brutal article on Goodell/NFL

[RobertWeathers]

Has the NFL reached a point in the public's eye where they need a Kenesaw Mountain Landis? I don't think so - that will happen when there is a congressional or federal investigation. Not that Landis was a prize; far from it, but the one thing he could do was keep the MLB owners in line. I suppose Mussolini might be an apt comparison, as he did keep the trains running on time.... Anyway, preferably it will be someone with the power and independence of Landis but actual moral standing and long-term vision.

Like Goody, KM Landis was also very arbitrary in his punishments.

However, Landis had a strong ethical and moral code and knew the law- unlike Zippy Goody.

 

[HeadHunter]

Goodell is a giant ****ing piece of ****. He does need to go.

As a woman, those comments from the owners DISGUST me. "Oh yeah, we knew he beat her but not to what extent." I'm sorry, WHAT?!?!?! It should not matter. And then the Ratbirds saying "Ohhh we thought he just smacked her around a little and didn't use a closed fist." Are you kidding me?!?!? Abuse is abuse. and should all be punished in the same manner. I personally think it should be a zero tolerance policy in the NFL but that will never happen.

Thank God I root for a team whose leadership would dump any piece of **** like Brown, Rice or Hardy and never look back.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Like Goody, KM Landis was also very arbitrary in his punishments.

However, Landis had a strong ethical and moral code and knew the law- unlike Zippy Goody.

Exactly. Thinking about Deflategate -- in the abstract, Landis would have suspended Brady and punished the Patriots without clear evidence just like Goodell did. The difference is that Landis would never have let it get to that point to begin with. He would have launched an investigation but have kept it completely under wraps. He wouldn't have been looking to pin an event on someone and had the investigation focus on that; rather his investigation would have focused on the facts and the truth. His punishment wouldn't have been driven by any media hysteria, but it definitely would have been concerned with the public's view of the game's integrity. He wouldn't have changed his punishment rationale as time went on. I think ultimately Deflategate itself would have led to no punishment if Landis were in charge of everything from top to bottom, but I do think he would have made it clear to the entire Patriot organization that if there's even a hint of stepping out of line, he would go nuclear on anyone and everyone under the "best interest of football" clause he would have insisted on having in his powers.

 

[BTTA]

Tony, this is really insightful, and reshapes the entire conversation IMHO. Particularly the second paragraph; it is the equivalent of threatening to sue an accuser - the financial and emotional consequences often outweigh the possible gains of coming forward.

Roger has handled Domestic Violence issues so poorly that it has to be intentional. I'm sure he has either never contacted NCADV for guidance with these issues or ignored it. What he has accomplished is shutting the door on a very powerful leverage tool to help both the victims and the abusers.

A few of the many reasons victims stay with their abusers are related to financial security, children (and the fear of losing them) and lifestyle. Roger has essentially turned their fears into a reality. "If you speak up we will suspend your spouse forever and you will lose everything."

Ironically or sadly if he had handled this properly many of the unknown abuse cases would come to light and the abusers would be forced into treatment not only setting a tone within the NFL but also sending a message to men and women nationally.

The penalty should include a short suspension (4 games?) coupled with mandatory counseling, public speaking and should not be a lifetime ban initially.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Start bringing in $40m+ a year, and you might find Mrs RW becoming much more comfortable with some misbehavior on your part.

I dunna know.....she holds me to much too high of a standard.

 

[1960Pats]

Goodell is a giant ****ing piece of ****. He does need to go.

As a woman, those comments from the owners DISGUST me. "Oh yeah, we knew he beat her but not to what extent." I'm sorry, WHAT?!?!?! It should not matter. And then the Ratbirds saying "Ohhh we thought he just smacked her around a little and didn't use a closed fist." Are you kidding me?!?!? Abuse is abuse. and should all be punished in the same manner. I personally think it should be a zero tolerance policy in the NFL but that will never happen.

Thank God I root for a team whose leadership would dump any piece of **** like Brown, Rice or Hardy and never look back.

Fraudger and the owners support women's issues. They have the players wearing pink for a whole month.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Exactly. Thinking about Deflategate -- in the abstract, Landis would have suspended Brady and punished the Patriots without clear evidence just like Goodell did. The difference is that Landis would never have let it get to that point to begin with. He would have launched an investigation but have kept it completely under wraps. He wouldn't have been looking to pin an event on someone and had the investigation focus on that; rather his investigation would have focused on the facts and the truth. His punishment wouldn't have been driven by any media hysteria, but it definitely would have been concerned with the public's view of the game's integrity. He wouldn't have changed his punishment rationale as time went on. I think ultimately Deflategate itself would have led to no punishment if Landis were in charge of everything from top to bottom, but I do think he would have made it clear to the entire Patriot organization that if there's even a hint of stepping out of line, he would go nuclear on anyone and everyone under the "best interest of football" clause he would have insisted on having in his powers.

