Goodell is a prime example of the Peter Principle, according to which someone in an institution or a government ultimately rises up to a job at which s/he is incompetent.
Goodell was an extremely effective Counsel for the NFL. He had also carefully cultivated his relationships with the Owners over the years. When Tagliabue stepped down, the Owners turned to Goodell as a comfortable and trustworthy fit for a job that was generally viewed as having been handled quite well by his predecessor, following in the footsteps of giants like Rozelle and Bell. My problem with Goodell is not in What he did (unlike many out here, I thought that his resolution of the original Spygage crisis was heavy-handed but fair, thwarting as it did the frenzied calls by many for a Belichick Suspension or Game Forfeit). My problem, which has become more and more critical, is in How he has lost control of the story since February, allowing the Patriots and their Management and Owners to suffer a death by a thousand cuts.
Lawyers do not, however, always make the best Chief Executives, as Citigroup discovered from the abysmal performance of Chuck Prince. If the Walsh circus and a potential (even likely) collapse of the CBA this year inflict any more damage on the League, I think you will find the owners either quickly replacing Goodell or bringing in another person in a "Senior Advisor" capacity to fix the damage.
The irony, of course, in all of this is that the Owner who will have the greatest impact on the fate of the CBA is Bob Kraft, who saved it last time but who is not likely to be so inclined after suffering the consequences of Goodell's ineptitude.
