Ray Rice and Roger Goodel: How Their Actions Have Exposed the Myth of The "Omnipotent" NFL

This poor excuse for a press conference was just the start of what will ultimately lead to the downfall of Roger Goodell

The most profitable league in sports is being viciously attacked on all sides for how they (particularly the Commish, Roger Goodell) handled the Ray Rice situation and rightfully so. What has happened in the course of a few weeks has shown just how vulnerable the league itself actually is and has been to these attacks and how (as Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks pointed out a couple of months ago) it was only a matter of time before the greed that has been bred into the league over the last 50 years (and has manifested itself and taken on a much larger role in prominent league decisions over the last 2 decades) would start to destroy the league from the inside out.

For all his quirks, Mark Cuban was bang on when he said a few months ago that the NFL was headed for a colossal fall. It is stating the obvious since a league so big (over $9 billion in revenue last year) that any kind of “fall” would be considered major. Their rise to the top of the sports food chain has been gradual. It’s taken nearly 40 years with the NFL’s popularity increasing gradually in 10 year increments over that time period. That rise was also aided by the fall of both Baseball and Basketball from the top spot when they were both there. Baseball is still trying to reconnect with the younger generation and dealing with the fallout from after the 1994 Labour strike that wiped out the World Series  (and killed the Montreal Expos).

He may be bold and outlandish at times but Mark Cuban may also be proven to be correct about the NFL much earlier then he even thought

Basketball was in top spot from 1994 until about the time when Michael Jordan retired for the 2^nd time in 1998-1999. After winning his 6^th title, 2^nd threepeat in 8 years, he and the Chicago Bulls were the top team in the NBA and the league itself was (arguably) the number 1 sport in the US for that 5 year time period. Then, with his retirement, the NFL took over as the top dog and they have not looked back since. In the 15 years they have been the #1 sport, we have seen a dynasty born (the New England Patriots), 2 of the best Quarterbacks of all time, sure fire 1^st ballot Hall of Famers rise (Tom Brady and Peyton Manning), epic games played and even an entire network run by the league (appropriately named the NFL Network).

What we have also seen is countless players arrested for crimes ranging from Date Rape (Darren Sharper), Drug Trafficking (Ryan Leaf), Attempted Murder (Ray Lewis), Murder (Aaron Hernandez and Ray Carruth who killed his then pregnant girlfriend), domestic abuse (most recently Ray Rice), gun offenses (Plaxico Burress served time), Animal Abuse including organized dog fight rings (Michael Vick), Drug possession and DUI’s (too many to count) and the list goes on and on. Many blame the bulk of these offences on the fact that most of the players that play in the NFL come from broken homes or inner cities. Since the majority of players in the NFL (62%) are black, this is clearly a racist statement to make without actually blaming the entire black community by name for these issues. What people are not seeing is that this blatant disrespect for the law comes all the way from the top in this league in subtle ways but you can still point to a connect between the way the league operates and treats its players to how those same players treat others around them. Let me explain.

The best way to explain the NFL is that it is like a meat grinder in terms of how it treats players. The players are the meat. From the time they are “eligible” to be drafted, they are poked, prodded, asked to exhibit themselves to show their athleticism, speed and skill in the NFL Draft Combine (an overblown human version of the Westminster National Dog show really if you think about it). This circus (which is the best way to describe it) has become so popular that there are actual fans of the league that spend DAYS watching these kids try to “win the favour” of one of the 32 teams GM’s in attendance.

All the concussions he suffered led to CTE for Junior Seau, who ultimately took his own life 2 years after he retired

Next, you have the draft itself where these future players are either entirely over-hyped or forgotten as despite the fact that about 254 players get drafted each year, there are still hundreds that don’t which then means that they, like the runt of the litter, will have to scrape and claw and fight for each and every opportunity that comes their way. In a lot of ways, the NFL treats it’s players much like the way that Michael Vick used do to his dogs: The league pits Player vs. Player in all out combat both on the field and off it when it comes to vying for jobs. This kind of explains why they were so easily willing to allow him to return to the league after serving his jail time.

