Do we lose season Ticket Holders . Do we lose sweet holders . Do we lose sponsorships . Thats so petty at this stage. I regret i let people down. I regret that people love us might not love us any more. Im sad for that and im sorry for that but im not scared of that. Thats again how you do it. Thats how you do it. Beautiful shot of the empire state building. Gorgeous morning. Thats how you do it, man. Thats how you do it. You know what . The nfl and other owners need to look at this guy. You hear a lot about ray rice. Ray rice, obviously exposes so much that the nfl doesnt want us to know about. That we havent been paying attention to. We talk about ray rays. What about greg hardy. Greg hardy is a carolina franchise panthers player. Hes a pro bowl defensive lineman. Because 13 million a year. This summer he was convicted of two counts of Domestic Violence. The court found that after a night of heavy drinking the 64, 280 pound nfl star threw a woman down on a sofa, full guns, then choked her. Hurled her violently into a shower and then to top it off he threatened to kill her. Oh, one more bit of information about this case just in case you didnt know about it. The convicted criminal led his
nfl team to a win this past sunday. Which proves just how callous and indifferent the nfl leadership is. Where a culture lets massive gladiators beat, abuse defenseless women who are half their size. Now wednesday night the panthers owner Jerry Richardson broke down in tears during a ceremony in his honor that was given for the award against indifference. Thats what the award is called, the award against indifference. He should be crying tears of shame because when he let this convicted criminal put the pan shes jersey back on he showed the indiffers to men and women and boys and girls who also wear that jersey and cheer on his team and more importantly indifference to the countless victims of Domestic Violence. Hes convicted. Hes appealing it. As long as hes appealing a conviction why is he playing. Convicted in a court of law. Baltimore ravens took to the field last night under a cloud of ray rice scandal. This is another element that maybe adds to the indifference were talking about. They had to at the last minute alter their broadcast plan. This is what their plan was. Cbs scrapped its Pregame Program which was featuring rihanna, herself a victim of Domestic Violence for coverage of the fallout. In a series of interviews the teams owner apologized. Had you known in february what was on that video inside the elevator would you have fired him then . We probably would have been told we should wait until the court case came out. They had it. The police had it and gave them equal misdeamnors that night. Again, thats astounding to me. And for me to tell you the truth, it makes me look like im pointing fingers at other people, but they gave them equal misdeamnors. You werent getting a signal from the courts in new jersey that this was as bad or the prosecutor that gave them probation. If this is a seminal moment for Domestic Violence, and the way we handle it as a society, then thats not a burden for us to be that poster boy. Its not. Now im embarrassed about it but five years from now things have changed significantly for the better ill be proud it. All right, willie. What do you make of all this . The jersey d. A. Charges them with equal misdeamnors. Thats the part of the story that hasnt gotten enough attention as we talk about nfl and ray rice. Authorities, Law Enforcement authorities looked at this case and said thats a misdeamnor. They saw what was in the elevator. Thats a misdeamnor. The prosecutor gave them probation, no jail time. So many people falling down on their responsibilities here, so many people giving celebrity with a big name a break its disgusting. We have a victim here who was sort of coerced, janay palmer then janay rice now. There are a couple of other cases. I talked about whats happening in North Carolina, but also out in San Francisco you have another case of abuse. Obviously part of a culture. How does the nfl let a guy who has been convicted in the court of law, just this
summer put on a uniform and play . Its disgusting. It is. Hes a franchise player which makes it even more disgusting, right yeah. Absolutely. If you do Something Like that at the very least the team should sit him down and say until we resolve this or you can cut the guy. The Nfl Players Association has a saying in all this. It gets complicated. Steve spurrier said if i ever hear you raised your hand to a woman youre off the team. What allow as culture in the nfl, what allows players who have been convicted of choking, beating up, threatening to kill, tossing around a woman ill give you four reasons. Jerry jones is facing Sexual Harassment suit the owner of Dallas Cowboys is facing a Sexual Harassment suit. The owner of the
indianapolis colts is in drug rehab. The owner of the new England Patriots saw his team being hit for a cheating scandal and hiring a guy who is now in prison and not only hiring him and gave him a pay raise. And the new Orleans Saints one of the worst bounty scandals in history. These are owners. Only five that we know. All of this stuff starts at the top and it trickles down. So thats the first problem. This is not absolving any player of any individual thing. Youre just saying it starts here. By the way we are talking about the nfl. Were not even mentioning hockey or Major League Baseball. We saw a clip about the guy getting hit in the head. What im saying is sports has become so aggressive when we were kids and maybe it was a
