OT: Rozelle vs. Goodell from a 51-year reporter

QuantumMechanic · Dec 14, 2015

Interesting interview with Jags beat writer Vito Stellino, who has been covering the NFL for 51 years. A couple of questions touched on the difference between Rozelle and Goodell:

VRENTAS: The Karras and Hornung suspensions for betting on NFL games were often referenced earlier this year, before Tom Brady's Deflategate discipline was overturned.

STELLINO: And, of course, Deflategate turned out to be nothing. It’s a great example of the difference between Roger Goodell and Pete Rozelle. Hornung and Karras were actually guilty. We don’t know what happened in Deflategate. There’s no evidence anything did happen. They should have shut it down. They should have issued a statement the day the Colts complained, saying, “We have never tested balls at halftime in a game and we don’t know what happens in cold weather. We’ll look into it next year.” Everybody would have forgotten about it. Instead, they turned it into this unbelievable thing that they are still appealing. Now the NFL is comparing it to the 1919 Black Sox. The Black Sox threw the World Series. Even if the Patriots did it—and there is no evidence they did—they were trying to win. The comparison is just unbelievable.

VRENTAS: You’ve covered both men as commissioner. What are the differences between Rozelle and Goodell in your experience?

STELLINO: Rozelle was a natural leader. And he had a great sense of, We work for the teams, the teams don’t work for us. With Goodell, it’s like the teams work for him. And Rozelle would always say, “We kick off at 1 o’clock on Sundays.” He was into the football. Goodell is into the marketing and all this other stuff. There’s never a sense of what’s too much. Now, nothing is too much. He wants to play 18 games. He’s been very slow on the concussion issue, which is still a major problem. And then, of course, so many things like Deflategate; and Bountygate, which he turned into an unbelievable thing until finally Paul Tagliabue had to say enough is enough, and lifted the [player] suspensions. Rozelle had a deft touch. They had some Thursday night games under Rozelle, and he decided that was too much, and they shut it down. He kind of decided, you can’t overexpose, and you want people to anticipate things. Now it is back, and now they play every Thursday night.

Talking Football with longtime NFL scribe Vito Stellino | The MMQB with Peter King

venecol · Dec 14, 2015

Best part is when he says Rozelle was into football, Goodell is into marketing. So true and all the difference you need to know about. Good post.

turkeyneck · Dec 14, 2015

venecol said:
Best part is when he says Rozelle was into football, Goodell is into marketing.

Without reading the whole article, I was going to say much the same thing. Rozelle loved football, Goodell loves money.

reflexblue · Dec 14, 2015

QuantumMechanic said:
Interesting interview with Jags beat writer Vito Stellino, who has been covering the NFL for 51 years. A couple of questions touched on the difference between Rozelle and Goodell:

Talking Football with longtime NFL scribe Vito Stellino | The MMQB with Peter King

Ive been saying this for years. There is no comparison between goodell and rozell and tagliabo. You very rarely heard from Rozell and Tagliabo, they stayed in the background dealing with issues. Goodell seems to think the game revolves around him and his office, hes always putting himself in the news except when hes hiding out after one of his decisions blows up on him. Hes the worst thing that has happened to football EVER.

Tony2046 · Dec 14, 2015

I am curious about how the owners feel. Goodell's entire tenure has been filled with conspiracies and scandals.

I know it is wishful thinking but I hope that with an appeal loss in court and a hopefully negative PR hit via the concussion movie that the owners will decide to cut their losses and get rid of Goodell.

upstater1 · Dec 14, 2015

Thursday night really is crud.

PatriotsInGA · Dec 14, 2015

Tony2046 said:
I am curious about how the owners feel. Goodell's entire tenure has been filled with conspiracies and scandals.

I know it is wishful thinking but I hope that with an appeal loss in court and a hopefully negative PR hit via the concussion movie that the owners will decide to cut their losses and get rid of Goodell.

He's making them too much money for them to really care. Al Davis was really the only owner who openly opposed the commissioners office anyway, so I can't see any owner rising up above and calling out Roger

Archeryaddict12 · Dec 14, 2015

Tony2046 said:
I am curious about how the owners feel. Goodell's entire tenure has been filled with conspiracies and scandals.

I know it is wishful thinking but I hope that with an appeal loss in court and a hopefully negative PR hit via the concussion movie that the owners will decide to cut their losses and get rid of Goodell.

