By now, you’ve had the time to watch the farce that was Roger Goodell’s press conference from Friday, Sept. 19, regarding the NFL’s handling of the Ray Rice situation.
For 45 minutes, Goodell stood behind a podium and took shot after shot from reporters, especially CNN’s Rachel Nichols, and did what every outstanding citizen would do in the same situation, played it as stupid as he possibly could.
His smug, unapologetic demeanor reflected what we’ve known all along; Goodell doesn’t want us to know anything.
When asked questions from the media in attendance, Goodell used Patches O’Hoolihan’s “Five D’s of dodgeball” strategy, and dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodged his way through the Q&A. No one got a straight answer out of him the whole time, not one media member.
"Q: Commissioner, what did [Ray Rice] say?Roger Goodell: The one issue with this is this is now a matter of appeal. As you know, the NFLPA has appealed this. It is a matter that is going to be taken up with appeal, without prejudges. I have to respect the appeals process.Q: You keep talking about transparency, why can’t you tell us what he said?RG: It is inconsistent with what he told us, what we saw on the video. We have an appeals process. That information will come out.Q: The appeals process is not about those details, the appeals process is about multiple punishments for the same crimes. So given that fact that what he in fact did is not what the question is about.RG: Peter, I’m going to have to disagree with you then. That’s something that the appeals officer is going to have to determine. We had not seen all of the papers on appeals. It is a fact that there is an appeal and they may be able to raise several issues in the context of that appeal. That’s a decision that they have to make. I can’t make that.*According to transcript from www.kspr.com."
The NFL basically stole Under Armour’s slogan from like five years ago for their defense strategy, “We must protect this house!”
During his incoherent ramblings, Goodell was playing the fool because that’s the only defense he’s got left. Goodell is not an idiot or a moron like he appeared in the press conference. He’s not the politician from Parks and Rec who sits in his office all day like a robot, although that’s the part Goodell was playing Friday.
There’s no way he could make it to the highest rank in the NFL being that stupid.
Goodell acted like he had no idea what happened with the investigation but apologized over and over for “getting it wrong.” The apology, unfortunately, doesn’t feel as heartfelt when it’s read off a piece of paper for, likely, the first time.
When a reporter from TMZ asked, “Why didn’t you have the curiosity to go to the casino yourself?”
Goodell replied, “We suspended Ray Rice… Blah, blah, blah…” and didn’t answer the question.
So, the TMZ reporter fired back with this: “Mr. Commissioner we found out by one phone call. You have a whole legal department. Can you explain that?”
Goodell, proving once again how out of touch with the issue he actually is, said, “I can’t explain how you got the information. Only you can do that.”
Bravo, Mr. Goodell, bravo!
I think that answer might just edge out Billy Madison for the worst answer to a question of all-time.
That exchange with the TMZ reporter and Goodell is basically how the duration of the Q&A session went. The media, to stick with the war analogies football commentators often use, fired mortar after mortar at Goodell, and he stood there, taking all of them in the chest, unfazed, like Khan, Wolverine, and a Terminator rolled into one superhuman.
But, unlike Khan, Wolverine, and Terminator, Goodell was getting owned, and not in the way that anyone would feel sorry for him either. He had every opportunity to squeak out a tear, to look dead in the camera with actual remorse, anger, or anything, like Adam Silver did in his Donald Sterling press conference, but all Goodell gave us was his stupid, defensive smirk.
And, when he talked, Goodell’s tone was the same as a frat bro trying to defend hazing a pledge by making him drink a fifth of vodka in ten minutes.
"Frat Dude Goodell: “It’s tradition. We have rules. How could I have known he would pass out and throw up all over the floor? Everybody makes mistakes.”University President: “Well, are you going to stop?”Frat Dude Goodell: “We got this wrong on a number of levels.”… “We will get our house in order.”/winks and gives a thumbs up to his frat bros off-camera."
I don’t think the real Goodell is trying to pull a fast one like his frat dude version, but he’s definitely trying to ride this out to the bitter end with the hope it just goes away.
While he deflected question after question, I could only think, “Wow, this is why he makes so much money; Goodell just has to pretend he’s an idiot and then go home.”
Publically, Goodell has been crucified by the media and fans over and over since Friday, but if anything, it’s taken most of the heat off the NFL’s owners and placed it on Goodell’s shoulders. That’s what Goodell gets paid to do.
Goodell makes $44 million per year to be the fall guy, the punching guy, the scapegoat for a league that knows they’re “too big to fail.” Too many people watch the NFL for sponsors to actually care.
Don’t believe me?
Two seasons ago, Kansas City Chiefs’ linebacker Jovan Belcher killed the mother of his daughter before killing himself outside an NFL facility.
How many sponsors pulled their sponsorship of the NFL after that?
Zero.
So what if Procter & Gamble pulled their sponsorship of an on-field logo? It opens up more room for another Pepsi ad, or something similar. Anheuser-Busch (A BEER COMPANY!) wrote a letter about how they are “concerned” about the NFL and considering withdrawing their sponsorship of the NFL.
Right…
It’s all a big game of public relations spin. The NFL and all of its cohorts will spin, spin, and spin some more until people lose interest and this story dies.
And, this story will die; every story does. News fails to keep people interested when it’s not new.
That’s why Goodell scheduled a press conference Friday. He knows it’s his job to fix this situation, but he also knows this will all go away regardless if he does anything different at all. So, he goes up there, reads a few lines off a piece of paper, dances around a few questions, and pretends he has no idea what happened and that he is just as shocked as anyone.
That’s what he gets paid to do, and so far, it’s working because we are still watching football.
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