In case you haven't read it, you can read the Don Van Natta and Kevin Van Valkenburg investigation RIGHT HERE
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti came out firing, accusing Rice, his friends and his defense team of leaking information, trying to help build a case for Rice to return to football at some point in time.
He also publicly apologized for not following through and trying to look at the video inside the elevator at the New Jersey Casino. He admitted he was wrong and and wishes he could do it over again.
Bisciotti simultaneously released a letter to the Ravens fan base which is posted on their website: (A brief summary)
--Bisciotti reiterates this: "As I stated to you in my letter on September 9th, we did not do all we should have done and no amount of explanation can remedy that. But there has been no misdirection or misinformation by the Ravens"
--A statement by Ravens head of security Darren Sanders who is been alleged to have seen or informed of the inside the elevator video shortly after Ray Rice punched Janay Rice in the elevator:
“I did not receive an account of what happened in the elevator “within hours” of the incident. Within a couple of days, I asked the casino and the Atlantic City Police Department for a copy of any videotape of the incident. They said they could not release a copy of the videotape to me. Some days later—I believe it was on February 25—I spoke to an Atlantic City police official again, asking again whether I could get a copy of the tape or, if not, whether I could come to his New Jersey office and view it. He said I could not, but he did offer to view the tape and describe what he saw."
---A statement by team G.M Ozzie Newsome who is alleged to have been told exactly what happened by Rice.
“I did not receive an account of what happened in the elevator “within hours” of the incident. Within a couple of days, I asked the casino and the Atlantic City Police Department for a copy of any videotape of the incident. They said they could not release a copy of the videotape to me. Some days later—I believe it was on February 25—I spoke to an Atlantic City police official again, asking again whether I could get a copy of the tape or, if not, whether I could come to his New Jersey office and view it. He said I could not, but he did offer to view the tape and describe what he
saw. "
--And then this, countering the allegation Bisciotti offered Rice a job after releasing him. And that the offer was made for "hush" money:
“I did not receive an account of what happened in the elevator “within hours” of the incident. Within a couple of days, I asked the casino and the Atlantic City Police Department for a copy of any videotape of the incident. They said they could not release a copy of the videotape to me. Some days later—I believe it was on February 25—I spoke to an Atlantic City police official again, asking again whether I could get a copy of the tape or, if not, whether I could come to his New Jersey office and view it. He said I could not, but he did offer to view the tape and describe what he saw. "
You can read the entire statement countering all points of the article RIGHT HERE
Bisciotti spent a good portion of the time talking about his surprise the NFL did not know about the video and not thinking to ask Rice's lawyer, who DID have the tape, to see it.
He also got emotional denying that he lobbied NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for a shorter suspension for Rice initially saying, "Why would I do that?" "I played golf with the commissioner but nobody has ever accused us of being friends" "I expected a 4-6 game suspension for Ray, not 2"
Another strong statement: The NFL has never escalated domestic violence to the level of bar fights and drugs. And to be honest, he's right. He's done a strong job of stating the NFL's weakness, inequity and lack of a strong discipline policy. He also said this is a great opportunity for the league and for Goodell to take the lead and change and elevate the response to domestic violence.
To his credit, Bisciotti was quite a bit more open and emotional than NFL commissioner Roger Goodell when talking about the issue. He did not hide behind vagueness, he was upset he and his team's integrity was being questioned. And his team came prepared to repute every aspect of ESPN's report.
We suspect the truth in this matter, like most, lies somewhere between these two stories. But props to Bisciotti and the Ravens team for being prepared and able to explain every accusation.
We hope to god this is the end of the lengthy press conferences about this subject. It happened. It was horrible. A lot of people made a lot of mistakes. Let's find out who did and when the time is right, release the information.
But until then, we are ready for the Sports world to move on.
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