Yeah, I agree buddy. No use going around in circles.
I'm not claiming that I think he's a good commissioner, because he's not. I'm simply pointing out why the owners like him (money talks), and that he has done some things to make him more attractive in their eyes.
As far as hoping that he loses his job--I do. I'm just not holding my breath, because I think it's very unlikely to happen, that's all.
The owners like the fact that he stands up and lies and supports every stupid, dangerous and short sighted plan that might make them money in the short term, damn the long term consequences.
Some of them rightly think he has failed miserably even being a public punching bag, but none of them are going to spend a lot of time questioning him in public, because it isn't in their interest. That doesn't mean that some don't question him.
There is a faction, illustrated in that article, who are using him to push their agenda against other owners. It's a mess, as the article reveals.
In the article about Rozelle I linked, the 50 year sportwriter guy, it's mentioned that he was a compromise choice because they thought he could be manipulated. Fortunately for them and the sport, he was actually wise and had *"integrity*"
They need someone to protect them from themselves, much like other "expansion now, money now and consequences be damned" businessmen in other fields.
This is not an indictment of businessmen, you need to be aggressive and single minded to become a billionaire. Someone needs to regulate for the common good, Goodell is a buffoon, so the owners are intent on destroying themselves and the sport while he goes and lies and double talks and makes penalties for PR purposes while they run the thing off a cliff of over tired-injured players, concussions and stupid greedy expansions that won't work.
There are owners who question him. They know they are currently out numbered and it's not in their interest to speak up.
By the way, Kraft also thinks the sport is like a paper plant, you just buy more trees and factories and make more boxes. Problem is, football players aren't cardboard boxes.
You can't just go to 18 games, play on Thursdays with limited rest, fly back and forth to London regularly and ignore players using helmets like guided missiles without trying non hard shell helmets, appoint a comedian to supervise refs who now have no confidence to throw players out or call penalties that might be controversial, because they know a comedian is going to be changing their calls or undermining them after the fact.
If making it obvious that the league is corrupt, a farce and totally unconcerned with safety or consistency of punishments would cause an uproar, the league would have had to answer months or years ago. The public knows and they don't care.
Obviously, the league is going to have to police itself and hire a competent manager with some judgment and balls. Otherwise, I really think NFL football as the top spectator sport could be a thing of the past within decades.
