Plenty of unsavory figures in Ray Rice case

It should have been easy to examine the Ray Rice domestic-violence case and pick out the worst person involved. Who possibly could be more despicable than the perpetrator? Who could have done anything nearly as vile as knocking out his future wife with a powerful left to the head?

Shockingly, there are more than a few contenders.

Start with Rice's Baltimore-based attorney, Andrew Alperstein. During an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Alperstein described what happened in February on an Atlantic City hotel casino elevator as "a very minor physical altercation." That's not just callous, it's clueless.

But he's not even the most contemptible defense lawyer in this sickening real-life soap opera. That title belongs to another of Rice's attorneys, Philadelphia-based Michael Diamondstein. He initially told the Sun that the incident "should wind up [being] little more than a misunderstanding." He also went on WENJ-FM (97.3) in Atlantic City shortly after Rice entered a plea deal that placed him in a pretrial diversionary program and gave what Diamondstein described as a hypothetical account of the incident. He said the "video shows . . . that Ray wasn't the first person that hit and Ray was getting repeatedly hit but just Ray hit harder, fired one back and hit harder."

Based on the video released by TMZ Sports on Monday, it's fair to say that Janay Palmer was lunging forward at Rice when he knocked her unconscious, but you need a leap of faith across the Atlantic Ocean to believe she "repeatedly" was hitting the man she married a day after his indictment. You also have to believe that Diamondstein had seen the "hypothetical" video when he made that ridiculous statement.

This was not the finest hour for the Atlantic City Police Department, either. The statement released by the department said the arresting officers reviewed the surveillance footage from the casino and said "it appeared both parties were involved in a physical altercation."

Appeared?

"The complaint summons indicates that both [Rice] and Palmer struck each other with their hands," the statement said.

My eyes saw Rice strike with a fist.

In fairness to the police, we don't know what Palmer said afterward or the severity of her injuries, which can affect what charges are filed. In this case, identical simple-assault charges were filed against Palmer and Rice, and something seems very wrong about that.

Also in fairness to the police and sadly for all, domestic violence is a routine call for them. According to New Jersey State Police records, there were 831 domestic-violence arrests in Atlantic City alone in 2011, and that number was down from 1,195 the previous year.

Moving on, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the Baltimore Ravens were incompetent buffoons from the beginning of this ordeal, but you've probably already heard and read that in a few places. There was no redemption at all in their decisions Monday to suspend Rice indefinitely and release him.

Goodell would have earned more respect had he left Rice's suspension at two games after Monday's video surfaced, because at least he would have been standing behind his initial belief. The video of Rice slugging Palmer did not change anything and it would not have mattered if the NFL had received it from the Atlantic City police or not.

Goodell knew that Rice knocked out his fiancee when he handed down his initial suspension. He decided, after meeting with the couple, that Rice was sincerely sorry and seeking help and that his wife was OK with the relationship going forward.

At one point, defending his two-game suspension of Rice, Goodell claimed that the NFL's policy was clear on these sorts of matters. How laughable does that seem now?

By suspending Rice indefinitely, Goodell, a man whose first job with the league was in public relations, made it appear as if all he cared about was how the NFL looked in this matter.

The Ravens, of course, reacted the same way by releasing Rice after initially standing by him.

An unintended consequence of their decisions could be concealed domestic violence in the future. When NFL couples fight and fists become involved, the victims may be more reluctant to report it for fear of the players' losing their livelihood.

That seemed to be Janay Rice's biggest concern in her public statement Tuesday on Instagram.

"I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I'm mourning the death of my closest friend," she said. "No one knows the pain that the media and unwanted options from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret everyday is a horrible thing.

"To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his [butt] off for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE! What don't you all get. If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you've succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow & show the world what real love is!"

It's quite a statement, and there is a lot of anger in there. Much of the media coverage has been abhorrent, and the thing that does matter most here is how Ray and Janay Rice exist from this point.

The best thing the NFL and the Ravens could have done was say that they were standing by the Rices and doing everything they can to help them for the rest of their lives. The league could have made a huge donation to the domestic-violence cause and privately promised that Janay and the couple's daughter, Rayven, would be taken care of if she ever felt threatened by her husband again.

Instead, there are just a lot of people who look nearly as bad as Ray Rice.

@brookob