In 2006 Roger Goodell took over as commissioner of the National Football League as he replaced the retiring Paul Tagliabue. Goodell’s job was to simply keep the NFL machine going which meant to keep shoveling coal into the furnace of the league’s hypocrisy locomotive. Since beginning his reign as NFL commissioner, Goodell has continuously talked about “protecting the shield”, but all he has done is flex his muscles while continuing to be a stuntman for the NFL team owners. When Goodell took over as commissioner, he was faced with a rampant problem of NFL players being arrested. In 2007 Goodell suspended then Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones for the entire 2007 season following several arrests. Current New York Jets quarterback Michael Vick spent two years in federal prison for his role in a dog fighting ring. Vick was released in 2009 and instead of Goodell allowing Vick to immediately play, he suspended the quarterback for the first two games of that season.
For years the NFL has turned a blind eye to player safety until recently when some ex-players began to come forth about long-term injuries that they suffered during their playing careers. Some of the ex-players suffered severe injuries such as concussions that were not acknowledged by team physicians. Players were told that they could return to practice or games where their situations only worsened. For years ex-players were denied health benefits for their debilitating injuries while the league that they helped to build has blossomed into a $9.5 billion empire. Goodell and the NFL did nothing about this until recently when reports of the controversy began to spread like wildfire. Last year the NFL agreed to shell out $765 million to more than 4,400 retired players which is still a drop in the bucket when the NFL is raking in close to $10 billion a year and that financial number is expected to grow in the very near future.
Goodell consistently preaches player safety, but heading into the 2011 NFL Lockout, Goodell and the owners were pushing to increase the league’s regular season by two games. Naturally the players were against it due to the fact that they would be playing two more games while not getting an increase in pay. For the first three weeks of the 2012 NFL season, games were officiated by replacement refs as the league had locked out the regular game officials. The replacements refs were not respected by the players, media, and fans alike. There were numerous fights between players as these low level college officials were unable to take command on the field. The NFL and the owners were steadfast in using the replacement officials until Week 3 when the Green Bay Packers lost to the Seattle Seahawks on a controversial Hail Mary. By the next morning the regular NFL officials and owners had come to an agreement.
Situations such as these involving Goodell have drawn the ire of the NFLPA and he is in hot water with them once again.
This past March, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was arrested and charged with DUI and drug possession. Two months have gone by with Goodell being as quiet as a church mouse on the matter which is a huge embarrassment for both Irsay and the NFL. The NFLPA’s new president Eric Winston has already been critical of the way that Goodell has botched the controversy involving Irsay. Recently on Pro Football Talk, Winston said “I don’t understand why the discipline for an owner of one of these 32 teams that hold the shield of the league is compared to a 22-year old kid.” Winston’s words are prophetic and right on the money as front office personnel (especially team owners) are to be held to a different standard due to their status as organizational leaders.
In recent years there has been a push by many people to have the name of the Washington Redskins changed due to the fact that is offensive to Native Americans. Redskins owner Dan Snyder refuses to change the team’s name and Goodell has once again turned a blind eye to this matter involving an NFL owner in spite of the fact that steam is picking up for the movement to have the name changed.
It is understood that Goodell works for the owners, but as commissioner of the league, he has the autonomy to act as judge, jury, and executioner involving league matters. The more that Goodell continues to turn his back to issues involving the owners, the more of a rift that he is going to cause with NFL players. Unlike some of the previous NFLPA presidents, Winston appears ready for fight the league on some of these pressing issues which need to be addressed as far as Goodell’s authority goes on how he is disciplining players and the way that he is not reprimanding the owners. Publicly Goodell has painted a portrait of himself as a man that will bring down the hammer on the players, but he won’t upset the team owners who are writing his paychecks. To me Goodell sounds and acts like a man that will do just enough to keep his job and for a man that is the figurehead of the most powerful sports league in this country, that must change sooner rather than later.
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