 00:19:03.910 the incident and the fall. The date is February 00:19:03.910 --> 00:19:07.650 15, 2014. The location. Yeah. Atlantic City, 00:19:07.789 --> 00:19:11.049 New Jersey. Specifically, the Revel Casino. Ray 00:19:11.049 --> 00:19:13.410 Rice and his then fiancee, Jenny Palmer, she 00:19:13.410 --> 00:19:15.269 is now his wife, were there for the weekend. 00:19:15.450 --> 00:19:17.450 And by all reports, there was heavy drinking 00:19:17.450 --> 00:19:19.309 involved throughout the night. They got into 00:19:19.309 --> 00:19:21.930 a very heated, very public argument at a table 00:19:21.930 --> 00:19:24.029 in the casino. And the argument continued as 00:19:24.029 --> 00:19:26.400 they moved towards an elevator. Right. And we 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:28.039 have to be really specific about the details 00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:30.099 here because the timeline of how the information 00:19:30.099 --> 00:19:32.779 was released is absolutely critical to understanding 00:19:32.779 --> 00:19:34.880 the public reaction and the league's reaction. 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:38.380 OK. Inside that elevator, things escalated dramatically. 00:19:38.740 --> 00:19:40.519 They were shouting obscenities at each other. 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:43.119 Reports later stated that Palmer appeared to 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:45.740 spit in Rice's face and Rice responded with an 00:19:45.740 --> 00:19:48.480 act of extreme violence. Now, initially, the 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:50.680 public did not know exactly what happened inside 00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:53.200 that elevator. The doors closed and that was 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:56.980 it. Correct. Four days later, on February 19th, 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:00.079 the gossip site TMZ released a video. But this 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.579 was the hallway video. This was the first piece 00:20:02.579 --> 00:20:04.759 of evidence. It showed the elevator doors opening 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:07.980 and Ray Rice dragging an unconscious Janae Palmer 00:20:07.980 --> 00:20:10.259 out of the elevator and into the hallway. I remember 00:20:10.259 --> 00:20:12.859 seeing that video and it was deeply disturbing 00:20:12.859 --> 00:20:15.119 just on its own. Seeing a man drag an unconscious 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:17.019 woman across the floor like she was a piece of 00:20:17.019 --> 00:20:20.200 luggage. It raised immediate massive alarms. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:23.640 It did. Rice was arrested and eventually indicted 00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:26.220 by a grand jury for third degree aggravated assault. 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:29.279 Now, that is a serious felony charge. It carries 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:31.759 a possible jail sentence of three to five years. 00:20:31.900 --> 00:20:34.940 But the NFL's reaction. This is where the story 00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:37.559 becomes just as much an indictment of the league 00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:40.019 itself. We have to remember the context of 2014. 00:20:40.339 --> 00:20:42.819 The NFL's domestic violence policy was it was 00:20:42.819 --> 00:20:45.440 vague. It was inconsistent. And frankly, it was 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:48.460 extremely lenient. It was just treated as a personal 00:20:48.460 --> 00:20:50.819 conduct issue, often lumped in with things like 00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:55.240 bar fights or DUIs. So on July 25, 2014, after 00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:57.960 months of deliberation, the NFL announces Ray 00:20:57.960 --> 00:20:59.960 Rice's punishment. They suspended him for two 00:20:59.960 --> 00:21:02.140 games. Two games. For an incident where a woman 00:21:02.140 --> 00:21:03.960 was rendered unconscious and he was indicted 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:06.480 on a felony assault charge. The backlash was 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:08.740 immediate and it was fierce. Sports writers, 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:12.690 women's advocacy groups, fans. Everyone was outraged. 00:21:12.750 --> 00:21:14.890 It felt like a complete slap on the wrist. But 00:21:14.890 --> 00:21:16.910 the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell, they 00:21:16.910 --> 00:21:18.690 defended it. They claimed they had followed precedent. 00:21:18.829 --> 00:21:20.750 They claimed Rice had taken responsibility for 00:21:20.750 --> 00:21:23.349 his actions. And they claimed they hadn't seen 00:21:23.349 --> 00:21:25.549 any evidence that contradicted Rice's own account 00:21:25.549 --> 00:21:27.670 of what happened, which he described as a mutual 00:21:27.670 --> 00:21:30.210 scuffle. A mutual scuffle. That was the key phrase. 