Count me as one of the unpopular voices that thought the 49ers should have sat Ray McDonald (with pay) until there was some kind of resolution to his pending legal troubles. Had I known how ridiculously long this all would have dragged out and how little evidence would actually come forth, I would have thought differently, but you know what they say about hindsight.
Today, we learn that there likely won't be any charges against McDonald at all (although the DA is now saying no decision has been made). Certainly there have been a lot of developments in the story over the last 2 months, but still very few facts have surfaced that have given us real insight as to what took place at Ray's big birthday bash.
We know cops were there, some who were supposed to be, some who weren't. We know cops had been there before and somewhat recently, in response to Ray's significant other drawing a firearm on him. Aside from those things, we're left to only guess at what happened that night and truly what's been happening between the 49ers, the SJPD, and the District Attorney's office these past 8 weeks.
I'm not exactly holding my breath in hopes that we'll ever really know what took place the night of August 31st, the truth of what happened there is in some pretty muddy waters and that could be due in no small part to the team's relationship with SJPD. My major question at this point is; what the hell is taking so long?
I know nothing moves terribly quickly in the judicial system but after 2 whole months nobody can decide whether or not they have enough ammunition to press charges on a routine case? Within this system, it would be wrong to have a player lose half his season while prosecutors make up their minds. I'm sure that no state or city official wants to be publicly giving different treatment to an athlete or celebrity, but with as visible as these men are now and the message it would send to the population if a player were allowed to play if actually guilty, I think there should be an expedited system for them to be ushered through the courts and a resolution can be found. It's definitely wrong to reap the benefits from a player who belongs in jail, but it's also wrong to strip a man of his right to work when months roll by and nobody can get any decisions made.
Between the Ray Rice situation, Hardy in Carolina, and our very own Ray McDonald, the NFL has shown zero consistency in what it expects and how it reacts to players going through legal issues. It's confusing, it's seemingly unfair to certain players, and it breeds even more contempt between the players and the league. Furthermore, the fans suffer and it affects the product on the field.
Even with the knowledge that the DA still considers this case open, it really feels like it's lost its steam and if charges were going to be filed, it would have happened already. Nevertheless, this pall has been hanging over that player and this team throughout the season. I think the leadership of the team has done a masterful job of tuning out distractions, if and when this thing is all over hopefully some change can come forth in regards to how all these things are handled. It's pretty obvious NFL players are not just like any other citizen. For better or worse, they should be treated differently.
