Raise your hand if you’d like to be Roger Goodell right now. Any volunteers? I didn’t think so. Alright, raise your hand if you thought a former director of the FBI would be involved in an investigation into whether or not the NFL possessed grainy security footage, or keep it raised if you thought it might take a former United States Secretary of State to reign in all the chaos at the NFL’s posh Park Avenue headquarters. Still no takers?
While you’re quietly hoping not to be the one in class that gets picked to answer an impossible algebraic equation, let me scoop you up and take you on a journey that defies all notions of science.
The NFL and Domestic Violence
I jump into my trusty DeLorean and take a trip back to visit myself four months ago. The date is set, the flux capacitor is working (all 1.21 gigawatts of it) and Huey Lewis has been cued for my listening pleasure.
I arrive, Michael J. Fox-style, at my familiar doorstep and spy through the window at my past self, who has just finished watching the last round of the 2014 NFL Draft. That means my past self has also just witnessed Michael Sam kissing his boyfriend live on ESPN. Me, of four months ago, lowers the TV volume and ponders for a moment; I don’t have any issues with an openly gay football player, but what sort of distraction does it create?
The future me politely walks in unannounced and sits beside my doppelganger. “Hey man, in four months, the Scottish will have rejected independence, there will be a lot less laughter in the world following the deaths of Robin Williams and Joan Rivers, and Michael Sam won’t be the distraction for the NFL”, the future me informs. “Oh, and Rihanna will have a major bone to pick with someone at CBS.”
In so much has the NFL is operated like a deft blue chip corporation, it is fascinating to see how the effectual behemoth quickly and efficiently mismanaged from the start at least two high profile domestic violence cases, marking the biggest controversy to date for Goodell’s NFL. No one is talking about concussion lawsuits anymore, are they?
Whether or not you agree with how spouses should treat each other in elevators or corporal punishment regarding your children, Goodell is leading a miseducation of his public, while simultaneously exerting a ‘crisis of confidence’ upon the same folks that buy tickets, trademarked clothing and indulge themselves in elaborate fantasy leagues. No one in a leadership position should want to be pegged with a Jimmy Carter reference.
For Goodell and the rest of the league, month of September has been like an off-kilter presidential campaign spinning unwanted publicity (insert Sarah Palin joke here). But, the problem the NFL has, is there is no spin, there is very little explanation. When Ray Rice was initially suspended for two games after being indicted on third degree aggravated assault charges, Goodell could only say of Rice’s initial suspension that he ‘didn’t get it right’ soon after the league announced longer suspensions for players involved in domestic violence incidents. Talk about bad timing.
Add the Rice fiasco to the Adrian Peterson flip-flop farce and there is little indication that the NFL has educated itself in How to Stop the Bleeding 101. While I would agree that there is not always a perfect solution to every problem, I would suggest that Goodell and the league keep it simple. We’re not asking for much. However, honesty, transparency and consistency would be a nice start. Here’s hoping October is better.
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