Perhaps NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell envisions his own legacy as one of the great businessmen. , managed to pull more cash ($100 billion in media deals over the next decade) than anyone else in his position. This is commendable.
This could serve as a useful distraction from the fact that Goodell has failed utterly as a disciplinarian, as a direct overseer of high-profile punishments, or as the person with ultimate authority over the disciplinary process. Whatever flicker of the moral compass existed in this league before his takeover long died out. He will codify an enviable legacy.
The news of Deshawn Watson’s six-game suspension comes as a shock. That’s a third of the one-year suspension passed on to Falcons receiver Calvin Ridley. Ridley said he bet $1,500 on a football game via a platform that the league profitably and incessantly advertises. He received less than linebacker Mychal Kendricks in insider trading. Watson is described as having sexually harassed and assaulted more than 20 women. Women now carry pepper spray to work and fear that what they wear will be misinterpreted as a sexual invitation to a powerful client three times their size. .
Gary Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports (Goodell); Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports (Watson);
We have to wonder what the space in Goodell’s own mind feels like. That job belonged to former Delaware federal judge Sue L. Robinson, who was appointed the league’s chief of discipline by the NFL and players union earlier this year. It was Robinson. NFLPA, in a Sunday night statementsaid it “supports” Robinson’s decision while urging the NFL to do the same.
However, Robinson’s ruling, referring to “non-violent sexual acts” in Watson’s actions, ignores one of the most obvious facts of the story. We, as a society, have fallen far behind 8ball in recognizing the mental torture experienced by survivors of sexual harassment and assault of all kinds. At one point, who do we define violence? Robinson thought Watson’s actions were sketchy and enough to prevent him from ever getting a massage outside the team’s facility again. But (crack it down nicely), it clearly wasn’t enough to keep him off the field longer than DeAndre Hopkins. Trace amounts of performance-enhancing substances.
The interesting thing about maintaining a salary of $63.9 million a year is that it doesn’t shield Goodell from the reality that being unattractive has the opportunity to rectify this and make you a hesitant. That doesn’t stop us from reminding him of all the chances he’s had to bring about greater social good, and that he’s failed.
Goodell has faced many opportunities to stand up for women. Of course, the league likes pomp and circumstance. For example, parading in pink to raise breast cancer awareness, severely punishing a player (Ray Rice) seen in a video of him knocking out his fiancé, or playing a player (Kareem Hunt) with a woman outside a hotel room. , or the player strangling his fiancée (Greg Hardy). Most people aren’t saying these players should have been permanently banned from the NFL. In fact, studies show that the weight of a looming lifetime ban discourages survivors from coming forward. Has anyone been suspended longer than a promising wide receiver like Josh Gordon, who has been suspended for a year?
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If Goodell doesn’t appeal, he’ll be taking the side of a slew of Twitter bots telling him that not prosecuting by a grand jury is the same as exoneration. It helps drown out the notion that a man had a very troubled relationship with dozens of massage therapists and suggested his own franchise maintain a non-disclosure agreement. Bringing a small to medium sized towel to a massage instead of using a 100% towel may suggest the civil litigation network is what he is.
If Goodell does not appeal, he will create a clique of the league’s fan base. They are emboldened to continue calling horrible, unfathomable names on social media for massage therapists, and indeed anyone fighting for fair and equal treatment of women. For Goodell, this percentage of fan base is hopefully higher than his 21% of women who recently identified themselves as avid NFL fans.
Before Watson’s hearing, someone (presumably an NFL official) leaked that the league wanted a one-year suspension with an indefinite kicker, covering all the new information that might surface. Did.Our first thought was a show of appropriate intensity, a sign of Goodell ready to wrestle with his past perceptions as a weak disciplinarian, but that it was just window dressing. could turn out. Maybe the league wanted us to think It was about to drop its hammer. Then I tried to stay behind the process that gave me the desired result. It’s a flashy new quarterback playing the game in a new place. Please be more careful. more eyes. more bets.
Football was a neutral battlefield. Under Goodell, however, the sport has moved into a kind of privileged, wrist-slapping culture, prevalent among citizens who can afford the best lawyers and good media spin artists. Please punish those who fail at gambling. But the man who reportedly sexually harassed and assaulted women in succession under the guise of supporting black-owned businesses and threatened their careers when he spoke out Is there anything we can do about it? How familiar does that sound?
The saddest part of all this is that the NFL will win no matter what Goodell decides. At first, you’ll probably watch more intently. As untrained commenters try to fold Watson’s reported off-field misconduct into some sort of atonement on-field narrative, those among us cringe , listen to car crashes on air. Because he’s a good quarterback playing in a new place, and as long as we keep our ears shut and moral issues out of the way, it’s always interesting.
But Goodell is a whole other matter. Obviously, money buys a lot. But does it buy that little piece of your mind that you think you could have done more? Should you have done more?
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