00:21:30.430 --> 00:21:33.809 And then September 8, 2014 happened. The second 00:21:33.809 --> 00:21:36.430 video. TMZ obtained the footage from inside the 00:21:36.430 --> 00:21:39.349 elevator with audio. And this changed everything. 00:21:39.509 --> 00:21:42.359 This changed the world. The video showed the 00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:44.859 argument, but then it showed Ray Rice winding 00:21:44.859 --> 00:21:47.200 up and delivering a vicious left hook directly 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:51.960 to Janae Palmer's face. It was brutal. She hit 00:21:51.960 --> 00:21:53.920 her head on the handrail as she fell and was 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:56.200 instantly knocked unconscious. The difference 00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:59.440 between reading the words, he struck her, in 00:21:59.440 --> 00:22:02.180 a police report and seeing the punch. Yeah. It 00:22:02.180 --> 00:22:04.259 was just so visceral. It's the power of visual 00:22:04.259 --> 00:22:06.279 evidence. We had known the facts, right? We knew 00:22:06.279 --> 00:22:08.579 she was unconscious. We knew he did it. But seeing 00:22:08.579 --> 00:22:10.500 the violence with your own eyes stripped away 00:22:10.500 --> 00:22:13.059 any ability to minimize it or explain it away, 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:14.839 you couldn't call it a scuffle anymore. It was 00:22:14.839 --> 00:22:17.380 a brutal assault, plain and simple. And the reaction 00:22:17.380 --> 00:22:20.460 this time was instantaneous. The Baltimore Ravens 00:22:20.460 --> 00:22:22.839 terminated his contract and released him that 00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:27.200 very same day, within hours. And the NFL suspended 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:30.819 him indefinitely. So in the span of, what, a 00:22:30.819 --> 00:22:32.900 morning? Mm -hmm. He went from being the starting 00:22:32.900 --> 00:22:34.680 running back who was scheduled to return in week 00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:37.700 three to being unemployed and banned from the 00:22:37.700 --> 00:22:39.519 league. And the public relations fallout was 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:41.900 nuclear. The Ravens did something I had never 00:22:41.900 --> 00:22:45.539 seen before. They recalled Ray Rice jerseys from 00:22:45.539 --> 00:22:48.180 their pro shops. They offered an exchange program 00:22:48.180 --> 00:22:50.839 where fans could literally trade in their old 00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:53.500 Rice jerseys for any other players. They were 00:22:53.500 --> 00:22:56.019 actively scrubbing him from the franchise's visual 00:22:56.019 --> 00:22:58.500 history. We need to unpack the legal side of 00:22:58.500 --> 00:23:00.000 this for a minute because it gets complicated. 00:23:00.299 --> 00:23:03.039 Despite the felony charge. He never actually 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:05.859 went to jail, did he? No, he didn't. The criminal 00:23:05.859 --> 00:23:07.799 charges were ultimately dropped because Rice 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:10.019 agreed to enter a court supervised counseling 00:23:10.019 --> 00:23:12.440 program. It's called pre -trial intervention. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:15.599 It's a fairly standard legal path for first time 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:18.140 offenders in New Jersey. If you complete the 00:23:18.140 --> 00:23:20.019 counseling program and you stay out of trouble 00:23:20.019 --> 00:23:22.420 for a year, the charges are dismissed from your 00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:24.839 record. And he did that successfully. But he 00:23:24.839 --> 00:23:28.680 also fought the NFL suspension. And this is a 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:30.619 nuanced point that I think a lot of people forget. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.900 He appealed the indefinite suspension. His legal 00:23:33.900 --> 00:23:36.460 team argued double jeopardy, not in the constitutional 00:23:36.460 --> 00:23:41.059 sense, but in the sense of labor law. Their argument 00:23:41.059 --> 00:23:43.359 was simple. You already punished him. You gave 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:45.480 him a two -game suspension. You cannot punish 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:47.700 him again for the exact same incident just because 00:23:47.700 --> 00:23:50.180 a video leaked that made you look bad. And the 00:23:50.180 --> 00:23:52.319 core of that argument was that Rice had been 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:54.559 completely honest with the NFL from the very 00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:57.619 beginning. Exactly. Testimony from the appeal 00:23:57.619 --> 00:24:00.299 hearing showed that Rice had told Roger Goodell 00:24:00.299 --> 00:24:03.180 and the league officials in person explicitly 00:24:03.180 --> 00:24:05.640 that he had punched her and knocked her out. