I am so fed up with Roger Goodell!
There was a time when I thought he was exactly what the NFL needed – not the empty suit that MLB is saddled with or the master manipulator who treated Baltimore like a street whore during the expansion process.
But right now, and I can’t believe these words are appearing on this page… I miss Paul Tagliabue.
Any relationship is grounded in trust. Take it away and there’s no relationship at all, only angst and contempt. Is there any compelling reason to trust Roger Goodell?
18 Game Schedule
He allegedly promotes player safety yet champions an 18 game schedule, claiming it’s what the fans want.
I call BS! Fans don’t want an 18 game schedule. They just don’t want to pay full sticker price for glorified practices dressed up as preseason games. And to suggest that this is want fans want is an insult to each and every one of us.
Just look at the Ravens roster and all their injuries. Then think about how they might look with an 18 game season. Let’s face it, the Ravens defense today IS a preseason defense. So with Goodell’s plan, they would just be taking the bad games from the preseason and adding them to the end of the season instead given the likely battered and bruised rosters.
Penalties & Fines
NFL officials are so amped up to throw flags whenever in doubt that it undermines the game’s integrity. What happened to calling what you see? Today the marching order seems to be, when in doubt throw the flag.
And the fines, my God they are ridiculous. Players can’t even fart on the field without expecting a FedEx letter from the league’s offices in Park Avenue.
Look let’s call these fines for what they are – the league building their defense case in the pending court battle with retired NFL players over post concussion syndrome issues.
Once again, it’s all about the money.
The Patriots
The golden boys of the NFL – Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots get off easy with their blatant cheating. This team and its powerful owner Robert Kraft, make the Black Sox Scandal by comparison look like misconduct on an elementary school playground with a scandal of their own, Spygate.
Yet the New England boys simply get a relative slap on the wrist for their crimes while Goodell destroys the evidence, deeming it detrimental to the game. What he meant to say was that for exposure of those tapes were detrimental to the overflowing coffers of the league’s bank account.
Bounty Gate
Goodell suspends players and coaches; severely tarnishes reputations; dishes out unprecedented fines; ruins careers; and then he can’t or won’t produce the evidence to support his dictator-like decision making. More law suits against the league pop up and as part of an effort to stave off further PR damage, ole Rog brings in his former boss Paul Tagliabue who then proceeds to unwind the suspensions of four players. Maybe Tags should never have vacated the office?
Proposals to Eliminate Kickoffs
Last season the NFL moved the kickoff line from the 30 to the 35. As a result only 53.5% of kickoffs were returned and according to competition committee reports, concussions dropped by 40%. That’s progress.
But now Goodell is championing a ridiculous idea that after a score, the kicking team would face a fourth and 15 from their own 30-yard line. They could choose to punt or go for it. Great idea! Let’s take away special teams jobs and one of the most exciting plays in football and substitute it with a punt.
Nice!
16 Playoff Teams
Count me among those who believe that 14 playoff teams is 2 too many. Now Goodell wants the field expanded to 16, exactly half the league’s teams. Great idea – let’s make the NFL’s regular season as meaningless as that of the NBA and the NHL. So if this owner’s slappy has his way, the regular season will expand by three weeks and the post season by one week.
March Madness might soon get competition from the NFL.
And the madness of Goodell might soon usher in competition for the discretionary income of fans.
And that will get the NFL where it hurts them the most — their wallet.
