Media Report (unverified): The NFL had the Rice Elevator Tape in April

shmessy said:

Unfortunately this may affect the Patriots vis a vis Cameragate regarding the perception of how the NFL reports or disposes of what they have in an investigation.

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Only to people who already have the narrative written in their heads. Bountygate showed the absolute opposite of this: that Goodell will fabricate evidence and lie about the contents of what little evidence he has... if it suits his purposes to do so.

What all three incidents have in common is that they demonstrate how Goodell metes out punishment based entirely on what he thinks the public opinion is. With Spygate and Boutygate, the public outrage was there immediately, so he immediately went nuclear in his punishment. To the point that, when Bountygate was actually investigated, it was found that he didn't have the evidence or authority to give the punishments that he gave.

In this case, he thought that people wouldn't care much, so he under-punished. When the public outrage finally reached the point where he couldn't ignore it, he went back and retroactively issued the nuclear punishment for the same offense that was previously only worth 2 games.

Basically, he showed that he has no concept of judging based on actual evidence, or of proportionate response. That's the common thread through Spygate, Bountygate, and this.

Goodell had access to the tape whether law enforcement gave him it or not as Ray Rice actually had to have the tape because. It had to be provided to him to ready his defense, so all Goodell had to do was call him in, tell him he was requiring to see it before he would provide the sanctions against him, and that Rice would not be allowed back until he cooperated fully with their investigation. To date Goodell has not provided any answer as to why he simply didn't demand the tape from Rice.

FreeTedWilliams said:

The report says that the have a voicemail from a female NFL employee confirming that they got the video and "your right! it's terrible"

On this what will be the last day of the Roger Goodell regime, may I be the first to say, HA HA!

The only way the NFL comes out of this is to fire Goodell, and hire Condi Rice

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Wow, from bad to worse.

shmessy said:

Much as I hate to write this, but this may affect the Patriots vis a vis Cameragate regarding the perception of how the NFL reports or disposes of what they have in an investigation. This kind of thing can reopen the can of worms (and I DO mean worms) with the tinfoil posses who want to believe that the NFL covered up for the Pats in 2007.

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The damage is already done there, I'm afraid.

Unbelievable. I kid you not - - this was just tweeted by Roger Goodell as few minutes ago.



Roger Goodell ✔ @nflcommish
Keep sending me your ideas on how we can make the NFL better. I appreciate hearing from fans and want to know what you think.

PatsFanSince74 said:

If this turns out to be true, and we should wait to be sure, Goodell is in deep trouble. He either doesn't know what's going on in his own office or he's been lying through his teeth.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/10/ray-rice-video-nfl_n_5800126.html

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I am sure that if he is caught he will simply suspend himself with pay for two games

Ivan said:

Wow, from bad to worse.

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Without steering this into politics (I'm no fan of hers anyway)... how would Condi Rice be worse than Goodell? Just by having a pair of functioning brain cells to rub together, she's already better than he is.

This might actually bring him down.
*fingers crossed*

I can only imagine the pandemonium in the NFL offices on Madison Avenue right now.

shmessy said:

Unbelievable. I kid you not - - this was just tweeted by Roger Goodell as few minutes ago.



Roger Goodell ✔ @nflcommish
Keep sending me your ideas on how we can make the NFL better. I appreciate hearing from fans and want to know what you think.

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Resign.....

Salva135 said:

Think bigger picture here. This is BAD for Pats fans. Goodell officially involved in a cover-up takes the fire of SpyGate and throws gasoline all over it. The replies from other teams' fans are going to only get worse.

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Irrelevant. Completely irrelevant.

Nothing, nada, zilch, nothing, nothing, nothing will ever change the mind of anyone in this generation of football fans about Spygate. People have made their minds up, one way or the other.

************, Jehovah in the burning bush, Mohammed, Buddha and every other deity or near deity recognized anywhere on this planet could appear together in the sky and announce in every language spoken on the face of the planet that the Patriots were unfairly smeared by Spygate and no one on the other side of the issue would change their mind (or, vice versa!). What happens to Roger Goodell will have no impact on anyone's opinion.

