For years now the NFL has dominated the main stream sports landscape in America. The Super Bowl is a national holiday, Fantasy Football is a staple of any group of friends and and gambling on games is more popular than ever. In all regards, the NFL has been viewed as an untouchable commodity that could do no wrong.
I'm here to tell you that its all smoke and mirrors, and has been for a few years now.
There has been many a diatribe written today about what happened in the Monday Night Football game last night between the Seahawks and the Packers. If you are reading this, I am sure you know what happened and it is pointless for me to rehash it. The call was blown and it was obvious to everyone. The NFL has looked like a joke now for 3 straight weeks, all because they refuse to pay that people that keep the game in line, the officials. The replacement refs that have been brought in have been a disaster. Not only are these people unaware of all the rules of the game, they can not keep the game in control. When there is a disagreement on the field, it is taking 10 minutes to clear it up. The games are starting to go over 4 hours long. It is anarchy and most people will say that its very uncharacteristic of the NFL.
However, i contend that it is very inline with how the NFL acts, or at least has been acting in this era of Roger Goodell. Goodell has set himself up as a dictator during his reign as commissioner of the most powerful league in the country. This is not always inherently a bad thing in the sports world. David Stern has been the dictator of the NBA for 38 years now, and more often than not has been highly regarded. This is not the case with Goodell. This debacle with the referees has been the tip of the iceberg, but people love the NFL so much, that they have turned a blind eye to everything else
Roger Goodell champions himself as a guy who cares of player safety. This has always been his reasoning behind handing out harsh penalties for hits that may or may not actually be against the rules. I think that Roger Goodell is full of crap. If he really cared about player safety, he wouldn't be trying so hard to push for an 18 game regular season. Right now a 16 game season is such a grind for these players, its a miracle if you escape the season unscathed. By adding two more games, you can expect many more injuries. Now, why would a guy who cares about player safety be so adamant about adding these games? Easy, the almighty dollar. Goodell has always been guided by the dollar. Last season when the NFL was locked out, everyone knew no games would be missed, because Goodell would never let the owners miss out on that money at the gate. The fact remains that Goodell didn't care about player safety until people outside the NFL started researching the long term effects football has on the body and more specifically the brain.
This leads us to the idea that Goodell makes his word, and only his word, the final word. He is the judge, jury and executioner. When the Saints Bounty gate was exposed this past summer, most people were disgusted by it but few were surprised. Many former players around the league had stated that this type of stuff happens in every locker room. When it came time for Roger Goodell to doll out punishments to the players involved, he did so without hearing from the players and with no consultation. This resulted in very stiff penalties and no real process for appeal because the appeal would be heard by Goodell, and why would he appeal his own decision? Makes no sense right? Making it even worse, Goodell refused to provide the proof he claimed he had of these bounties and of how he knew which players were involved.
As you can see, Roger Goodell has had a rough stretch as the commissioner of the NFL. In his time span, even though the NFL has been as popular as ever, Goodell has been boneheaded, greedy, and arrogant. This replacement referee situation is the tipping point. I think that Goodell's hubris lead him to believe that the ref lockout was actually a good thing for the league. It put the league in the news weeks before the season even started. It took the attention away from Bounty Gate and concussions. I don't think he ever thought the situation would get as dire as it did last night on Monday Night Football. What he does next could very well define his place in NFL history.
A famous old British historian named Lord Action once said "Absolute power corrupts absolutely". Lets hope the power trip of one man doesn't continue to ruin the sport we all love.
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