Yes, I think it was. And rightly or wrongly, it forces the labor arbitration process to sort this out and come up with an ultimate outcome rather than Goodell having to do it.
So what I think you're trying to say is that, if Rice must be allowed to play, let the NFLPA and the arbitrator eat the backlash?
And that's fine because Goodell is a in no-win situation. Anything short of an indefinite suspension will result in a ton or public outcry that the penality is not harsh enough. The labor arbitration process will sort it out and, ultimately, the final consequences will be what they will be.
If the arbitrator rules in favor of a Rice suspension, you could open a bad Pandoras box. The NFLPA could start appealing, say, drug suspensions and then go the arbitrator and say "the CBA lays out these penalties for drug use, but prior arbitration shows that these words don't actually mean anything." A big part of why meaningful law matters is that it prevents time and money from being wasted arguing about it. It prevents instability.
Of course, if there truly is credible evidence that the NFL had the tape and sat on it, Goodell's motives will have been shown to be the worst, so it will all be for naught in terms of him saving any amount of face. However, with respect to coming up with the "right" outcome with respect to consequences for Rice, it will still likely be the best possible result under the circumstances.
The best possible result is for Rice not to play, but I don't see how the NFL gets there without doing something illegal.
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OK, at this point I have to ask why it matters if they had seen the video or not (aside from the bullshit denials, I suppose)?
The denials are the biggest part. It would be proof that Goodell is corrupt and a liar.
Guy gets arrested for knocking out his girlfriend. Video surfaces of them getting into the elevator, and then him dragging her knocked out ass out of it. He admits what happened (sugar coating it a bit, I assume). A settlement is reached and both The Man and the league act. Why does seeing proof of it actually matter? Everybody already knew what happened. Did anybody really think that knocking out a woman in an elevator was a tasteful thing to do before seeing it happen?
Not everybody knew what happened. Apparently, Rice sugar coated his description pretty substantially, and his wife testified while he was in the room (which means she would give bullshit testimony so she wouldn't be beaten again).
The conspiracy theory is - the league knew how bad the incident was, and covered it up on purpose to get Rice back on the field quickly. This theory might actually be true.
On a different note, before any of this broke this morning I thought to myself that TMZ might be the single most detrimental thing to America and society in general. Then they promptly go and demonstrate it. Frankly, everything that's happening now is being driven by TMZ and we're seeing an increase in this sort of shit happening. What happens when they successfully fuck up a presidential election? I'd consider it better than even money that it happens at the next opportunity. TMZ gets to drive corporate policy in a big way. I'd be amazed if it hadn't interfered in judicial affairs already. Political matters are exactly what it would thrive on.
You mean, hypothetically, TMZ might catch a US president being racist or beating his wife before he gets elected? Sounds like a public service to me.
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