By Dan McLoone, Columnist

Ray Rice got off easy.

Granted, there has not been definitive closure in the case of the former Baltimore Ravens running back, as his future in the NFL is still up in the air. We could see even more sanctions in the coming months for the February assault on his wife (then-fiancée), Janay Palmer. It has been a rocky few months for Rice. He initially pled not guilty to aggravated assault charges, instead of enrolling in a program that could clear him of all charges in as few as six months. After originally being suspended for two games by the NFL, the release of new video footage that actually showed the attack prompted him to be cut from the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely, a punishment he and the NFL Players Association are now appealing.

As I am not fully versed in how domestic abuse trials work in court, I will leave the Atlantic County Court decision out of this and won’t question their proceedings or whether Rice’s celebrity status played a role in rulings. But the kangaroo court that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell led regarding Rice’s fate following the incident was an embarrassment to the league. I’m not just calling out Goodell. This was a massive disgrace on multiple levels in an attempt by the NFL to protect the monetary value of their on-field product, as opposed to prioritizing the safety of abuse victims everywhere.

After initial videos showed Rice dragging Palmer’s unconscious body by the shoulders out of an elevator in an Atlantic City casino, Goodell and the league’s front office contemplated the punishment such an act deserved. They ignorantly conducted an interview with Palmer while Rice was in the room, leaving no certainty of the validity of her statements. Seeing as this was a domestic abuse case, who is to say that Rice had not already threatened Palmer again if she hadn’t testified to save his career? After their shameful interview, they announced that Rice’s final verdict was a paltry two game suspension.

Two games.

Granted, Goodell admitted that the NFL made a mistake in their decision and changed the domestic assault suspension rules to be a minimum of six games from then on, but he still could have done something more. Rice should have been suspended indefinitely on the spot, as soon as the story broke. There is no place for this kind of action in the NFL or anywhere in the world.

The suspension came last Monday, only after TMZ released the brutal footage of the running back savagely beating Palmer twice, knocking her out against the railing of an elevator. By the time the new suspension was announced, it was too late. The release of the video showed just how poorly the front office handled the case. Goodell played the incident off as a minor occurrence, when it was much more than that, and all Rice initially got was a slap on the wrists.

Goodell has since righted the absurdity of his initial two-game ruling with an indefinite suspension, but the original two-game ban sent a strong message to the league. Rice abusing his wife and knocking her unconscious was apparently less of a transgression than Cleveland Brown’s wide receiver Josh Gordon’s year-long suspension for testing positive for marijuana, apparently from secondhand smoke. By Goodell’s standards, a player smoking marijuana was eight times worse than knocking a woman unconscious.

I give just as much blame to the Baltimore Ravens front office, especially team president Richard Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome. They knew that the two-game suspension was not enough punishment for the seriousness of Rice’s transgressions, and they had ample time to add on a team-imposed suspension to validate their position, but they did nothing. The Ravens simply sat there and smiled, happy that their former Pro Bowl running back would be available in week three of the NFL season, until the release of the new video prompted them to terminate Rice’s contract.

Now a free agent, Rice and the NFL Players Association have filed an appeal of the indefinite suspension that he received, thrusting the running back into the national spotlight. While Goodell still has the ultimate say, Rice and the association may ask the commissioner to designate a hearing officer who has no connection to the league office in order to get a fair trial. Ultimately, the case will come down to whether or not the arbitrator finds that Rice lied about his actions to the NFL. If the ruling finds that he didn’t lie, Rice could find himself reinstated into a league that is in utter chaos right now.

Ray Rice deserves to be in jail without bail. He should be banned for life and never allowed to suit up for another team again. This assault has shown that Goodell is no good for the league that he presides over. His rationalizations of league decisions are a disgusting embarrassment, and if he doesn’t resign, the league should force him out. There is no place for either Rice’s actions or Goodell’s ineptitude in this league, and they should no longer have any affiliation or correspondence with the NFL.

Ray Rice may have been the one who threw the punches, but Roger Goodell himself may just as well have been Rice’s left fist.

Photo courtesy of Keith Allison, Flickr