OT- Roger Goodell
Many at ESPN are calling for Goodell to resign over the Ray Rice situation. Unless he lied about not seeing the video footage, I really do not get what he has done that would justiffy him losing his job. I know people have strong opinions on this, am I off base in thinking this is quickly getting out of hand? (Keep in mind, I agree that Rice should have been let go by the Ravens and he should have initially been suspended for at least a year).
September 11th, 2014 at 9:18 AM ^
September 11th, 2014 at 1:43 PM ^
Totally different situation. Peyton -- a head coach -- was claiming that he didn't know that his players, assitant coaches, etc. had in place a detailed program compensating players for dirty hits during games. In that situation, ignorance would not be an excuse otherwise a head coach could get away with literally anything. Not the same as Goodell not knowing that someone allegedly sent the NFL offices a tape . . . not the same at all. I would expect such logic from an OSU student, not from someone who went to Michigan . . . .
September 11th, 2014 at 2:54 PM ^
There is such a thing as the corporate receipt doctrine in the law.
September 11th, 2014 at 5:24 PM ^
Yep, however, this is not a legal proceeding. Far from it.
September 11th, 2014 at 9:36 AM ^
Goodell is just the trendy person to hate now. All disgust should be on Rice and only Rice. He is the one who cold-cocked a woman.
You can certainly criticize Goodell for being too lenient in the first place (although I'd focus my criticism on the judge/prosecutor who let him off with a pre-trial diversion program after knocking his girlfriend unconscience and then dragging her out of the elevator). Also weird how Harbaugh and the Ravens have escaped blame and were so eager to support him initially.
Since the mob/media has decided that Goodell only does wrong, they have jumped on this as their war cry (of the moment). A few months ago he was critcized for acting as a parallel legal system for suspending players for DUIs and other off the field conduct and now he is criticized for being too lenient in punishing someone for their off the field conduct.
September 11th, 2014 at 10:23 AM ^
If you weren't aware, Ray Lewis was was on the news self proclaiming himself as Ray Rice's "mentor". I got a semi-chuckle out of that.
September 11th, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^
I can be disgusted with Ray Rice and still be disgusted (though not on a parallel level) with Goodall. Its not an either/or. Our brains can do more than one thing at a time.
September 11th, 2014 at 10:05 AM ^
Whether or not he saw it, he's the classic powerful white guy out of touch with life. Remember the time he suspend TP for selling his gold pants? That's when I stopped respecting him.
September 11th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^
I mentioned this below in the thread, but I think the answer to "why would he cover it up" is that he didn't think he was covering it up. He wasn't protecting Ray Rice, he thought he was punishing him appropriately. He genuinely didn't take the issue seriously because it happens in rich, white, suburban households just as often (if not more) than urban black ones. Contrast with guns, drugs, and gang activity, which he views as so outside his world of privilege (he's the son of a U.S. Senator) he has no trouble hammering young black men for that behavior.
I think he was stunned at the fury over the 2-game suspension simply because he's clueless, not because he was trying to cover anything up. The cluelessness warrants dismissal from an organization so meticulously obsessed with public image, as every United Way ad you've ever seen in your life will attest.
September 11th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
September 11th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
This PR disaster ensures that any future commissioner of any pro league will be falling over themselves to handle it differently. There could be a net gain overall in awareness and consequences as a result of this mess. (we'll see how NFL handles cases like Ray McDonald and Greg Hardy where there's no video... my biggest worry is that this case is all about getting caught on camera, not on the violence itself)
If the league waits for felony convictions before taking any action, then they've learned nothing. Pretrial diversion programs like Ray Rice's will still happen in certain cases, and we'll see if they use that as an excuse to do little-to-nothing.
September 11th, 2014 at 11:45 AM ^
Greg Hardy case, had no idea but heard them talking aboout it on Mike and Mike. My favortie part of all this has been Robert Kraft speaking out and then someone (maybe Mike and Mike) pointing out that Kraft had Floyd Maywhether in his luxury box last year during a game.
September 11th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^
"Classic powerful white guy out of touch with life . . .?" Yeah, that's what I think when I see a rich guy who made his way to the top as only white people who are out of touch become rich and powerful. WTF?
September 11th, 2014 at 7:34 PM ^
September 11th, 2014 at 10:14 AM ^
September 11th, 2014 at 10:18 AM ^
September 11th, 2014 at 10:21 AM ^
They say his office has the video. If they did not show it to him it's because he left the impression on his staff that he doesn't want to see and hear stuff like that.
September 11th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^
Sounds good. Let's just keep making stuff up so we can conclude he did something wrong. Things are getting strange around these parts . . . .
September 11th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^
Goodell is awfully quick to fine or suspend players, teams, coaches and officials. Who gets to fine him? He is getting paid like the players (>$44m) and much more than the coaches. Perhaps it's time for him to be held to the same standards. If others can be fined or suspended for poor decisions, maybe he should be too. And I would like the league to use the same language when disciplining him as they do when disciplining players. "Since this is a first offense (although is it really?), Roger Goodell will be suspended for 2 months and fined $500,000. He will also be expected to attend training in PR, domestic violence and basic fucking honesty in order to be reinstated".
September 11th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
Goodell had known before TMZ released "the rest of" the video that the punishment the NFL meted out was not satisfying anyone and confessed that he "didn't get it right" in an interview, using the opportunity to announce new punishment guidelines for domestic violence committed by NFL players, with (starting now) first offenders getting a 6-game ban and second offenders being suspended indefinitely.
