Roger Goodell has spoken.
The question is, does anyone believe him?
Goodell is the emperor of the NFL, a multi-billion dollar empire. But in the aftermath of the release of a video that shows Baltimore Ravens star running back cold-cocking his then-girlfriend in the elevator of an Atlantic City, knocking her out in the process, it appears the emperor is not wearing any clothes.
Goodell offered a TV interview last night, saying no one connected with the league had viewed the tape before it exploded on the website TMZ.com on Monday morning, coincidentally the first morning after the start of another regular NFL season.
As heinous as Rice's action on the video clearly are, this story really is no longer about him.
It's about Goodell, and the NFL, and how they reacted to what was a clear case of domestic abuse.
There's a lot of moving parts in this story. Yesterday Rice's then-girlfriend, now wife, castigated the media for making the couple "relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day." She called the media's behavior "a horrible thing."
Those words might also be used to describe the way Goodell and the NFL reacted to this story, both initially after a video first aired showing Rice dragging an unconscious Janay Palmer from an elevator in Atlantic City.
Goodell has gotten on thing right in this entire sordid affair. After public opinion exploded when the NFL initially issued only a two-game suspension, a harried Goodell finally admitted, "We did not get this right."
No kidding.
He hasn't gotten much right since.
Goodell may very well be correct in that nobody from the league saw the video before Monday.
They should have. In fact, you have to wonder how much they actually wanted to see it.
It stands to reason that if there was surveillance video of Rice dragging Palmer from the elevator, wouldn't you want to know if there was video of what happened inside the elevator.
Goodell yesterday said the NFL assumed exactly that.
"We assumed there was video," he said. "We asked for video. But we were never granted that opportunity."
Apparently TMZ was, but then again they deal in something Goodell and the NFL is intimately aware of - money.
So we're to believe that TMZ was able to acquire the video, but the NFL was not.
Yeah, right.
Rice has now been suspended "indefinitely." He was released by the Ravens after the new video came to light on Monday.
There are also questions about how Rice was able to enter a special probationary program after being charged with assault in the incident.
If nothing else, with a single punch, Ray Rice has shoved a topic that is too often only whispered about in private onto a national stage.
Roger Goodell might find it a bit more difficult to knock out the questions about the way the league has handled this ugly incident.
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