Dave Brandon & Roger Goodell: Who deserves more heat?
Who do you think has handled their respective controversy better?
I would argue that Goodell has done a worse job at handling his issues: First, he chose to allow a star player to get off with a light punishment for knocking out his fiancé, after, he claims to not have seen the video or even been aware of its existance.
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^
They both suck at their jobs.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^
.............that BOTH their PR directors suck at their jobs. Everything that goes on in these high position, high exposure jobs is related to their capacity to "spin" the message to the media.
The PR departments have sucked.
The good PR departments - work for people and organizations that do bad things and screw the public over, but are able to convey a message that deflects or mutes the failure in a matter that we receive as "ok" .
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^
and the NFL is much, much larger than the Michigan football program or athletic department.
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:50 PM ^
It would be hard to make a case that Brandon has done anything morally reprehensible, with the exception of "hanging his coach out to dry." I'm all for him being gone, I just have trouble convincing myself that people are geniunely concerned about some of these other things (fireworks, flyovers, really really bad PR), rather than just being upset that we have lost 50% of our last 18 games.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:43 PM ^
It's a fact...
If we were winning national championships, no one would be calling for Brandon's job. Okay, 99% of people wouldn't.
You don't need to feel bad about it either...most everyone would shut up and go along with higher ticket prices and flyovers and UNIFORMZ and everything.
But that kind of shows you something about Brandon. He's not smart enough to simply understand "time and place."
Now is not the time to impliment or try these things, the team sucks, morale is down, people are upset. He should be smart enough to realize that...and if he's not, he's not fit to be AD.
Similar to Hoke, he's got to be smart enough to know some of the things he does/doesn't do isn't okay. How many times this week has someone said..."either he's a cold-hearted liar...in which he should be fired, or he's right, he wasn't aware of what was going on...which makes him an idiot and not fit to lead this program?"
Same concept with Brandon. You've got to be smart enough to say..."hey, not now...right now we need to focus on keeping people happy since the team is struggling."
Right now is the time an AD should be doing all kinds of things to make the PEOPLE happy. When you win, that's the time to make change...and you have the EASIEST justification. We're winnning. People understand that ticket prices go up when you're winning. People don't worry about new gameday experience ideas as much when you're winning.
It's not rocket science, but these two can't see to get it right.
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
...is more incompetent than these two put together on their worst days.
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
Roger Goodell's product is more profitable and popular than it has ever been; can't say the same for Dave Brandon
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
profitable? lets see the numbers at the end of the year.
popular? Michigan is dominating sports news right now, headlines everywhere...
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:01 PM ^
confused popularity with infamy.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:21 PM ^
Are you implying that Goodell is the reason the NFL makes money?
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
Goodell. Not even close. I'm no fan of Brandon and want him gone, but its offensive to him to even ask this question.
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
he exerts far more control over the process and has only 1 team to worry about (in football) vs. 32 for goodell who is an employee of the owners. ray rice isn't goodell's employee or player, he's a dude who viciously hit his wife in an elevator while on his personal time. bad stuff, but not as germane to goodell's job as shane's concussion and bru-ha-ha.
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
Did Dave Brandon ever solve this issue? he just released a dumb statement, and claimed it was over. Goodell is pretty dumb as well letting Rice off after knowing what happened. Both seem to be on the same level.
October 2nd, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^
David Brandon is capable of doing more damage to Michigan than Goodell is to the NFL.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
So the PR nightmare Dave Brandon has ignited is worse than allowing a player to skate on a light punishment for knocking out his fiancé?
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:10 PM ^
Brandon is awful but at least you can point to some accomplishments. Virtually everything Goodell has been involved with has been a failure and the league continues to make money in spite of him. I think the bubble is due to burst and 5 - 10 years from now we'll all look back and wonder what happened to the invincible NFL.
Michigan will be fine, a 10 win season or 2 will heal most of the wounds.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
From Michigan Fans - DB
From NFL Fans - RG
From fans of both Michigan and the NFL - Who the hell cares, they both suck at their jobs.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^
........... you should apply for one of these guys PR jobs!
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:44 PM ^
You'e being hypothetical and we're not going to work in hypotheticals.
October 2nd, 2014 at 3:38 PM ^
Hypothetically, if we were dealing in hypotheticals . . .
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^
Goodell in a mile. Brandon is bad at his job, but Roger seems like a sociopath.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^
I would argue cats are worse. First, cats might swat at the top hat, thimble, and little horse at multiple tables.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^
I've wondered why, if he's in trouble, isn't every mid-manager on up at every business in the US employing a criminal or someone charged w/ a crime? Why is he different?
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:30 PM ^
Anyone not answering goodell to this question need to rethink their view on life.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:38 PM ^
As much as I dislike Brandon, the stuff he does is pretty much duplicated in board rooms across America on a daily basis. There is nothing inherenly WRONG with it--it is just slimy, distateful and I wish it wasn't associated with my university.
Goodel on the otherhard annoited himself judge, jury and executioner over players for all kinds of minor offenses, then watched a star player beat the crap out of his fiance and essentially barely did anything about it. He pretty much brought this on himself. If you're giong to be known as the guy who constantly hands out big suspensions on stuff for "accountability" don't be surprised when people ask you to be accountable too.
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^
was judge/jury/executioner over and above the real court system, though. So if people are pissed, shouldn't they be pissed at the justice system 1st and foremost?
October 2nd, 2014 at 1:55 PM ^
Part of the problem here is that Goodell has been suspending players before they had due process in court for the past few years. So he kind of backed himself into a corner here. In the past, the sports leagues would generally wait (I believe) until the courts ruled on a case before they did something. But Goodell started strongly enforcing the NFL's perception and morality clauses, which means that now when something like this happens, even though the police/courts don't act, he is EXPECTED to.
He'd probably be in a lot better of a place if the NFL had a standing policy to defer to the courts before suspending someone, even if that was somewhat unpopular. Now you have an open can of worms around players who have open cases.
October 2nd, 2014 at 3:40 PM ^
Goodell. While we're not absolutely ~sure~ whether Brandon and Hoke covered up the Gibbons and Morris fiascos (or whether to chalk it up to incompetence), we do know that the NFL commish lied about the Ray Rice video.
October 2nd, 2014 at 4:17 PM ^
Goodell by a mile.