If how Landis's handling of the Babe Ruth/barnstorming controversy is any indication, as long as Brady was, well Brady he would have fined him and had a casual 1:1 to smooth over the matter. It never would have taken the path it did. Never.

I do believe that KM Landis would tell the other owners to go F themselves and not cave into their ********.

 

[Koma]

The point is they will willingly follow him/allow him to lead as long as they believe that projection to be attainable. That is all they care about. Nothing else. They obviously haven't gotten to the point yet as to where they think he is damaging the product enough to hurt profits.

It's probably impossible to quantify, but I really wonder if the owners consider where their progress to that $25 billion goal would be without this parade of avoidable controversies.

Do they look at how other leagues handle things? For example, Derrick Rose went through a civil trial over an alleged rape recently and the NBA commissioner didn't involve himself or take any actions that led to more coverage of the situation than it was already receiving.

Also, MLB had an executive from one team hack the database of another. That guy is either going to or is already in jail. Baseball handled this in a very low key manner. I don't think the team involved was even punished. There definitely wasn't an excessive penalty that led people to question if the games are on the level.

The NFL is more popular, so it's going to get more attention, but it shouldn't be as difficult as Goodell and company make it to keep that from being negative attention.

 

[patfanken]

Actually I disagree with the pessimism of Roger getting fired. I'm really starting to believe that perception of the current commissioner is almost universally negative with the general public. For a very unscientific example, over at PFT, when Florio writes a negative post on Fraudell, the comments from fans will be UNANIMOUSLY negative toward Fraudell.

No one trusts what he says anymore, not the fans, not the players, NO ONE. This negativity is quickly reaching a critical mass where PR methods can no longer control the narrative. I personally think we have REACHED that critical mass. I think Roger is currently on borrowed time and the owners are merely trying to figure out how to get rid of this polarizing figure. Actually polarizing is the wrong word here, because to be polarizing there has to be people on the OTHER side. There ARE no people defending Fraudell in any way close to the way people are attacking him.

Finally there is the upcoming new CBA. Changes ARE going needed to be made in order to improve the poor product that the last CBA created, a new TV deal, and both sides learning to live with LESS money. Having Fraudell in the room will be impossible given the contentious relationship he has with NFLPA, and there will be no Bob Kraft this time to bail him out of the mess he made of the 2011 deal. (at least I hope not) So for that reason alone I felt Goodell would be gone within a couple of years in some PR spun golden handshake deal in order to get a fresh face into the negotiations. However the way the media is jumping on him (this is NOT going to be the last scathing article that going to be written calling for his head), I think the time frame for Fraudger's demise has been accelerated.

JMHO

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

A few of the many reasons victims stay with their abusers are related to financial security, children (and the fear of losing them) and lifestyle. Roger has essentially turned their fears into a reality. "If you speak up we will suspend your spouse forever and you will lose everything."

The other sad reality is some women are simply attracted to violent thugs. Last I read, Janay Rice is still with Ray Rice even though he's out of a job. If I remember correctly, she didn't want to press any charges against him.

It's certainly an embarrassment and a PR problem to the league when this stuff becomes public, but it's naive to believe that the league can really do all that much to actually solve the issue of domestic violence. Fines/suspensions may have some limited deterrent effect but they're certainly not going to make these kinds of problems go away and it's really all about send a message.

These penalties are really all about the league making it clear that it doesn't condone this sort of behavior. Since the league is run by a certified moron who issues wildly inconsistent penalties, the light penalties to teams/player in Goodell's good grace are going to be interpreted as a message saying be that "we don't take domestic violence seriously."

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Fraudger and the owners support women's issues. They have the players wearing pink for a whole month.

and the owners make money on it.. We had a thread last year on the creative accounting (50% merchandise overhead etc....) used by the NFL so pennies go to breast cancer groups from merchandise sold.....

 

[RobertWeathers]

It's probably impossible to quantify, but I really wonder if the owners consider where their progress to that $25 billion goal would be without this parade of avoidable controversies.

Do they look at how other leagues handle things? For example, Derrick Rose went through a civil trial over an alleged rape recently and the NBA commissioner didn't involve himself or take any actions that led to more coverage of the situation than it was already receiving.

Also, MLB had an executive from one team hack the database of another. That guy is either going to or is already in jail. Baseball handled this in a very low key manner. I don't think the team involved was even punished. There definitely wasn't an excessive penalty that led people to question if the games are on the level.

The NFL is more popular, so it's going to get more attention, but it shouldn't be as difficult as Goodell and company make it to keep that from being negative attention.

