Photo courtesy of si.com | After a flurry of controversial decisions, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (above) seems to have become increasingly unpopular among football fans. Staff writer Jack Dunn argues why Goodell should be let go.
Roger Goodell is one of the worst things to have ever happened to the NFL. Never mind rule changes, dumb fines and bad people skills. Goodell is not a good fit to be the face of the NFL.
“I am not a football expert,” Goodell said in an interview on Aug. 6. I can’t think of anything better to say about the commissioner myself.
So where to begin? Goodell claims that his job is to “protect the shield,” referring to the NFL. Goodell was held responsible for the lockout that almost canceled the 2011-12 season. He was also responsible for the garbage replacement refs that he believed would do “a credible job.” Instead, we got plays like the infamous Packers-Seahawks “fail mary.” Not to mention handing out outrageous fines for players who just want to have fun.
These are the players whom he claims he wants to protect. However, despite this, he continues to cast doubt on the link between chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and football players. He continues to say that “there needs to be more research.” At the same time, the NFL worked so hard to suppress the research of Dr. Bennet Omalu, who was trying to raise awareness about the dangers of football and its link to neurodegenerative diseases.
He was more focused on fining NFL players who were wearing cleats honoring their deceased mothers and fathers than informing the players what dangers awaited them after football.
He handled the suspensions regarding domestic violence terribly. What was his reaction to the news that Ray Rice had knocked out his then girlfriend in an elevator? Only a two-game suspension. And when the video came out? His second suspension was overturned by a court because he couldn’t punish someone twice for the same crime.
No matter how you feel about the deflategate debacle, it remains completely true that Roger Goodell cared more about his authority to hand out suspensions than to actually enforce them.
While Goodell and the NFL went to court with Tom Brady to debate about air in footballs, it was revealed that Giants kicker Josh Brown had physically and verbally abused his wife in May 2015. He was suspended for the first game of the 2016-17 season.
Then, it was revealed that there were documents that showed multiple incidents before the one in May 2015 in which Brown signed an admission to the abuse. Goodell suspended Brown for the first six games in 2017 because he didn’t get it right the first time.
There are many other failures of Roger Goodell that I have not mentioned here, but they all lead to the same conclusion: Roger Goodell should be fired.
His inability to solve problems and his failure to anticipate and react to new ones show that he has no place being in charge of a league that he is not an “expert” in. The NFL could end within the next 50 years if problems happening now are not solved.
If parents think that it is a bad idea, or that its even unsafe, for their child to play football, they’ll make their kids play other sports. It happened to me as a kid, and it is happening around the United States today.
It is my opinion that Goodell either needs to figure out how to fix it or get out, plain and simple.
By: Jack Dunn ~Staff Writer~