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:08.119 So when the tape came out, the NFL couldn't claim 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:10.460 they were shocked by the facts, only by the public 00:24:10.460 --> 00:24:13.660 seeing the optics. The arbitrator, a former federal 00:24:13.660 --> 00:24:16.400 judge, agreed with Rice. She ruled that the NFL 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:18.720 had acted arbitrarily and had punished him twice 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:22.519 for the same offense. So in November of 2014, 00:24:22.940 --> 00:24:25.460 Rice wins his appeal. The indefinite suspension 00:24:25.460 --> 00:24:28.799 is overturned. He is reinstated. He is free to 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:31.240 sign with any team in the league. And on top 00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:33.819 of that, he settled a wrongful termination lawsuit 00:24:33.819 --> 00:24:37.019 with the Ravens for about $3 .5 million in back 00:24:37.019 --> 00:24:41.180 pay. So by early 2015, legally and administratively, 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:43.779 Ray Rice was back. He was 28 years old. He was 00:24:43.779 --> 00:24:46.059 healthy. He was only a year removed from being 00:24:46.059 --> 00:24:48.220 a Pro Bowl level player. But he never played 00:24:48.220 --> 00:24:50.549 another down in the NFL. And this brings us to 00:24:50.549 --> 00:24:53.690 Section 5, the aftermath, what you could call 00:24:53.690 --> 00:24:57.210 the silent ban. Why didn't a single team sign 00:24:57.210 --> 00:24:59.690 him? We see teams overlook serious character 00:24:59.690 --> 00:25:03.049 issues for talent all the time in the NFL. Why 00:25:03.049 --> 00:25:05.730 was Ray Rice different? It was a cold, hard calculation 00:25:05.730 --> 00:25:08.349 of public relations versus production, and the 00:25:08.349 --> 00:25:11.009 PR was just too toxic. Yes, teams sign troubled 00:25:11.009 --> 00:25:13.609 players, but Rice was a running back, a position 00:25:13.609 --> 00:25:16.029 with a very short shelf life, and he was approaching 00:25:16.029 --> 00:25:19.279 age 30. His stats in 2013, the year right before 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:21.500 the suspension, had already started to dip. He 00:25:21.500 --> 00:25:24.019 averaged only 3 .1 yards per carry that season. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:26.500 So he was a declining asset who brought a three 00:25:26.500 --> 00:25:29.299 ring media circus with him. Exactly. If he were 00:25:29.299 --> 00:25:32.099 still in his prime, you know, rushing for 2000 00:25:32.099 --> 00:25:35.039 yards from scrimmage, maybe a team takes that 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:37.319 heat. Maybe an owner is willing to stand at a 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:39.839 podium and defend it. But for an aging running 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:42.880 back, the toxicity of that elevator video was 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:45.849 just too high. No owner wanted to be the one 00:25:45.849 --> 00:25:47.410 to answer the question, why did you sign the 00:25:47.410 --> 00:25:49.630 guy from the elevator video? He tried really 00:25:49.630 --> 00:25:51.849 hard to get back in, though. This wasn't a case 00:25:51.849 --> 00:25:54.109 of him just giving up. Not at all. He stayed 00:25:54.109 --> 00:25:58.289 in peak physical shape for years. In 2016, there 00:25:58.289 --> 00:26:01.049 was a report that he offered to donate his entire 00:26:01.049 --> 00:26:04.390 salary to domestic violence charities if a team 00:26:04.390 --> 00:26:06.269 would just give him a chance to play. His whole 00:26:06.269 --> 00:26:08.549 salary? His entire salary. He wasn't doing it 00:26:08.549 --> 00:26:10.569 for the money at that point. He was doing it 00:26:10.569 --> 00:26:12.670 because he needed to redeem his identity as a 00:26:12.670 --> 00:26:14.809 football player. It's who he was. But the phone 00:26:14.809 --> 00:26:17.990 never rang. It didn't. In 2018, he finally officially 00:26:17.990 --> 00:26:19.750 announced that his football career was over. 00:26:19.930 --> 00:26:22.230 So he had to pivot. And this is where the story 00:26:22.230 --> 00:26:24.950 gets really complex again. Because he didn't 00:26:24.950 --> 00:26:27.680 just hide. He didn't disappear and live off his 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:30.400 money. He actually leaned into the ugliest part 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:32.740 of his story. He became an advocate. He started 00:26:32.740 --> 00:26:34.700 traveling the country, speaking to high school 00:26:34.700 --> 00:26:37.099 and college football teams. I mean, major programs 00:26:37.099 --> 00:26:40.460 like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State. And his message 00:26:40.460 --> 00:26:43.359 wasn't, I was treated unfairly. His message was, 00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:46.480 I am the cautionary tale. Look at me. Don't do 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:49.700 what I did. What specifically was he telling 00:26:49.700 --> 00:26:51.799 these young athletes? He would tell them that 00:26:51.799 --> 00:26:54.119 he was a hero in his city, a Super Bowl champ, 00:26:54.359 --> 00:26:56.799 a guy everyone thought was a good person, and 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:00.220 