Owners are making money like you can't believe, they love goodell

patfanken · Dec 14, 2015

Unfortunately this is a very wise and insightful article coming from a man with over 50 years of perspectiive watching the game grow, explode, and now stand on the precipice. The unfortunate part is that it is unlikely his warnings will be listened to. He certainly nailed his characterization of Roger Goodell in all his flaws as he drags the NFL down a path they won't recover from.

dales804 · Dec 14, 2015

upstater1 said:
Thursday night really is crud.

It's a poor product but people watch it so the NFL will continue with those. Money is everything to them.

Joey007 · Dec 14, 2015

turkeyneck said:
Without reading the whole article, I was going to say much the same thing. Rozelle loved football, Goodell loves money.

We need a guy back in control that loves football. Plain and simple.

Kontradiction · Dec 14, 2015

Goodell has quickly surpassed Bud Selig as the worst commissioner in the history of American professional sports. The over saturation of the NFL is working swimmingly now, but it's eventually going to come back and bite the league in the ass.

Tony2046 · Dec 14, 2015

PatriotsInGA said:
He's making them too much money for them to really care. Al Davis was really the only owner who openly opposed the commissioners office anyway, so I can't see any owner rising up above and calling out Roger

Archeryaddict12 said:
Owners are making money like you can't believe, they love goodell

Do you think they are making money because of Goodell or despite of Goodell?

varjao · Dec 14, 2015

There's not a product in this world that can't be ruined, Goodell apparently is testing it to the limits.

The fallacy that the league never made so much money, is this, a fallacy, the league would make as much money without Goodell.

Koma · Dec 14, 2015

The key lines, to me:

We don’t know what happened in Deflategate. There’s no evidence anything did happen. They should have shut it down. They should have issued a statement the day the Colts complained, saying, “We have never tested balls at halftime in a game and we don’t know what happens in cold weather. We’ll look into it next year.”

Someone in the media should be digging into why this didn't happen. The league has no problem minimizing or burying other things, why go all out in this situation?

They could have said something similar to Stellino's suggestion during the 2 weeks after the AFCCG. They could have gotten all of their ducks in a row, got Mort, Peter King, and their merry band of media stooges on board and said this with the release of the Wells report. The best part is that they would have been telling the truth. Instead, they did the opposite, for a situation that they went into blindly and where they had no evidence of any wrongdoing.

The league has created a scenario where, if enough owners are tired of or jealous of a successful team, they'll use the commissioner to take them down over nothing. And no one in the NFL offices has the integrity to tell them "No." That's a bigger scandal than anything the Patriots, or any other team, has ever done.

TheFlyingWedge · Dec 14, 2015

Vito Stellino is the ultimate Patriot hater who especially despises Belichick. Its surprising to hear him be so dismissive and critical of deflategate. He must really hate Roger.

The Gr8est · Dec 14, 2015

QuantumMechanic said:
Interesting interview with Jags beat writer Vito Stellino, who has been covering the NFL for 51 years. A couple of questions touched on the difference between Rozelle and Goodell:

Talking Football with longtime NFL scribe Vito Stellino | The MMQB with Peter King

Wow, someone who looks at the evidence on Deflategate instead of the spin.

Love it!

Patsfanin Philly · Dec 14, 2015

The well of TV revenue is not infinite. Watch how cable is losing viewers to alternative streaming forms and ask if the networks will ( or can afford to) pay the next big contract.. Will ESPN overpay for the crap game weekly?? It will be interesting when Goodell demands billions more and the networks decide they cant afford it and decide not to get in a bidding war.....The golden goose wont be so golden...

pheenix11 · Dec 14, 2015

I remember when I was a kid they had something called the All Pro Club. You tell them your favorite team and they send you this certificate and some cool photos of your team and a membership card and all kinds of cool stuff. It was either free or very cheap. I was so proud of mine that I hung it on my wall.

I can just imagine the 2nd mortgage I'd have to take out to get something similar out of the NFL today.

Silver Blue&Red · Dec 14, 2015

reflexblue said:
Ive been saying this for years. There is no comparison between goodell and rozell and tagliabo. You very rarely heard from Rozell and Tagliabo, they stayed in the background dealing with issues. Goodell seems to think the game revolves around him and his office, hes always putting himself in the news except when hes hiding out after one of his decisions blows up on him. Hes the worst thing that has happened to football EVER.

Exactly. I barely even knew there was a commish till noodle **** got in there. Now he thinks he's a rock star. Kraft and co. helped with that mess

OT: Rozelle vs. Goodell from a 51-year reporter

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