I firmly believe that if Goody chose to excuse the NFL from punishing players for off-the-field issues, they would be just like MLB or the NBA.

Tags and Pete Rozelle followed the same strategy.

 

[Jangles]

All of you fools aren't missing what's most important here

Never again will anybody think twice about messing with how much air is in the football. So for that we can be thankful

 

[RobertWeathers]

Actually I disagree with the pessimism of Roger getting fired. I'm really starting to believe that perception of the current commissioner is almost universally negative with the general public. For a very unscientific example, over at PFT, when Florio writes a negative post on Fraudell, the comments from fans will be UNANIMOUSLY negative toward Fraudell.

No one trusts what he says anymore, not the fans, not the players, NO ONE. This negativity is quickly reaching a critical mass where PR methods can no longer control the narrative. I personally think we have REACHED that critical mass. I think Roger is currently on borrowed time and the owners are merely trying to figure out how to get rid of this polarizing figure. Actually polarizing is the wrong word here, because to be polarizing there has to be people on the OTHER side. There ARE no people defending Fraudell in any way close to the way people are attacking him.

Finally there is the upcoming new CBA. Changes ARE going needed to be made in order to improve the poor product that the last CBA created, a new TV deal, and both sides learning to live with LESS money. Having Fraudell in the room will be impossible given the contentious relationship he has with NFLPA, and there will be no Bob Kraft this time to bail him out of the mess he made of the 2011 deal. (at least I hope not) So for that reason alone I felt Goodell would be gone within a couple of years in some PR spun golden handshake deal in order to get a fresh face into the negotiations. However the way the media is jumping on him (this is NOT going to be the last scathing article that going to be written calling for his head), I think the time frame for Fraudger's demise has been accelerated.

JMHO

I agree with you but from what I am reading people agree with you but are not confident that the league power brokers are motivated to make a chance.

But seriously, do the owners REALLY want their fans to hate their commissioner? Where is the value in that?

The argument is that NHL owners couldn't care less if their fans hate Gary Betteman because he does his job in a low-key way.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

But isn't this all what he was hired to do? Be the League bullseye for all the owners' greed and immoral behavior...?

Exactly right. He's getting paid 40 big ones a year to take the hits for them. As I have said many times, to the Owners he is the "hired help." There are a dozen other craven, greedy, amoral, value-free executives who would take his job in a heartbeat for that kind of money.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I agree with you but from what I am reading people agree with you but are not confident that the league power brokers are motivated to make a chance.

But seriously, do the owners REALLY want their fans to hate their commissioner? Where is the value in that?

The argument is that NHL owners couldn't care less if their fans hate Gary Betteman because he does his job in a low-key way.

You hit the nail on the head. The Owners want the public to hate Goodell.

"Where is the value in that?" If they hate Goodell they won't turn on them.

People have sold their souls for a hell of a lot less than $40 million a year.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

In terms of his job security, Goodell doesn't have to worry about the public reaction to Rice, Deflategate, Josh Brown, etc., etc. All he has to worry about explaining to the Owners are the declining ratings. Once he can't explain them away he is toast. That's why he hired Joe Lockhart.

Goodell is getting a one time "pass" this year because the Owners are dumb enough that he can deflect blame for the decline onto Kaepernick and the Election. If ratings continue to fall off the cliff next year, he will be gone.

 

[jeffro]

Thank God I root for a team whose leadership would dump any piece of **** like Brown, Rice or Hardy and never look back.

Be careful believing that the Krafts are perfect on this.
Bengals' Dillon Arrested

 

[RobertWeathers]

You hit the nail on the head. The Owners want the public to hate Goodell.

"Where is the value in that?" If they hate Goodell they won't turn on them.

People have sold their souls for a hell of a lot less than $40 million a year.

I'm not totally sold on the owners WANT the public to hate Goodell. I think it would be their preference that he is liked and beloved such as Rozelle and respected like Tags.

With that said, he was propped up as "The Enforcer" and "Protector of the Shield" and when you do that, there is nowhere to go but down.......and he has gone down.

The owners hired Goody to take the bullets so they can stay insulated from the crap the league does behind the scenes. I think in the owner's estimation, his unpopularity is the cost of doing business.

It is fascinating to watch how it's all orchestrated.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I seriously wonder what his wife thinks. If I behaved that way Mrs RW would kill me if not divorce me. maybe she would kill me then divorce me?

Maybe this comes from living in NYC for too long, but, in my experience, the Myra Krafts of the world are the exception to the rule. Most spouses of people making eight figure salaries can only see the life of private jets, drivers and multiple vacation homes; they tend to look the other way when it comes to what their significant other is actually doing to earn the money that buys them the lifestyle to which they quickly become accustomed.

I am happy for you that you married a person with a moral compass.