The NFL season is finally under way, but the biggest story
in sports is Ray Rice. I wish this was not a subject of conversation, but I
must express my opinion about it at least once. I could write about why
domestic violence is awful, but that goes without saying in my world. Instead,
I choose to call out NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for the cowardice he shows
on a regular basis now. For the most part, Goodell has done a good job as commissioner.
He was brought in initially for his law and order principles, and he actually
had credibility at first. His No Fun League policies may have irked fans, but
ultimately it helped the brand to have players handle themselves more
professionally. The constant threat of hefty fines and suspensions seemed to be
a good deterrent for bad behavior. I had no issue with the way Goodell recently
handled the Josh Gordon and Colts Jim Irsay suspensions. Gordon appealed his
season long suspension for his fourth drug violation by arguing that he only
had trace amounts of marijuana in his system. Goodell was right to uphold the
ruling because the CBA states that Gordon would face the proper suspension for
a fourth time offender. With Irsay, I was far more upset with the legal system
than Goodell. It is ridiculous that a rich white man with a car full of illegal
prescription pills did not receive any jail time, but that is a different
issue. Goodell did not have much leverage to suspend Irsay any more games. Last
week, Goodell implemented the new six game suspension doctrine for domestic violence.
Many people were surprised when he admitted to getting the original decision to
suspend Rice two games wrong. I was not surprised, however, because this is not
the first time I heard this from Goodell. When bountygate happened with the
Saints in 2012, he could not have been more stringent in his feelings against
the team. The Saints were fined $500,000 and lost two
second-round picks. GM Mickey Loomis was suspended for eight games. HC Sean
Payton was suspended for the year, former DC Gregg Williams was suspended
indefinitely, and assistant coach Joe Vitt was suspended for six games. LB
Jonathan Vilma was suspended for the year, DL Anthony Hargrove was suspended
for eight games, DE Will Smith was suspended for four games, and LB Scott
Fujita was suspended for three games. I agreed with the punishment, except for what
the players got. Coaches are paid to be leaders, and I believed Payton and
Williams were at fault. Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who was
appointed by Goodell to hear appeals, agreed that players were treated unfairly
and overturned Goodell’s ruling in December of 2012. Goodell did not have
authority to specifically suspend players for bounties without going through an
arbitrator, but he used a blanket “conduct detrimental” clause to get around
it. Vilma accused him of performing a shoddy investigation also. The fact that
Goodell never refuted the new findings was an admission of guilt in theory. He
took such a hard stance, only to wilt away and disappear when called out. I
knew then that he had no backbone.
The idiotic way Goodell handled
the Rice situation seems to exemplify who he really is. When the original video
outside the elevator surfaced in February, it was accompanied by a police
report stating that Rice struck his fiancé and knocked her unconscious. The
league had access to this information. Goodell, however, praised Rice for the
strides he was making to rehabilitate himself. Rice was granted a pre-trial
intervention so that he and his fiancé (now wife) could go to therapy. The
legal system sat on their hands too, but Goodell accepted this and moved on. I
believe that he just assumed that the legal system did its job and that the NFL
did not need to do a real investigation. The original two-game suspension was
ridiculous, but I defended the fact that a new six-game policy was instated
quickly. I also understood why Rice’s previously clean record would have made
the original ruling murky. I do not understand, however, why Goodell changed
everything after seeing the new tape from inside the elevator. Right after it
surfaced, the Ravens cut Rice and the NFL suspended him indefinitely. I
scratched my head at the suspension. What happened to six games? Where was this
outrage when you read the police report? Under the new policy, players like Ray
McDonald and Greg Hardy should get six games (McDonald may get more because the
woman was pregnant). If so, this would be significantly less than what Rice
received. This proves that Goodell thinks domestic violence is worse if it is
caught on tape. All of this might lead to a new policy where everybody guilty
of domestic violence gets an indefinite suspension. I would have no problem
with this, but I have no idea what the policy is currently. Goodell has shown
that he is the type of commissioner who could change policies every day based
on what television shows say about him. He should learn something from NBA
commissioner Adam Silver. When the Donald Sterling controversy happened, he
took a strong stance. He made a ruling, knowing that he would be accused of
overstepping his bounds. He stood firm, however, because he knew he was right
and that people would support him. By taking a real stance, he got the job
done. On the other hand, Goodell bumbles through any issue that he gets
questioned on. In the aftermath of the Josh Gordon issue, the league is
changing the marijuana threshold in the testing. This may be the right end
result, but it would be nice if it did not take Goodell eight tries to get
something right.
Goodell is defending himself by
saying he did not see the tape, but this is utter nonsense. He knew what
occurred because of the police report, but did nothing. He could have easily
gotten the tape from the casino or Rice’s defense team, but did not. Ignorance
was bliss for him, and now he’s caught in his own lie. I criticize MLB
commissioner Bud Selig all the time, but he exhausted every end in order to get
evidence in his PED investigations. The way Goodell investigates is by looking
at social media to see what people think about an issue, and decides after the
fact. He is spineless, and should lose his job. His credibility is gone, and I
assume every word out of his mouth is a lie. Terrell Suggs was accused of
horrific violence toward his wife, but the charges were dropped. I do not
believe Goodell even mentioned this at any point. All he cares about is his own
image. Everything he does moving forward is about repairing his own image, not
about the victim. If he did care about the victim at all, he would have taken a
real stance when the evidence was presented to him in March.
