Off Topic » lingering anger over Long

Running back Ray Rice has won his appeal. The celebration will be short lived, I suspect, as, materially, very little changes for Rice. He doesn’t have a team and is unlikely to find one. On behalf of Rice, the NFLPA argued before arbitrator Barbara Jones that Rice was punished twice for the same offence, namely, beating his wife Janay Palmer-Rice. Since the league can’t punish a player twice for the same offence, the NFLPA argued that Rice’s indefinite suspension should be overturned. On the other hand, the NFL argued that Rice’s account of what happened was ambiguous and that it never saw the elevator video before suspending Rice for two games. However, when it saw the video, that constituted something new, thereby justifying new discipline. Jones sided with the NFLPA, believing that Rice was candid and transparent with the league over what transpired in the elevator. On that basis, Jones agreed Rice should be reinstated. And that will happen, since the NFL has elected not to challenge Jones’s decision. Here’s the conclusion rendered by Jones in her decision: “Because Rice did not mislead the Commissioner and because there were no new facts on which the Commissioner could base his increased suspension, I find that the imposition of the indefinite suspension was arbitrary. I therefore vacate the second penalty imposed on Rice.” Now what? For Rice, not much. While he has won his appeal, he is toxic and it is difficult to imagine a team signing the running back. If a team elected to add Rice, it would risk significant pushback from fans, sponsors and media partners. Make no mistake about – Rice will not be forgiven. His actions were appalling and deeply troubling. If any team signs Rice, the report will include the video. It will be played on an endless loop. No team can withstand that type of scrutiny. Bottom line is, signing Rice would be a terrible business decision for any team and could possibly cause the team irreparable harm. It doesn’t help Rice that running backs have become interchangeable in a pass-heavy league. As far as running backs go, it’s become plug-and-play. Just last week, Rice’s replacement Justin Forsett shredded the Saints defence for 182 yards on the ground. Rice does have a second grievance pending against the Ravens. In that case, Rice is not asking to be put back on the team. Remember, the Ravens cut him. Rice just wants to be paid the $3.52 million he feels he’s owned. Despite his reinstatement, it seems like Rice’s days in the NFL are done. Pie Traynor Jersey . The Wizards announced Friday that Webster had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back. The operation was performed Thursday in Los Angeles. Cheap Pirates Jerseys . Today, their baseball playing sons were reportedly traded for each other. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Cubs dealt minor league outfield Trevor Gretzky to the Angels for catcher Matt Scioscia. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/2072e...ey-pirates.html. -- Golden State Warriors reserve centre Ognjen Kuzmic is expected to miss at least six weeks after undergoing surgery on his fractured right hand. Steven Brault Jersey .com) - Australian Open champion Li Na, former Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and former world No. Adam Frazier Jersey . - Mike Zimmer has brought a demanding style to the Minnesota Vikings. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Ryan Hunter-Reay deftly guided his car around the rain-soaked track, stayed out of trouble and wound up with a much happier ending. Hunter-Reay coasted to his second straight victory at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday when the rain-shortened IndyCar race finished under caution, with Andretti Autosport teammate Marco Andretti behind him. The win came two weeks after Hunter-Reay touched off what turned into a seven-car pileup with an ill-timed attempt to pass Josef Newgarden at Long Beach to end what had been a dominating performance. "The week after Long Beach was a pretty long one," Hunter-Reay said. "It was one where I just wanted to get back in a racecar as soon as I could. "We knew it would be tough here. When it came to race time, I had the car in the wet, I had the car in the dry. They gave me exactly what I needed. I knew it was going to be close to make it all work out because it was so easy to make a mistake today. Just thrilled. This victory feels real good." A full-course caution came out for the final seven minutes of the timed race after rookie Mikhail Aleshin lost control and went off the track. That left Hunter-Reay unchallenged. Scott Dixon was third, followed by Simon Pagenaud and pole-sitter Will Power, a two-time winner at Barber who had a slight but costly misjudgment on a slippery track in the tight Turn 5. "He was out there cutting the grass," Hunter-Reay said. "I had to take advantage of that. It was so easy to do that today. I almost lost this race three times." There was some slipping and sliding, especially in the minutes after the field switched from the wet tires with several drivers leaving the track. He passed Power on lap 16 when the Australian left the track and skirted by the tire barrier before pulling back on. "I kept creeping my braking point a little bit further and further, and I went too far," Power said. "Its tough to not push past the limits with wet patches everywhere. We really didnt have the pace in the dry anyway, but that sure didnt help our cause when I went off course." The turn is called "Charlottes Web" because of a huge spider sculpture stationed there. "I almost threw it away three or four times there myself," Hunter-Reay said. "It was just tiptoeing around.dddddddddddd It was a very fine line between getting it all right or getting it all wrong. "Any guy thats been in an IndyCar on the Web will tell you thats how it is. Youve got to go up the risk side to the get the reward out of it, but its really easy to throw it all away." Its the 12th career win for Hunter-Reay, who was alone up front during the caution until Andretti pulled even at the finish line to savour the moment with his teammate. He led three times for a total of 40 laps. "Theyve given us great cars here, and a second win in a row for Ryan is awesome," said Andretti, whose radio worked only sporadically down the stretch. Dixon said running a time race was "kind of annoying" and Andretti said it removed some strategy from the formula. They wound up going 69 laps, and Hunter-Reay was up front for the final time starting on No. 52. "The race should be the full distance," Dixon said. "To have to shorten these races for TV, you know, I understand the difficult predicament that everybody is in, but these are championship races. They all pay the same amount of points. "You decide to take 30 laps off them ... I think it changes strategy a lot and youre constantly chasing that window. Then ultimately you finish on a caution, too, which is also a bit of a bummer for the fans. In the future, hopefully we can find a way around that." Drivers were focused on handling the track conditions, not payback from any lingering anger over Long Beach clashes. It ended badly for Aleshin, who walked back to pit road while the rest of the field finished. Earlier Sebastien Bourdais had spun the Russian from behind, leaving him stalled. Bourdais received a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. The race was a change-up for Dixon, who finished second in each of the first four races at Barber. "We went the wrong way, but it was an interesting day," Dixon said. "Whenever you have a rain delay it sort of puts a strain on everybody trying to figure out what we need to do. "The cars were pretty good. The track suits wet conditions. There were a few troublesome areas with standing water and a few of the guys found those spots. But generally the race went fairly smoothly." ' ' '