Roger Goodell, The NFL’s DUI Problem And The Chewbacca Defense
Roger Goodell doesn’t have many admirers in the football world. Fans boo him. Players bemoan his decisions. About the only people happy to see Goodell are the rookies he greets on draft day as they’re welcomed into the millionaire’s football club. Otherwise Goodell has a lot in common with the teenaged television version of Chris Rock.
Another group you can add to the growing list of Goodell haters is Mothers Against Drink Driving. MADD has long been recognized as one of the foremost leaders in the prevention of drunken driving so one quick scan of PFT’s police blotter reveals why Goodell has got to be high on their cow pie list.
That Goodell has been so quick to condemn the likes of Ben Roethlisberger for being a lush with poor judgment yet has sat quietly as no less than 13 players have been arrested for DUI this offseason alone says a lot. It says Goodell might be more concerned with image that actual prevention.
Former Giants running back Derrick Ward went off on a Twitter tirade berating NFL players for catching DUIs like Terrell Owens does child support suits. Ward didn’t hold anything back going as far as calling NFLers with DUI cases “dumb”. It’s refreshing that one of their peers would take such a harsh stance yet disconcerting that their boss wouldn’t do the same.
Has the summer of Bountygate taken all the venom from Goodell’s once poisonous bite? He’s suddenly more concerned with making a violent sport look not-as-violent to a public that inherently watches in large part due to violence. Yet he’s taken no initiative in dealing with the league’s most public problem – drunken driving.
It’s the NFL ‘s version of the Chewbacca defense as Goodell senselessly defends the right to punish players and coaches alike for unproven bounties yet ignores actual crimes being committed.
Ladies and gentlemen of the supposed jury, Chewbacca is a Wookiee that has known affiliations with Boba Fett. As we all know, Boba Fett is a bounty hunter. Bounty hunters routinely take out bounties on NFL quarterbacks. Drew Bress is an NFL quarterback that has a Chewbacca-like birthmark on his face. Therefore the New Orleans Saints have a bounty program.
Sure, Goodell will insist on letting the process play out in the court before taking action but that’s never prevented his kangaroo court from handing out judgments with little to no factual merit. About all Roethlisberger was guilty of was being a frat boy with a trust fund. Meanwhile Justin Blackmon has more arrest videos than NFL receptions and he’s likely to get a sternly written letter and nothing else for his misgivings.
I mean, is it asking too much for the NFL to start up an add campaign condemning drunk driving?
But I guess that would be hypocritical what with the NFL being one of the biggest advocates of drunken driving. It would be almost as hypocritical as a league that markets violence to suddenly start policing violence.