Saturday, Aug. 15 (AM) – The general consensus is that from a football standpoint, Ray Rice would be a great fit – and a great fix – for the Browns’ troubled, even desperate, running back situation. But from a moral high ground, the general consensus is that he doesn’t fit in Cleveland — that, with the fact he is the face of domestic abuse in the NFL, he is a square peg in a round hole here. This is a working-class town, one in which real men don’t hit women – ever, for any reason. To do so is an ugly, disgusting act that makes you, in that moment, a real punk. While I respect all that – really, who wouldn’t, or couldn’t? – I content that if you’re standing on that moral high ground, you should be leading the charge to put Rice into a Browns uniform – regardless of his football acumen. Everybody makes mistakes, even the kind that embarrass us to the end of time. Those who are not on that list should cast the first football. I don’t see any footballs being flung. With that having been said, then, there is no true moral high ground that does not allow for those mistakes to be committed, and at some point for the person in question to be granted foregiveness. Rice has reached that point. He has apoligized any number of times for striking his then fiance. He has gone through all the prescribed steps of education and rehabilitation. He needs to be let back through the door – both professionally and personally – to have a second chance. We once had a president who did things that would make an ornery frat boy blush, yet he now gets thousands of dollars to make public appearances. Even a lot of hardened criminals get second chances. We are a society of second, third and fourth chances. The Browns need Rice. While head coach Mike Pettine and General Manager continue to say they’re going to be patient with young runners Terrance West and Isaiah Crowell, the fact of the matter is that these guys aren’t Mike Pruitt, Greg Pruitt, Kevin Mack or Earnest Byner. West and Crowell had decent but not great rookie seasons in 2014 and, it should be pointed out, came to Cleveland with some issues of their own. The clock is ticking toward the regular-season opener with the New York Jets. How much longer can the Browns afford to wait, and with it deny Rice a second chance that so many others have received?