Unless you are an Amish hermit, you saw that Commissioner Goodell had a pretty lousy week last week. At his air clearing, “House cleaning” press conference, he looked like a man quite skilled at giving the answers he wanted to give regardless of the questions asked. Mostly, what he sounded like was someone whose sole intent was to dodge and weave his way past the presser and back to the bottle of high-end scotch in his office.
He looked like what he actually is: a man who only thinks in terms of how his actions will look on his resume, not whether the consequences of his actions are good or bad. He looked like the guy who was proud to be on the cover of “Time” as The Enforcer, but who would not truly own up to his biggest mistake: listening to the pleas of Ravens owner Steve Biscotti to have mercy on Ray Rice.
When you look at the Ray Rice suspension of two games, you have to ask yourself- what changed to increase the suspension from two games to an indefinite one? How did the Enforcer originally think Ray Rice’s unconscious fiancée became unconscious? Was the Enforcer told that she was drunk and slipped? Or was the Enforcer told that Rice was defending himself from her 105-pound attack and she fell and was knocked out?
Those have to be the “inconsistencies” the Enforcer spoke of; otherwise, there can be no other reason to change the length of the suspension. When the video surfaced and America saw Rice’s short right to the chin of his fiancée, now wife, Janay, the Enforcer finally enforced.
How would his resume look if he didn’t put the (ginger) hammer down on a viral case domestic abuse? He’d look like a guy who owes his $44+ million income to 32 very wealthy men. Initially, he took the suggestion of 1/32 of that group. Later, he had no choice but to come to the podium and stumble through a very un “Enforcer-like” press conference where he was on the defensive, nervous and struggling for answers- probably the way Josh Gordon was when he found out his suspension for weed (legal in at least three states where the NFL plays) was five times longer than that of Sugar Ray Rice.
While the Enforcer had a bad week, his biggest hypocrisy comes in the area of cleaning up the violent nature of football on the field. Under the Enforcer’s guidance, the league has outlawed all of the open-field, visible-to-the-public hitting. With this edict there is no more “Jacked Up” on ESPN, there are no more Brandon Meriweather bombs where he catapults himself toward anyone in the opponents uniform, and there is little tolerance for touching, looking at, or speaking ill of a quarterback.
Much as with the hit you didn’t see in the Ray Rice incident, the Enforcer ignores the other hits you can’t see/don’t notice- those in the trenches. When thinking about the impact of hits which would you rather do: run as fast as you can into a brick wall from 20 yards away once per day, or fire off from a three point stance into a brick wall 40-50 times per day? While both may be injurious, I’d take my chances with the possibility of only one shot.
Which brings me to the worst thing the Enforcer’s regime has ever done- schedule a game every Thursday night. On his resume, this looks like he scored a colossal financial boom for the NFL, which he did. But, it is also about the worst thing one could do to the game.
Aside from the collateral damage of having Phil Simms in our living rooms one extra night per week talking absolute nonsense, the games are generally lousy events. The reason for that is simple- how do you ask behemoths to hit an opponent on Sunday 40 to 50 times and then ask them to do it all over again on three days rest in front of a national audience? You can’t, or shouldn’t. Good grief! Baseball teams don’t let starting pitchers throw on three days rest, unless it’s a dire circumstance; yet, the NFL asks men who body masses that of a Smart Car to strap on the helmet and have at it on Thursdays.
Is there any doubt that there is an increased chance of brain injuries to the players who play on Thursday?
Remember that a concussion is a BRAIN INJURY. While you can’t see it and there is no real treatment besides rest, it is an injury to the most important part of your body (unless you are Shawn Kemp). So while the Enforcer’s resume has a gigantic concussion settlement on it ($765 million) and the associated protocols, the league is simply whistling past the concussion graveyard by asking every team to play at least on day on ridiculously short rest. But hey, who really cares as long as the Enforcer’s resume looks good?
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