User:RahalMccall69
Roger Goodell is either a liar or a dunce. Those are the only conclusions to be drawn from the NFL commissioner s fumbling of an internal investigation that went awry from the snap. Goodell maintains he never saw the videotape of Ray Rice s knockout punch of a defenseless woman in a casino elevator until Monday. Really? The most powerful executive of the world s most formidable pro sports organization didn t have access to a tape eventually obtained by a celebrity-gossip website? Goodell s insistence is difficult to believe, but at least it helps explain his initial, astonishingly tone-deaf response to the events of Feb. 15, when Rice was seen dragging an unconscious Janay Palmer out of an elevator door.Goodell determined a two-game suspension of the Baltimore Ravens running back to be appropriate. Sitting out two games, Goodell explained, is consistent with the league s policy of punishing players with no previous history of domestic violence . We just can t make up the discipline, Goodell said on Aug. 1. It has to be consistent with other cases. What I want to see is success stories. I want to see people, when they make a mistake, I want to see them take responsibility and accountability for it and <a href=http://www.getrecd.com/news/Cheap-Gucci-Belts-Shop-Com-Shoes-Hats-Cheap.html>Shop Gucci</a> a make a difference going forward. I think that s what Ray Rice is going to do. After TMZ Sports made the tape of Rice s mistake available to the public, after the tape sickened anybody with a grasp of civility, the commissioner changed his tune. Instead of envisioning Ray Rice as a potential success story, Goodell finally saw a creep unfit to draw an NFL paycheck and suspended him indefinitely. Did Goodell tell the truth about rendering judgment on Rice before TMZ released the tape? Despite my doubts, I will take him at his word. Which brings us to an equally harsh assessment of Roger Goodell: an incompetent nitwit who makes Barney Fife s tenuous stewardship of the Mayberry Jail seem like <a href=http://www.torysburch.co.uk>Tory Burch Outlet</a> James Bond at his Cold-War coolest. Goodell is the front-office face of a league that regulates the length of its players socks, the color of their shoes, the demeanor of their touchdown celebrations. Behind the scenes, off the field, the the NFL employs a security force second to none. Gambling is an obvious concern, because even the most obscure name on a roster some special teams guy can affect a point spread. But there are other challenges confronting NFL security: Drug deals, death threats, players with childhood gang ties and, yes, players whose hard-wired appetite for physical confrontation sometimes leads to violence at home or in an elevator at a casino. The job of monitoring all of this belongs, essentially, to former cops with elite FBI and DEA credentials or, in the case of league security chief Jeffrey B. Miller, a r sum assembled as head of Pennsylvania State Police the ninth largest police organization in the U.S, with 400 enlisted and civilian employees operating from a $750 million budget. Put it this way: If you once were late with a third-grade homework assignment, it would take NFL security about 12 minutes to produce the evidence.And yet, Roger Goodell didn t know about the videotape TMZ made public Monday? He didn t wonder if the casino that had a camera showing Rice dragging a woman from an elevator car also might have camera in the elevator car itself?Goodell, <a href=http://www.getrecd.com/state/True-Religion-Jeans-On-Sale-Factory-Outlet-Sweat-Suit-Wholesale.html>True Religion Jeans On Sale</a> as judge and jury, reached a verdict regarding Rice based on inclusive information: A two-game suspension for a first offender. Let s not overreact, the commissioner said. This is a potential success story about a flawed man willing to take responsibility for a mistake that left a woman his fiancee and future wife on the floor. It was an awkward attempt to turn a harrowing incident into something upbeat, and the saga now turns towards the corruption associated with a scandal.The information was there. A bully threw a punch so hard it knocked a woman senseless, and the commissioner all but waved it off: Hey, we all have bad days, let s focus on doing better going forward. Please. Ray Rice is out of a job good riddance but Roger Goodell needs to be out of his job, too. He s either a liar or a dunce, take your pick, and there s only one other option on the board: He s both.
