Ray Rice And Stephen A. Smith: How They Are Alike

Late last week Ray Rice was suspended by the NFL for his role in a domestic violence incident involving him and his then fiancé.  The suspension was just two games!.  The suspension has outraged many people including a lot of analysts at ESPN.  The general thought is why did he get just a two game suspension for doing what he did to his now wife.  Yes the charges were dropped but the incident was caught on video.  Ray Rice deserved at least a six game suspension to send the message to our youth that it is not okay to put your hands on a women for any reason.
This has turned into a big deal and everyone is weighing in on the situation.  One person's opinion that I don't agree with is Stephen A. Smith.  And guess what I'm not alone.  Last week on his show first take Smith decided to comment about the Ray Rice suspension.  He use big words and tried to sound smart, but let me rephrase what he said.  He said that if women know that their man may hit them that they should not provoke them.  Yes you read it right, it's not a misprint.  Now to me Smith's statement was wrong in so many ways.  First off a women is never to blame for a man hitting her.  A real man will never put his hands on a women.  My next point it that Stephen A. Smith needs to be punished for his actions.  I know he is not going to be on TV for a week but like Ray Rice that's not long enough.  Smith makes $2 million a year, you think he's even going to miss a weeks worth of pay.  A precedent needs to be set  for both Rice and Smith. 
My final point.  If Ray Rice was a fourth string running back he would have been cut the second that video hit the Internet.  The fact that he is a star running back should not give him a pass to do something so ruthless.  This brings me back to Smith.  His comments weren't blown up and made a big deal of like they should have been.  But had an unknown reporter had said them he would have been attacked by the media way more than Smith was.  Again the fact that Stephen A. Smith is very popular and good and what he does should not give him a pass to be arrogant.  You can be confident, but there is a thin line between the two and last week he crossed it.  This guy is so arrogant he uses his middle initial.  The bottom line is he said something that didn't need to be said and is totally untrue.