Imrem: Signing Ray Rice a complicated issue

Ray and Janay Rice continued their promotional tour Tuesday with another appearance on the “Today” show.

The married couple is making a case for Ray Rice to resume his career as an NFL running back after a suspension for the reprehensible act of domestic battery.

So let's create a hypothetical here: Heaven forbid Matt Forte suffers a career-ending injury Thursday night in the Bears' game against the Cowboys.

How would you feel if during the off-season the Bears signed Rice to replace Forte next year?

Some football fans believe this is a complicated question. Others believe it's uncomplicated. Still others wonder who Ray Rice is.

Would your decision on Rice depend on whether he was the missing piece to a championship? Would it depend on whether he could be an elite running back again? Would it depend on whether he completed an extensive counseling program?

Or would you not want him under any circumstances?

Professional sports are forgiving, and the NFL is perhaps the most forgiving. The league has given second chances to players involved in vehicular homicide, a dogfighting enterprise and all sorts of other serious crimes.

One common belief is teams would line up to sign O.J. Simpson if he were released from prison in his prime.

Winning matters in pro sports. Meritocracy always has dictated that an athlete will get a job if he can help contend for a championship.

The justice system dealt with Ray Rice, though not to the satisfaction of many. The NFL's process dealt with him, albeit clumsily. Janay Rice dealt with him, marrying him even after he punched her unconscious in an Atlantic City casino elevator.

Now, an appeal procedure has ruled that Ray Rice is eligible to play for any team desperate enough to risk the public-relations fallout.

The question stands: How would you feel if the Bears decided to sign Rice in the event Forte weren't available anymore?

This is the way I always thought it should be, which is different from the way it usually has been in the NFL.

In the past, Commissioner Roger Goodell would suspend a player for a transgression like drug abuse, gun violence, driving drunk, domestic battery or worse.

All at once, a player was prohibited from playing for any of the league's 32 teams.

Compare that to how the rest of the work world works, whatever the industry, show business or automobile sales or journalism or whatever.

If a bartender is fired for stealing from the register, another bar can hire him. If an bookkeeper is fired for cooking the books, another company can hire him. If a sports writer is fired for plagiarizing, lying to his bosses and cheating his readers, another news agency can hire him.

But in the NFL, players have been banned from the entire league, which essentially is being banned from the entire industry of pro football in the United States.

In Rice's case, however, he is free to sign with any of the 32 franchises and any of the 32 franchises is free to sign him.

If no team will have Rice, so be it, his career is over and he has to move on to the rest of his life.

But the old Raiders under Al Davis might have signed him (“Just win, baby”); Tony Dungy's holier than thou Buccaneers or Colts might have; the eccentric Jerry Jones' unconventional Cowboys might.

Personally, I'm conflicted, starting with the premise that Ray Rice deserves another chance if somebody like Pete Carroll, Rex Ryan or Bill Belichick is willing to take the heat …

And ending with, regardless of what the Rices reveal on their media tour, hoping that the running back's second chance comes with a team other than the Bears.

My hypothetical evolved into my hypocrisy, you see, which means I'm on the side of believing this issue is more complicated than it seems.