myth since we were kids, sports was an institution that built character. Now what were seeing is that sports basically adds to the, sort of corrosion of our culture. And one more thing. If you look at that scene in baltimore, people are going nuts. They were grilling them. Wait until sunday. What i couldnt believe is women Walking Around with a ray rice uniform. Its one thing if they didnt know what actually happened inside the elevator. They knew he beat into submission, knocked out a woman half his size and they are celebrating that. What is wrong with them . Whats wrong with these people . Listen, i think fans do have some complicity in this, i think. A lot. I see three factors here. One is we have to put out there,
theres a presumption of innocence aspect to these things. You are supposed to be presumed before being found guilty. First of all we have the tape. Im saying in general. What do you think i dont mean to blow up your talking points, but what about the fact thats slanderous. What about coming out of North Carolina where youve actually got a guy ill get to that. Thats number eight. The second is the desire willie take a smoke. Theres the fans. Theres the very theres a hesitancy to boycott. You see them showing up at the game, buying the jerseys. Ravens are through the roof. Nfl has a female fan base and theres the mentality of winning at all cost. Theres an amazing anecdote
about brent myers. He was arrested for hitting his girlfriend in 2006. Pitched 36 hours late per the general manager had this to say to start him 36 hours later. Quote hes our best pitcher. That was it. He was the best pitcher. Of course he would start even if he was arrested for hitting his girlfriend of course he would start. Thats the problem. We have to win at all costs. By the way, absolutely unbelievable in that case, in this case and i can tell you with an institution that i love the university of alabama, i remember they had a head football coach who actually was charged with sexually had harassing somebody that worked with him. They let him stay on an extra year. They asked a member of the board of trustees what does his future look like. The quote in the paper was all i can say is he better win at least 11 games or hes in trouble. I didnt watch a game that year. Its disgusting. Mika, what do you think about those women who are wearing ray rice jerseys . It actually is part of the problem. Its very hard to criticize janay ricin this situation so im not going to. But the point is theres a whole other side of Domestic Violence story where victims like rihanna or like others dont want to press charges, dont want to actually end a relationship, dont want to get out of it. And im not going to go too far into their relationship but she certainly symbolizes a problem there and these women do too. Well get more to get the story out there in just a second but first an espn report takes issue with Roger Goodells version of events. Multiple stories told outside the lines that in a meeting rice paint ad clear picture of what happened in that elevator and admitted to hitting his then
fiancee. Goodell said in an interview this week when he met with the star running back, rices description of what happened was ambiguous, therefore protecting himself from not seeing that tape. I cant help but look at the Roger Goodell interview and not see just one thread here the whole thing disaster. It sure looks like it. What we saw yesterday for the first time ray rice watching this all unfold wait a minute i screwed up, i know i screwed up, i get what i deserve but i wont allow the nfl to completely ruin my life. Ray rice got out there and said i told you what happened in elevator and you gave me two games. Were talking about ray rice and ive said theres something you just cant forgive. If ray rice ray rice should not be set up as some sort of
flunky by the nfl and everybody else when he actually symbolizes a much bigger problem. Like hes been suspended, hes been kicked off the team for a year, et cetera, et cetera. Lets see how he handles it. Maybe he becomes a champion against Domestic Violence. But, seriously, nfl, Roger Goodell and everybody else dont acting shocked. If they acted correctly from the beginning, janay rice wouldnt be in this position. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Ray rice is far from the only athlete in the nfl accused of Domestic Violence but one of the few thats paying a price for it. Just a few. Ray mcdonald of the 49ers is out on 25,000 bail accused of felony Domestic Violence and assaulting his pregnant fiancee. He played in the teams first game of the season on sunday, just days after this incident. The decision saying hes not ray rice. The ceo no ray rice didnt beat up a pregnant woman. They had bruises on her arms and neck. They justified keeping mcdonnell on the field by saying quote, i rather have someone criticize me for doing that than punishing someone who is innocent. Hes not innocent. Hes charged but you wait. Phil, let me show you something. Heres 49ers coach jim harbaugh being asked about it. Theres two very strong principles at play. Number one, well not tolerate Domestic Violence and the second principle is the respect for due process. Once you get fact or information and youre going to be in a better time and a better place to make a decision or to make
judgments. Steve young disagrees with that decision. A lot of other people did. Says any company in this country, any big company if that happens they send you home. They might pay you, but you dont play. You dont come to work until we figure this out. Absolutely right. Steve is exactly right. Bill, i understand the innocent until Proven Guilty bit. At the same time if youre running like lets say any of us would be sent home, if the police come and our pregnant fiancee has bruises all over her arms, they wouldnt let you keep your column. But they are letting these guys doing it because its about money. They help win games. They help the panthers win games. They help the ravens win games. That means millions and millions of dollars. Im sure in every situation theres some very powerful
