Opinion: Goodell's Legacy

[SunsetBengal]

Interesting piece written by Connor Orr, of Sports Illustrated.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/deshaun-watson-suspension-cements-roger-goodell-e2-80-99s-legacy/ar-AA10bEDJ

Quote:The NFL commissioner has made his mark generating billions of dollars for owners and players, but he has failed when confronted with standing up for women.

Perhaps NFL commissioner Roger Goodell imagines his own legacy as one of a great businessman. He had a product the country was addicted to and managed to extract more cash ($100 billion in media deals over the next decade) out of content-starved networks than others might have in his position. He made the NFL a great deal of money and, for this, should be commended.

That could serve as a useful distraction for the fact that, as a disciplinarian, Goodell, either as the direct overseer of high-profile punishments or as a person of final authority over a disciplinary process, has wholly failed. Whatever flicker of a moral compass existed in this league before his takeover has long been extinguished. And if he fails to act on an appeal for the completely inadequate six-game suspension of Deshaun Watson, he will codify his unenviable legacy.

News of a six-game Deshaun Watson suspension is stunning. It is a third of the length of the yearlong suspension handed down to Falcons receiver Calvin Ridley. Ridley gambled $1,500 on football games via a platform the league profits from and promotes relentlessly. It is less than linebacker Mychal Kendricks received for insider trading. Watson was described as sexually harassing or sexually assaulting more than two dozen women—women who now carry pepper spray to work, women who now fear that anything they wear will be somehow mistaken as a sexual invitation to a powerful client three times their size.

One has to wonder what the space in Goodell’s own mind feels like. Sure he wasn’t the one overseeing the disciplinary hearings for Watson. That job belonged to retired Delaware federal court Judge Sue L. Robinson, who was appointed as the league’s disciplinary officer earlier this year by the NFL and the players union. It was Robinson who recommended the Browns’ quarterback’s six-game suspension. The NFLPA, in a statement Sunday night, said it will “stand by” Robinson's ruling while urging the NFL to do the same.

But Robinson’s ruling, which cites “nonviolent sexual conduct” in Watson’s behavior, ignores one of the most obvious facts of the saga. We are so far behind the eight ball as a society in recognizing the mental torture that survivors of any kind of sexual harrassment or assault are put through. Who are we to define violence, when someone’s life may be totally upended as a result? Robinson thought Watson’s actions were sketchy enough to prevent him from ever getting a massage outside of the team facility again (good luck policing that), though obviously not enough to keep him off the field longer than DeAndre Hopkins, who will also miss six games for trace amounts of performance-enhancing substances.

The interesting thing about retaining a salary of $63.9 million per year is that it does not shield Goodell from the reality that not appealing would forever make him the person who had a chance to make this right and balked. It does not stop us from reminding him of all the chances he had to do a larger societal good and that he failed.

Goodell has now, multiple times, been confronted with opportunities to stand up for women. The league prefers pomp and circumstance, of course, parading around in pink, for example, to raise breast cancer awareness, to severely punishing a player (Ray Rice) seen on video knocking out his fiancé, or a player (Kareem Hunt) kicking a woman outside a hotel room, or a player (Greg Hardy) strangling his fiancé. Most people are not suggesting these players should have received a lifetime ban from the NFL. In fact, studies have shown that the looming weight of a lifetime ban would hamper the willingness of survivors to come forward. But couldn’t any of those players have been suspended longer than a promising wide receiver such as Josh Gordon, who received three indefinite suspensions and a yearlong suspension from the NFL for substance abuse?

If Goodell doesn’t appeal, he’ll side with a legion of Twitter bots that have convinced themselves that a nonindictment from a grand jury is the same thing as an exoneration, which is a convenient tale to tell yourself. It helps drown out the idea that a man had such a troubled relationship with dozens of massage therapists that his own franchise suggested he carry around nondisclosure agreements. Plus, bringing a small- to medium-sized towel with him to massages instead of using a regular one that would be supplied to him might suggest what a network of civil suits say he is.

If Goodell doesn’t appeal, he’ll give rise to a faction of the league’s fan base, which is emboldened to continue calling the massage therapists—and really anyone fighting for the fair and equal treatment of women—horrible, unfathomable names on social media. Hopefully for Goodell, that fraction of the fan base is larger than the 21% of women who recently described themselves as avid fans of the NFL.

