So, this guy? Ray Rice, this guy who plays football for the Baltimore Ravens? The one who punched his girl friend so hard he knocked her out, and was suspended by his team* the NFL for the whoppingly punitive two games?
Today a new video was released that shows the actual knockout punch, and the team has now fired him.
Before all they had was a video showing him dragging her unconscious body off an elevator and dumping her on the floor just outside it.
I don’t quite understand why the first video wasn’t enough.
Within hours of the video’s appearance on TMZ.com, Rice’s team, the Baltimore Ravens, tweeted, “The Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon.”
The video shows Janay Palmer, now Rice’s wife, being hit in the face in the elevator. Palmer then lunges at the running back before he delivers a blow that knocks her out. When the elevator doors open, Rice drags Palmer’s body outside, leaving her face down on the floor, her legs still inside the elevator.
The clip sparked outrage from fellow football players, coaches and fans, and many called for the NFL to cut Rice sooner. Herm Edwards, a former coach for the New York Jets, said he would have taken action before the video was released.
The most depressing part of the story is that Janay Palmer went ahead and married him.
*Thanks to Nick Little, Leo Buzalsky and others who corrected my howler.