Goodell's Mounting Blunders

        To all the Green Bay Packers fans, please address all your death threats, hate mail and other complaints, to Roger Goodell. HE’s the one who screwed you. Not the officials who are doing the best they can in an impossible situation. Not to the Seahawks who are going to take a win regardless of who dubious the circumstance. Not even to the owners, though they do need a solid kick in the butt to get going.

        While Goodell does work for the owners, his job to protect the interests of the league. That’s why he was so highly praised for his player conduct policy, because he was protecting the interests of the league regardless of the teams which are hurt by it. But between the lockout of the player’s last year that almost cost a season and the current joke that is the officiating as a result of another lockout, how can anyone even remotely come close to saying that Roger Goodell is not the worst commissioner in the league’s history?

       Goodell talks so much about protecting the shield, yet whenever the integrity of the game comes into conflict with the owner’s (and headquarters) pocket books, that mantra goes out the window. As commissioner, Goodell should be guiding the owners to make deals that benefit everyone and keep the league operating at top efficiency, even if it sacrifices what the owners want at times. But, it’s become clear with his hardline stances and questionable decisions at the negotiating table, that Goodell is little more than the owners’ patsy.

        Goodell played hardball through the negotiations with the players hoping to drive away concerns about his totalitarian control over the discipline system and bully the players into taking less money. When the player’s fought back, the NFL lost a preseason game and underwent a more serious PR assault than any player arrest could have caused. At the end of it, a deal was struck and it came off very much like a deal Paul Tagliabue and Gene Upshaw would’ve reached several months prior and with far less public scrutiny.

A year later, the news of the Saints bounty scandal was released. While Goodell acted promptly and correctly in the suspensions of the coaches involved, his attacks on the four players who were suspended were ill-conceived and poorly handled. The appeals process was treated as the sham it is and the NFL found itself in court again. Goodell’s comfort in being able to simply bully players into quiet acceptance was challenged by Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita. When the dust figuratively cleared, Goodell was sitting on his butt with a bloody nose while the players returned to their teams. While this particular example hasn’t really been concluded yet, Goodell’s absolute power to rule on player suspension has successfully been superseded. No matter how the situation ends, Goodell is going to come out of this with a major weakness in his armor being exposed.

        The NFL needs the regular refs back. That really goes without saying. Will they get them back? Well that question should really be, will the NFL pony up to the regular officials demands? With Goodell as the commissioner and the only team to have lost a game as a direct result of the officials also being the only team which is publically owned, I doubt it. The official’s demands for fair pay and pensions that would reflect their new status as full time employees are just too unyielding and demanding for the owners to relent to. And Goodell just can’t go against the owners or try to convince them that the regular officials need to be back ASAP. That’s just crazy talk.

        With luck, the owners will realize what a mistake they’ve made and try to rectify it soon, because Goodell sure as hell won’t. It would behoove the leadership of both the Player’s Association and the Owners to simple have Goodell removed from power and a new commissioner brought in.