To finish my comparison of the “meat grinder” that is the NFL I give to you 2 final examples to consider: Current NFL Veteran players and retired players. Using current NFL vets as the first example, you don’t have to look far to see how disposable these players are to each team. My favorite team, the Patriots, is probably the best example of a team that, in their words “Maximizes the contributions of each player on the roster…and seems to know when to be cold and impersonal when deciding to move in another direction.” In other words, when they start to think that there is the smallest decline in a players contributions or value to the team, they either cut them (releasing them from their non-guaranteed contract), or trade them (as they did this year with one of their best guards, Logan Mankins, who was SORELY missed this past weekend against Miami).

What I just wrote is what the talking heads at the NFL Head office are hoping happens with every article. Even in my own critique, I can’t help but point out what happened with my own team last weekend. The problem the league has is that there are fewer and fewer people who will excuse their players and executives behaviors anymore whether it is on TV during pre-game and sports shows or in print and online. You can even point to the fact that one of the very owners of a team, Jim Irsay (who was caught with nearly $30,000 cash and enough pills in his car when he was drunk to open his own pharmacy), who got off with a “light” reprimand from the league for such (a $500,000 fine and suspension from being around his “toy” the Indy Colts, for 6 games) as yet another example of a league that has lost it’s way.

Meet Jim Irsay, Owner of the Indy Colts. This is his mug shot for DUI and possession of $30,000 grand cash and a small pharmacy worth of pills without a perscription

The retired player’s issues that the league has been battling over the last 10 years in courtrooms around the country, is just more evidence of how little these businessmen in the League office and the owners themselves actually care about their past players. The recent “settlement” reached by the league and these players, many of whom are suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s, chronic neck, back, knee pain, arthritis, and many other aliments which have been connected to CTE (a brain issue that comes from repeated concussions) would barely scratch the surface in terms of having enough funds to cover the health issues these men are, will and have been experiencing. Then, when you add the fact that another group of former players is suing because of what they claim was poor medical treatment they received while they played (as well as the fact that many of them are now addicted to painkillers that they began taking at the behest of team doctors) and the unwillingness of the league to accept their role in their addictions, shows you just how callous the NFL truly is. I would compare this latest lawsuit against the league to a couple of sports movies to try to make you understand what the League is saying and how unfair their position truly is.

If you have ever seen the movies “The Program” and “Varsity Blues” then you will recall the scenes I am about to reference. In The Program, after a vicious hit on the field, the coach of the team, James Caan, asks a player if he is hurt or if he is injured. The player is confused and isn’t sure what the coach means. Caan then tells him if he is hurt, they can numb the pain and he can keep playing (keeping his job from the young rookie who is anxious to steal his job). If he is injured, he can’t play. Faced with the prospect of losing your job to cheaper and younger players, NFL players without guaranteed contracts 9 times out of 10 in the past would take whatever they were told would eliminate the pain and keep on playing. As far as the NFL is concerned, the players knew the risks and played on so their lawyers are playing that card.

Paul Walker's role in Varsity Blues is one that former players are saying was lacking throughout their careers: Someone who worked for the team who had their best interest in mind

The other movie scene that comes to mind is from Varsity Blues when Paul Walker’s Character is hurt and plays through the injury and gets worse, ending his season. The team’s running back ends up having a similar decision to make after he injures his knee. The only difference between this movie scene and the one from the Program is that Paul Walker’s character intervenes as Jon Voight is trying to pressure his star running back into numbing HIS injury to get him back on the field, and, as the team hears the escalating argument between the coach and injured start QB, the team revolts on Voight and the star running back decides against risking his future for 1 game, in high school no less.

Both scenes are the same in what they are showing: The depths to which coaches will go to try to win now and how much influence they have on their players. The only difference is that in the Varsity Blues scene, someone had the players’ best interest in mind (It took another player stepping in who had seen the result of “doing whatever it takes to win” to step in and say something). Current and retired NFL players (in their lawsuit) claim that has never been the case when it comes to them and the debilitating  injuries they have had to endure both during the latter stages of their careers and well afterward are the proof of that. Yet another example of the NFL “Meat Grinder” at work.

As if the league wasn’t already under siege from fans, the media, current players and former player, the National Organization for Women today released a statement calling for the resignation of Roger Goodell as NFL Commissioner for his and the leagues failures to address the domestic abuse issue within the league as there have been numerous issues between players and their spouses/girlfriends. On top of that (as if that wasn’t enough already), now comes word that the league has actually had both video’s since April (the 2^nd one having been confirmed by an anonymous member of law enforcement who has proof that it was delivered and received by someone at the NFL Head office).