Before the Watson hearing, someone (perhaps in the NFL) leaked that the league wanted a yearlong suspension with an indefinite kicker, covering any and all new information that may surface. What we initially thought was a show of appropriate strength, a signal of a Goodell ready to wrestle with his past perception as a weak disciplinarian, may turn out to be mere window dressing. Maybe the league wanted us to think it was going to bring the hammer down. Then, it wanted to fall behind a process that would provide its desired result: A flashy new quarterback playing games in a new location. More attention. More eyes. More wagering.

Football used to be a neutral battlefield. Under Goodell, though, the sport has shifted into the kind of privileged, slap-on-the-wrist culture that is pervasive among citizens who can afford a super attorney and a good media-spin artist. Instead, punish those who have slipped up with drugs or gambling. But the guy who reportedly has serially sexually harassed and sexually assaulted women under the guise of supporting Black-owned businesses and threatened their careers if they spoke out? There’s nothing we can do about that? How grossly familiar does that sound?

The saddest part of all of this is the NFL will win no matter what Goodell decides. We won’t stop watching. We will, initially, probably watch more intently. The disgusted among us will tune in for the broadcasting car crash, as untrained commenters try to fold Watson’s reported off-field misdeeds into some kind of redemptive on-field narrative. Maybe some will seek a little schadenfreude. The ambivalent among us will watch because, hey, he's a good quarterback playing in a new place, and that’s always interesting so long as we cover our ears and box out any issues of morality.

But Goodell is another matter altogether. Obviously, money buys a lot. But does it buy off that little piece of your heart that wonders whether you could have done more? Whether you should have done more?

[Whatever]

There's no doubt Goodell has been good for business. At the same time, he will likely go down as the most hated commissioner in league history. It's crazy to think Vince McMahon was forced out of WWE a few weeks ago when he's the company founder and still the majority shareholder for screwing around with multiple women around the office, but Watson is only getting 6 games. When pro wrestling has the moral high ground over the most popular sport in America, there's fundamental problems.

What's odd is that it doesn't even make sense to protect most of these players. Whether Watson plays or not really makes very little difference to the league's bottom line. It's not like he's a transcendent figure who has grown bigger than the sport, like Tiger Woods. The NFL has always been full of disposable heroes, and Watson clearly needs the NFL more than the NFL needs Watson.

[Vambo]

Ruling on Deshaun Watson was Never Going to be Satisfying

https://www.si.com/nfl/browns/browns-maven-features/unsatisfying-deshaun-watson-ruling



The only guarantee with a resolution to Deshaun Watson's investigation by the NFL is it would be unsatisfying, dispiriting. Coming up with an adequate punishment for a series of charges with little proof was an impossible needle to thread, but the league was once again exposed for how ill equipped they are to deal with violence and mistreatment of women, despite countless opportunities to form a policy.   Sports leagues are never going to be an effective substitute for the criminal justice system and even though they are operating based on the preponderance of evidence as opposed to innocent until proven guilty, it was a system fraught with problems before Watson getting to the NFL was a consideration...



...Vague guidelines allow the league to protect its owners while being able to punish players inconsistently and often more harshly. In this case, it came back to haunt them. The same rules that enabled them to avoid any meaningful punishment for New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, caught on camera soliciting prostitution in Florida, allowed Robinson to default to the same punishment for Watson as Ben Roethlisberger and Ezekiel Elliott despite 24 women accusing him of sexual assault and misconduct.

The NFL has allowed Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder to operate almost with impunity despite accusations that have been piling up for a decade which includes sexual assault. Until the league is willing to put pen to paper on a real policy that outlines punishments for both players and owners, they will continue to get what they view as unsatisfying results in cases like Watson.

[*bengalfan74*]

(08-02-2022, 12:36 PM)Whatever Wrote: There's no doubt Goodell has been good for business.  At the same time, he will likely go down as the most hated commissioner in league history.  It's crazy to think Vince McMahon was forced out of WWE a few weeks ago when he's the company founder and still the majority shareholder for screwing around with multiple women around the office, but Watson is only getting 6 games.  When pro wrestling has the moral high ground over the most popular sport in America, there's fundamental problems.  

What's odd is that it doesn't even make sense to protect most of these players.  Whether Watson plays or not really makes very little difference to the league's bottom line.  It's not like he's a transcendent figure who has grown bigger than the sport, like Tiger Woods.  The NFL has always been full of disposable heroes, and Watson clearly needs the NFL more than the NFL needs Watson.

If I was a woman my NFL fandom would be in serious jeopardy. Hell It's in jeopardy for me anyways.

How can the lady, Robinson or whatever ? Use the phrase in her report "premeditated predator" and only give out 6 games ?

