Ray Rice says assault video doesn't define him, longs for return to NFL

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Ray Rice wants to repair his image after video of him hitting his now-wife Janay Palmer was released on the Internet last year.

Rice told  New York Magazine that his critics “just don’t know” who the running back really is.

Rice has lived in infamy since Valentine’s Day of last year when video emerged of him punching his then-fiancée, knocking her unconscious in an elevator, dragging her out and dumping her on the floor.

The incident was just one of many at a time when the NFL was under serious fire for several domestic violence and other criminal matters. Rice was then suspended by the NFL and cut from the Ravens, leaving him unemployed.

Rice insists, however, that he is “not ready to call it quits” and that after a year of therapy and healing with his family, he wants to come back to the NFL.

Rice also pointed in interviews to hardships in his past that led to his “horrible” decision that day.

“The hardest part for me was people who don’t know me at all were writing about me or talking about me,” Rice said to New York Magazine. “I understand the seriousness of what I did. But I’m like, ‘Man, they just don’t know who I am.’”

Although Rice has been eligible since December to return to the NFL, he has not been signed by any teams, whether because of his diminishing skill and age or because of the video of the incident. But Rice says he will continue to crusade to restore his image.