Remember a few months ago when everyone was calling for Roger Goodell’s job over his complete and total botching of the Ray Rice case? Remember when Goodell stammered and stuttered his way through a woeful press conference? Remember when he was climbing to the mountain of the worst commissioner in sports?
That seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?
With his suspension of Adrian Peterson for the rest of the 2014 season, we’ve arrived back at square one: Roger Goodell stands with total dictatorial authority over the NFL. He is the league’s judge, jury, and executioner. And his suspension of Adrian Peterson is just as arbitrary and inconsistent (agree or not) as his suspension was of Ray Rice.
Thankfully, some people in the media are not letting Goodell off the hook so lightly. On Fox NFL Sunday, Terry Bradshaw let loose on Goodell with a stinging commentary:
And here’s the transcript via Fox Sports:
“Let’s go back to September when the Commissioner bungled the Ray Rice situation. He came out publicly and said, ‘Hey I screwed it up, I’m sorry, give me a second chance and I’ll get it right the second time.’ That’s what Adrian Peterson did. He had a misdemeanor reckless assault charge, for whipping his son with a switch. He said he was sorry and would never do it again. He was given 80 hours of community service and a $4,000 fine. It was time to go back to work, but wait a minute, he didn’t show enough remorse according to the Commissioner and because he didn’t beg and cry and plead, and so therefore he cannot come back to work. On December 2nd, they are going to sit down and try to get him reinstated and I don’t think it is going to happen. It’s amazing to me that the Commissioner can say, ‘Forgive, me, I’ll do a better job next time,’ still keeps his job, still makes $40 million a year and Adrian Peterson is sitting outside with no job. It’s a double standard and it makes no sense.”
Bradshaw is 100% correct. This commissioner has made his living on double standards throughout his tenure. And now he’s back to playing God over the NFL like nothing has ever happened. That’s not to exonerate Peterson for what he did at all, but it’s absurd that there has been no change made to the NFL’s personal conduct policy and Goodell’s role in player discipline. He still gets to wield an iron fist over the league, in spite of his obvious incapability to do the job. It’s appalling.
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