that it all evaporated in 30 seconds of a horrible 00:27:00.220 --> 00:27:03.519 decision fueled by alcohol and ego. He owned 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:06.279 it completely. He even mirrored the language 00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:08.400 Roger Goodell eventually used about the incident, 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:10.700 admitting that he didn't get it right. He spoke 00:27:10.700 --> 00:27:13.579 about toxic masculinity, about the need to walk 00:27:13.579 --> 00:27:15.619 away from conflict, about what real strength 00:27:15.619 --> 00:27:18.000 is. And it's worth noting, as we mentioned earlier, 00:27:18.180 --> 00:27:20.460 that this charitable side of him wasn't some 00:27:20.460 --> 00:27:22.640 PR stunt that was invented after the assault. 00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:25.339 He had a long track record of community work 00:27:25.339 --> 00:27:28.839 before 2014. That's the dichotomy we just keep 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:31.019 coming back to in this story. He was the same 00:27:31.019 --> 00:27:33.039 guy who was giving out Christmas presents to 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:35.599 low -income families in Baltimore in 2016, just 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:37.440 like he was the guy fighting cyberbullying in 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:40.819 2012. He is a complex human being who did a lot 00:27:40.819 --> 00:27:43.420 of good in his community and then committed a 00:27:43.420 --> 00:27:46.660 horrific, inexcusable act of violence. Both things 00:27:46.660 --> 00:27:48.779 are true. And that leads us to the final thought, 00:27:48.940 --> 00:27:51.740 right? The synthesis of this entire deep dive. 00:27:52.099 --> 00:27:55.920 Ray Rice's legacy is just, it's permanently split 00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:58.380 down the middle. It is. You cannot tell the story 00:27:58.380 --> 00:28:01.079 of the 2012 Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl victory 00:28:01.079 --> 00:28:03.559 without him. He was essential. But you also cannot 00:28:03.559 --> 00:28:05.460 tell the history of the NFL's domestic violence 00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:08.099 policy without him. He is the reason the league 00:28:08.099 --> 00:28:11.279 was shamed into instituting a strict six game 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:14.059 baseline suspension for first time domestic violence 00:28:14.059 --> 00:28:16.519 offenses. He is the reason the league started 00:28:16.519 --> 00:28:19.119 taking investigations more seriously rather than 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:21.220 just relying on whatever was in the police report. 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:23.240 He changed the game. Just not in the way he ever 00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:26.099 intended. Precisely. His downfall forced a change 00:28:26.099 --> 00:28:28.640 that was long overdue. So here is the question 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:30.420 that we really want to leave you with today. 00:28:31.099 --> 00:28:33.599 It's a question about redemption, and it's not 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:36.519 an easy one. Ray Rice has spent the last decade 00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:39.539 trying to atone for his actions. He has spoken 00:28:39.539 --> 00:28:42.740 to thousands of young men. He has stayed married 00:28:42.740 --> 00:28:44.980 to Janae, and they have raised a family together. 00:28:45.500 --> 00:28:47.319 He seems to have done everything right since 00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:49.279 that night. And yet whenever his name is mentioned, 00:28:49.460 --> 00:28:51.380 the first thing that pops into our heads, the 00:28:51.380 --> 00:28:54.519 first image we see, is the grainy footage from 00:28:54.519 --> 00:28:57.259 inside that elevator. Right. So the question 00:28:57.259 --> 00:29:01.720 is, can an athlete, or really can anyone, ever 00:29:01.720 --> 00:29:05.140 truly outrun a moment like that? When the evidence 00:29:05.140 --> 00:29:08.259 of your worst act is so visual, so brutal, and 00:29:08.259 --> 00:29:10.940 so permanent, does all the good work you do after 00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:14.180 ever actually balance the scale? Or is the video 00:29:14.180 --> 00:29:16.319 the only legacy that will ever truly matter? 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:18.460 It's a question that doesn't have a clean answer, 00:29:18.579 --> 00:29:20.579 but it's the question that I'm sure Ray Rice 00:29:20.579 --> 00:29:23.200 lives with every single day. That's it for this 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:26.119 deep dive into the rise, the fall, and the complicated 00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:28.680 aftermath of Ray Rice. Thanks for exploring all 00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:30.440 the gray areas with us. Thanks for having me. 00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:31.299 We'll see you in the next one.