people at this moment who are doing some pretty hideous things domestically. In the National Football league, National Basketball association, Major League Baseball its about women. This shows you how early this stuff starts. There are a couple of kids who were like 10, 11 years old and because somebody told them that they got a nice crossover and they i had a couple of kids out of the program because at age 10 somebody told them that because you can kind of play then you can kind of throw a tantrum. Youre right. Theres not a single other industry in which this activity would ever pass muster. I bet you when you dig into this if you find a guy thats like on third screen and plays like on scrub squad, Something Like this happens they are gone. If youre the franchise player for the panthers guess what . Hes innocent untilhcdi y guilty. One thing thats a shame if we went through all this and the lesson is that its fine to do it so long as you dont have a videotape of doing it. Mcdonnell has not been convicted of anything so they can say innocent until Proven Guilty. Hardy was convicted. What your waiting for . Why is he still playing . Still ahead on morning joe our conversations with former secretary of state henry kissinger. Actor josh charles and ken burns on his new documentary. Thats coming up on morning joe. Yesterday we showed you the no, not another. Stop it. We showed the widest yesterday. Stop it. Oh, my lord why inwe shall return. Knows dinner
tastes better when its homemade. Like chicken blanketed in golden breadcrumbs and wholesome sides with her signature touches. All topped with thick, homemade gravy. Because dinner shouldnt take all day. Just taste like it did. Marie callenders. Its time to savor
when folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. Time to look at the morning papers. Oh, man. Lets look. Yesterday daily news yesterday obviously the 9 11 remembrance but daily news has a beautiful cover. It still hurts. The memorial yesterday, it was a special day because the memorial opened up for the first time on 9 11 and i know that meant a lot to the families. Thats an amazing place. If youre coming to new york you got to go the museum. Well start with the telegraph. Former olympian Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of culpable homicide. The crime similar to manslaughter charge in the United States could carry up to 15 years in prison time. Pistorius was convicted of
firing a gun during a separate incident at a restaurant in january of 2013, but cleared of two other firearm charges. On thursday 27yearold cried as the judge announced she would not convict him under two murder charges. His sentencing will be held at a later date. Wow. Wow. Couldnt prove premeditation. Exactly. Because he only shot like how many times through the door while shes screaming in there . Awful. How could you not find premeditation there. Anyway. The sentence cigarette later but he could get a fine. Maximum is 15 years. He can get anywhere from a fine to is a years. From our parade of papers Baltimore Sun overshadowed by the ray rice story but week two of the nfl kicked off in baltimore, first game since all this exploded. Baltimore unphased by the controversy, playing pittsburgh. Joe flacco hits daniel, justin
tucker for a couple of field goals. Holding the steelers to two field goals the entire game. Baltimore is 11 after a 266 blowout win over pittsburgh. Steelers didnt look good. Miami herald. Dangerous night. Milwaukee marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton struck in the face by an 88 mileperhour fastball from mike fires. This is in the fifth inning. Stanton one of the biggest stars in the game. Fell to the ground. Remained for several minutes. His medical staff rushed to his aid and carted off to the hospital. He suffered multiple facial fractures, dental damage and facial laserations that required stitches. My gosh. Marlins manager mike redmond said hes a leading candidate for mvp likely done for the season. By the way umpires ruled stanton
swung at the pitch and called it a strike. How is that . So with an 02 count pinch hitter reed johnson comes up and is hit next. That was also called a strike. Marlins not happy about another teammate getting hit so the bench is cleared. Little pushing and shoving no punches thrown. Same pitcher hitting the same guy. Brewers won the game 42. The pitcher went to social media tweeting his apology to stanton and extending his well wishes. Thats the nightmare for a hitter in baseball. Lets go the santa cruz sentinel. The man with the worlds widest tongue yesterday and today we have the proudjcvn owner of the worlds longest talk. By arena c byron schlanker
measured in at 8. 7 centimeters. Apparently its growing. Come on. Oh. No from california with the worlds longest they both like ice cream. What is he doing . Hes painting. Hes painting a picture for you willie. Hes an artist. Anyhow hes able to paint on canvas. I dont want to see that. Okay. I want to go to parade. I dont want to see any more of them. This weeks parade magazine a close look at the unlikely pair, tony bennett and lady gaga. Their collaboration on an upcoming album called cheek to
cheek. Sounds really good. They actually work well together. Everything will be okay. Whats going on there . Ray rice is a born again christian. This is what the New York Post is reporting. I love the