Ray Rice

The running back for the Baltimore Ravens will no longer be able to play in the NFL as of Sept. 8, 2014 after beating his fiance in an elevator on Feb. 15. Ray Rice was caught on tape punching his fiance and then dragging her off the elevator. Rice is also banned from playing in the Canadian League.

Former Baltimore Raven Ray Lewis said he was going to mentor Rice and try to find out what’s going on in his head and heart, according to Jill Martin and Steve Almasy, CNN.

A month after he punched his fiance they got married. Rice recently returned to his former high school to greet his former coach.

Djogi Bumba, senior, said the punishment for Ray Rice is very fair because he is an athlete which means he is held at a higher standard. He also said that he looked up to Ray Rice and after hearing something like this he was shocked because he expected better from him.

Ibrahim Odeh, senior, felt like the punishment was fair, but banning him from the NFL was too harsh. He also said he didn’t feel like this should be big because things like this happen all the time, and to down Ray Rice’s character isn’t right.

The reactions from these two students shows how Ray Rice let people down and didn’t handle the situation in the right way. Although everyone makes mistakes this was a mistake that could’ve been avoided if he would have just walked away from the situation. People shouldn’t hold this against Rice because he is still a great person and one incident shouldn’t redefine who he is. Some people feel like the punishment won’t stand because of how harsh it is. An attorney named Andrew Alperstein felt like the incident was minor because Rice didn’t hit first and he was getting hit repeatedly by his fiance. The NFL believes Rice will try to argue his suspension in the future.