This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
On a balmy summer morning in 1980, I perched beatifically in the pews of my former church, intently passing the time before Mass by perusing a well-known Catholic newsweekly. "An angry man must never be crossed" was one admonishment to women I remember rather clearly. Another stated, "Let us admire those courageous women who withstand abuse from their husbands ..."
I don't know if Janay Rice is Catholic, but her troubling public statements are lamentable, as was her decision to marry her abuser (former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice). She is, of course, wholly blameless for the brutality of her then-fiancé. I don't purport to discern her emotions when she sees her unconscious self being dragged from an elevator like a rag doll. I don't know if she's aware that being hurled against an unforgiving guard rail could have resulted in her death.
I don't know how Ray Rice feels when he's in a poo-poo mood, but I'm angry. Angry at the NFL, law enforcement officials and the somnambulant judge who gave Rice a wisp on the wrist. Angry at the sycophants who continually deify NFL players as if they walked on water.
Domestic abuse is a crime, and the NFL ignorami need to play catch-up with the rest of society. I've surely matured substantially since that summer morning 34 years ago. Ray Rice is an angry man who should be crossed, and banned from the NFL forevermore.
Annette L. Munson
Salt Lake City