Rob Long: ESPN Releases Damning Ray Rice Story
Well, now we know officially that this story isn't going away quietly. ESPN.com's Don Van Natta, Jr. and Kevin Van Valkenburg say that Ravens officials knew about the contents on the video that took place in Revel Hotel Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. The article says Baltimore Ravens director of security, Darren Sanders watched the surveillance video. Sanders then relayed the play-by-play to team executives.
So, what team "officials" did Sanders relay the information to? Let's revisit an article from CBSSports.com written on September 10th by John Breech when Baltimore Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome was quoted saying, "You know. Ray had given a story to John [Harbaugh] and I. And what we saw on the video was what Ray said. Ray didn't lie to me."
So keeping score here we see that Ozzie Newsome and John Harbaugh knew about the details of the video, according to Ozzie but no one else. The NFL has a lot of resources at their fingertips. I am almost certain that the truth will eventually come out because right now someone isn't being honest. If the Baltimore Ravens knew exactly what was on that video, why did it draw that type of reaction?
The article also alluded to the fact that Ravens President Dick Cass had been in contact with Ray Rice's defense attorney Michael J. Diamondstein who said, "It's [expletive] horrible" when describing the video. According to the ESPN article Cass did not request a copy of the video but offered up some advice to the legal team by urging them to be proactive.
The NFL is strong and seemingly is able to get their hands on anything they want. So, the question is did they not want to? Did they choose to ignore so that they could plead innocence later, like now? Stay tuned for the truth...
UPDATE: Per the Baltimore Sun; The Ravens have released a statement : "The ... article contains numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions, and perhaps misunderstandings," the statement said. "The Ravens will address all of these next week in Baltimore after our trip to Cleveland for Sunday's game against the Browns."