Honestly, that should have been it. A man acknowledges and confesses to his mistakes and takes action to rectify them and assure that they are not repeated. Game over, drive home safely. It still means that Rice got off lightly, but he was punished based on the standards available (which were none) and his case is now seen as "the seismic event" that changed the landscape regarding the way such conduct is viewed and dealt with, and we move on.
Then TMZ posts "the rest of" the video, and (cue Heath Ledger's Joker meme) EVERYONE LOSES THEIR MINDS in the most stupid manner possible. What, exactly, did that video change regarding the incident? Janay wasn't any more or less knocked out as a result; this was not a separate video made of a different incident involving the same people (although it is perhaps as likely as not that different incidents have occurred; such is the nature of abusive relationships). And the reaction is, I'm sure, everything the folks at TMZ (and ESPN) hoped it would be.
And Goodell, inexcusably, panics.
All dude needed to do was repeat the manta: "I didn't get it right; here are the measures the League has subsequently put into place to discourage domestic violence and send the message to our players that such behavior will nto be tolerated." Keep acknowledging the original mistake, keep accentuating the actions you have taken subsequently. Make the issue about not what HAS happened, but what WILL be happening going forward.
Saying he hadn't seen the "entire" video was stupid, pointless, and even irrelevant. He should have felt comfortable issuing his suspension based on the police report and the legal handling of the situation; the video needn't have come into it at all. The video imagery is of course horrible. But it changes nothing. It doesn't lessen or worsen what has already happened...it was released for shock value and for website hits. It was released so that talking heads can tut-tut-tut over it. The facts of what happened and what the video shows remain undiputed and unaltered.
I can't for the life of me understand how Goodell could have screwed this up so badly.
September 11th, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^
If so Obama would be fired a long time ago.
September 11th, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^
So, what kind of less severe knock out punch would have only merited a 2 game suspension? The damning video shows that he hit her once.
The Onion nails it.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/nfl-announces-new-zerotolerance-policy-on-videotap,36885/
Goodell mishandled the whole thing and made the NFL look really bad. Real men don't hit women or sucker punch people. ... and for that matter, turn the other cheek, and settle disagreements with words.
September 11th, 2014 at 2:43 PM ^
Best part:
“I can assure you that any member of this league who strikes a woman in front of a live camera will face swift and heavy consequences. I also want to stress that this utterly reprehensible behavior is something we will in no way tolerate as long as the footage is completely uninterrupted and the entirety of the assault takes place within frame.” Goodell went on to clarify that in such cases, the NFL will cooperate fully with local authorities as soon as the league can no longer prevent incriminating evidence from being leaked to the media.
September 11th, 2014 at 12:30 PM ^
What I don't understand is why anyone anywhere on the planet is even remotely shocked by this chain of events.
The sports media is playing really dumb here, and viewers are just playing along with the gag like "OMG, here it is....here it is.... this is the part where I pretend that I'm shocked and outraged! I really can't believe this is happening".
Really?
You have a massively corrupt organization like the NFL overcharged with incompetence and nepotism, and for which the national level of contempt could not be higher. It has dominated the landscape for 50 years and have been doing everything in their power to preserve their monopoly. Their only rivals are in the most hated things of America. Things like the NCAA, Justin Bieber and Donald Sterling. There are decades of examples of organizational unreasonable heavy-handedness, ridiculous leniency and faux moral grand-standing.
So now a leader of this organization does something incompetent, and then does something incompetent again, and people are like "OMG! WTF!"
WTF indeed.
If tomorrow the NFL and all of its products exploded into a million quark particles followed by an all-consuming conflagration, it would be none too soon.
As for NFL fans, I just don't understand them. The NFL product has been horrible for years, and the weekly media circus around it is unwatchable.
September 11th, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^
I think Paul George, really summed it up strong, when he tweeted " I don't condone hittin women or think it's coo BUT if SHE ain't trippin then I ain't tripping.. Let's keep it movin lol let that man play".....
September 11th, 2014 at 5:44 PM ^
The few people saying that he should resign should put their money where their mouth is and refuse to cover the NFL while Goodell is the commissioner. They won't do it so I have no respect for their opinion.
September 13th, 2014 at 12:55 AM ^
Looking at this situation from a different perspective, how many people have stopped to consider how the victim in this what a jury concluded was an aggravated assault, has been harmed by the harshness of the punishments handed down on her husband. Her actions indicate she has forgiven him, in that she became his wife. As a couple she is harmed by these actions. Ray Rice went through the legal system and answered for these charges.
Imagine losing your livelihood because you had an argument with your spouse which ended with her charging at you and you reacted by striking her. Lets say you have spent years learning your trade. You have a mortgage to pay and now, you are barred from your trade. You have no continuing income so you now cannot provide food and clothing for your wife and your children. This could be where we are going for every working person, especially every working man.
I think we ought to lay off these athletes personal affairs and let them have their privacy and let the judicial system do it's job. It's not necessary that a football player be a boy scout. We are kidding ourselves to think that men who play this barbaric sport would never be given to a violent outburst.
On the league side, the only reason Rice got the ban he did was this video. What did anyone think they were going to see when they watched this video. Listening to JohnHarbaugh say everything changed when he saw the video was a joke. To the question of the post Goddell was just being political in his actions. I am no Goddell or NFL fan, but we always seem to be on a media driven hunt nowadays to root out the bad guys or whoever has committed any action or expressed a thought unapproved of by any minority. I think we need to quit following the pied pipers in the media, who just want to keep ratings up so the go after whomever they can make a case to go after, no matter how marginal their case is, or bringing every infraction to the level of a firable offense.