FreeTedWilliams said:

The only way the NFL comes out of this is to fire Goodell, and hire Condi Rice

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Oh yeah, the NFL really needs Mushroom Cloud Condi. NOT!

Ivan said:

Resign.....

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Succinct and to the point!

Of course they had it! I just hope this ends Goodell's tenure. Do they expect us to believe that there was no camera running in a casino elevator? That the only thing viewable was from a camera outside the elevator? Give me a break.

PatsFanSince74 said:

Irrelevant. Completely irrelevant.

Nothing, nada, zilch, nothing, nothing, nothing will ever change the mind of anyone in this generation of football fans about Spygate. People have made their minds up, one way or the other.

************, Jehovah in the burning bush, Mohammed, Buddha and every other deity or near deity recognized anywhere on this planet could appear together in the sky and announce in every language spoken on the face of the planet that the Patriots were unfairly smeared by Spygate and no one on the other side of the issue would change their mind (or, vice versa!). What happens to Roger Goodell will have no impact on anyone's opinion.

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Wrong. Down here in Maryland, I can safely say that approximately 20-30% of folks I talk to are pretty much on the fence about Cameragate - - whether there was anything else that was destroyed by the NFL that would have been any different than what was made public. Something like this gives fuel to the Easterbrooke idiots and can change perceptions of those 20-30%.

This does not help. Buy Alcoa stock, because there will be a run on tinfoil.

BradyFTW! said:

Without steering this into politics (I'm no fan of hers anyway)... how would Condi Rice be worse than Goodell? Just by having a pair of functioning brain cells to rub together, she's already better than he is.

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And, whether we agree or disagree with her politics (and I mostly disagree), she actually accomplished something outside of the offices of the NFL in some pretty fancy places, like Stanford, the White House and Foggy Bottom. I'm as blue a democrat as you will find, but I think she would be a perfect commissioner at this time, if Goodell is forced to resign.

shmessy said:

Wrong. Down here in Maryland, I can safely say that approximately 20-30% of folks I talk to are pretty much on the fence about Cameragate - - whether there was anything else that was destroyed by the NFL that would have been any different than what was made public. Something like this gives fuel to the Easterbrooke idiots and can change perceptions of those 20-30%.

This does not help. Buy Alcoa stock, because there will be a run on tinfoil.

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I can''t debate that with you since we're both dealing with anecdotal evidence based on our personal experiences; in other words, your sample is your sample and my sample is my sample and neither of us can dispute the other. I meet folks from all over the country all the time and your 20--30% sample is inconsistent with my experience (unless you're talking to folks near Annapolis where the Belichick roots run deep).

We'll just have to disagree.

PatsFanSince74 said:

I can''t debate that with you since we're both dealing with anecdotal evidence based on our personal experiences; in other words, your sample is your sample and my sample is my sample and neither of us can dispute the other. I meet folks from all over the country all the time and your 20--30% sample is inconsistent with my experience (unless you're talking to folks near Annapolis where the Belichick roots run deep).

We'll just have to disagree.

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My sample is r/NFL, according to which all but the lunatic fringe of NFL fans stopped giving a **** about Spygate 5+ years ago. I think we have a tendency to dwell on the crazies here, when the fact is most fans recognize that Spygate, whatever it was, was definitely overblown by the media.

Besides, if anyone wants to claim that this is proof that Goodell hides evidence, you can always just cite Bountygate as proof that he exaggerates and outright fabricates evidence. There is no apparent pattern in that respect. The only pattern is Goodell's inability to mete out punishment according to anything other than public opinion.

newenglandsports11 said:

Hate hate hate the excuse he can't be fired because of how much money "he is bringing" to the game. In reality, the NFL is making money in spite of him. Doubt the owners would see this and doubt they'd vote him out. Has to resign...

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Everyone is expendable.

Goodell should be fired for Goodell has impugned the integrity of the office of the commissioner.

Triumph said:

Why would Godell only give Rice 2 games when he saw what occurred in the elevator?

Most times he has given a stronger sentence and then reduced it later.

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The theory I've heard is that this is what the owners wanted because they ALL have a Ray Rice on their rosters. WHo knows.

But as I said yesterday, Goodell put himself on the record with CBS and now he's f**cking toast.