Get ready to get used to this look on Roger Goodell's face over the next few months

It’s ironic that Goodell was getting lambasted for having not been able to procure the video of Ray Rice knocking out Janay Palmer in the elevator when TMZ did. If the new revelation proves to be true and the league has had the video since April, then Goodell has been lying for months about it and the league was trying to cover the entire situation up which is an offence for which he should an will get fired.

To me, it all seems stupid. They are a multi-billion dollar business that has access to pretty much anything they want when it comes to investigating players for the draft, delving well beyond what many would seem “normal” in terms of investigating the lives of possible future “employees” at the draft. They have former FBI and scret service members as part of their security staff so they have access to people who have access to contacts in law enforcement circles. Getting all the videos necessary to properly handle the situation would not have been an issue.

The main thing that Goodell seems to be focusing on in his sit down interview on CBS is that TMZ paid for the video and they were not willing to do that. To me, that shows that the NFL clearly wanted nothing to do with the 2^nd video itself (or at least make it appear as such) and Goodell’s comments make is seem as if they simply made a courtesy call to local law enforcement about it but never followed up.

Goodell has already admitted that he and the league could have and should have done more beforehand (as in giving Rice much more than a 2 game suspension as he initially did) and his interview was an attempt to admit wrongdoing in that sense but deny that they had seen the actual footage which seems like a lie now. Ignorance is not an excuse. By all accounts, Goodell and the league already knew what happened in the elevator. All the 2^nd video has done is shown what anyone with ½ a brain already knew: He knocked her out, plain and simple. He already knew that and still only gave Rice 2 games.

He and his office have totally blown the chance to be leaders in the area of educating players towards helping to end Domestic Abuse

I don’t know how Goodell could initially justify that suspension and tell everyone around the league that having weed in your system as an NFL player is much worse than what Rice did when you consider that before the 2nd video was released, another player named Josh Gordon of the Cleveland Browns was suspended for the entire season because he was BARELY above the league marijuana limit on a drug test “B” sample (and sufficiently below the same level on his “A” sample no less which should have precluded the need to have his “B” sample tested in the first place).

It’s obvious that the league did not take this situation seriously when you consider that Ray Carruth killed his pregnant Girlfriend some 7 years ago and at the time, the NFL barely even acknowledged the situation. The pattern of domestic abuse by NFL players has been going on for such a long time that I don’t think I even have to mention the most famous retired player to have demonstrated a persistence pattern of domestic abuse which ultimately culminated in murder: OJ Simpson. Yes, he was retired and unconscionably found not guilty but his situation is just another example of a retired player having issues controlling his anger and his behavior towards women as the trial showed that Nicole Brown had been subjected to years of abuse before she was ultimately killed.

Trying to sell to the world that marijuana use is worse than knocking a woman unconscious as he tried to do for the last few weeks is deplorable and goes to show you that the “No Fun League” as is has been nicknames for years (Started because they made elaborate touchdown celebrations illegal because, you know, its not something they can make any more money on), has not only started along that slippery slope towards the loss of morals, they are about half way down it already.

He has made the league a ton of money but none of that will matter if it is proven that he has lied and tarnished that shield behind him

What does this bring us back to? The abject failure of the league to address this issue which effects how one half of the population treats the other half (women actually make up closer to 53% of the population now). Had the league thrown the book at Ray Rice back in April and suspended him for the year or had the Ravens cut him back when it happened (as they probably should have), all of this would not have happened. To be honest, that would have been worse as the league could have then hidden behind Rice and ostracized him without the benefit of the focus of the national media blaring down on ANY current player who has a history or has been accused of domestic abuse.

The only positive to come from this entire mess of a situation is the fact that the NFL will be forced to address the issue with current players and programs will be set up to teach them and future players about why it’s wrong (although as a man, you should ALREADY KNOW it’s wrong).

The other positive that I can see eventually coming from this situation is that if Goodell is fired or resigns (which is becoming more and more possible), then whomever it is that comes in next as Commish will have a clear mandate: Make the league a ton of money, of course, but protect the players (in some cases from themselves) and make the league transparent in terms of how and why suspensions are handed down (the new policy on domestic abuse suspensions is a great start but about 10 years too late).

There is now an independent investigation that will be started and one has to think that should their be ANY possibility that Goodell knew they had that video and either he or his staff was either told to sit on it or choose to ignore it (for whatever reason) then you have to think that Goodell’s days in command could be numbered.