As for Godell he's sunk his ship.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-02-2022, 12:36 PM)Whatever Wrote: There's no doubt Goodell has been good for business.  At the same time, he will likely go down as the most hated commissioner in league history.  It's crazy to think Vince McMahon was forced out of WWE a few weeks ago when he's the company founder and still the majority shareholder for screwing around with multiple women around the office, but Watson is only getting 6 games.  When pro wrestling has the moral high ground over the most popular sport in America, there's fundamental problems.  

What's odd is that it doesn't even make sense to protect most of these players.  Whether Watson plays or not really makes very little difference to the league's bottom line.  It's not like he's a transcendent figure who has grown bigger than the sport, like Tiger Woods.  The NFL has always been full of disposable heroes, and Watson clearly needs the NFL more than the NFL needs Watson.

Pretty spot on about Godell and Watson honestly, nice post Whatever.

(08-02-2022, 01:20 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: If I was a woman my NFL fandom would be in serious jeopardy. Hell It's in jeopardy for me anyways.

How can the lady, Robinson or whatever ? Use the phrase in her report "premeditated predator" and only give out 6 games ?

As for Godell he's sunk his ship.

Yes, this is pretty sickening. Doubt any feminists care though, they seem to only care about their agenda.

Regular moral women care, we will see if they make a fuss over this. Also women that love football are usually great people.

Could happen you never know.

As for Godell sinking his own ship that is true but if him and the NFL overruled this judge's ruling and made it at least a year suspension I would feel much better about the entire situation.

[fredtoast]

(08-02-2022, 12:36 PM)Whatever Wrote:   It's crazy to think Vince McMahon was forced out of WWE a few weeks ago when he's the company founder and still the majority shareholder for screwing around with multiple women around the office, but Watson is only getting 6 games.  When pro wrestling has the moral high ground over the most popular sport in America, there's fundamental problems.  

What is crazy is that you can't see the difference between an employer abusing his authority over people who work for him and a guy trying to get sex from a massage therapist.  They are totally different situations.

I also see people comparing Watson to Bauer, but Bauer was accused of violent physical assault.

Everyone needs to step back off the ledge and understand that we give out lifetime bans for every guy who allegedly disrespects a female.  There have to be different levels for different offenses.

Watson did not use any force or any drugs to sexually assault these women.  They only ones who saw him masturbate were the ones who chose to stay around and watch because they had the chance to leave whenever they wanted to. 

[fredtoast]

BTW anyone else getting tired of seeing the same people claim that players with lots of money and lawyers can avoid ever getting punished in the same stories where they talk about guys getting excessive bans from drugs or gambling.

These writers are too stupid to see the contradiction.

[fredtoast]

(08-02-2022, 01:20 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: If I was a woman my NFL fandom would be in serious jeopardy. Hell It's in jeopardy for me anyways.

How can the lady, Robinson or whatever ? Use the phrase in her report "premeditated predator" and only give out 6 games ?

So you know that ALL women disagree with the ruling made by A WOMAN?

The fact is that a woman judge who understands the law and the different levels of punishment for different levels of crime made a more reasonable decision than a knee-jerk "hang them all" scream from the cancel culture.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-07-2022, 11:34 AM)fredtoast Wrote: So you know that ALL women disagree with the ruling made by A WOMAN?

The fact is that a woman judge who understands the law and the different levels of punishment for different levels of crime made a more reasonable decision than a knee-jerk "hang them all" scream from the cancel culture.

Funny post Fred kinda playing all sides lol

[Whatever]

(08-07-2022, 11:28 AM)fredtoast Wrote: What is crazy is that you can't see the difference between an employer abusing his authority over people who work for him and a guy trying to get sex from a massage therapist.  They are totally different situations.

I also see people comparing Watson to Bauer, but Bauer was accused of violent physical assault.

Everyone needs to step back off the ledge and understand that we give out lifetime bans for every guy who allegedly disrespects a female.  There have to be different levels for different offenses.

Watson did not use any force or any drugs to sexually assault these women.  They only ones who saw him masturbate were the ones who chose to stay around and watch because they had the chance to leave whenever they wanted to. 

Watson threatened several of the women with threats of using his status to ruin their careers.  Nice try, Fred.

[fredtoast]

(08-12-2022, 12:47 PM)Whatever Wrote: Watson threatened several of the women with threats of using his status to ruin their careers.  Nice try, Fred.

That is not a legitimate "threat".

If a woman has sex with a man because he threatened to give he a bad review on Yelp then she is a prostitute instead of a victim of sexual assault.  

It is only an offense if he is her supervisor or employer.