NFL commissioner Roger Goodell talks on Sept. 19, 2014, in New York during a news conference addressing the rash of NFL players involved in domestic violence.To be fair, the last couple of weeks have been tough for Roger Goodell.
Every media outlet has played and replayed the footage of Ray Rice punching his fiancee. That gave way to debate and frustration and unknown. The league and Goodell handed Rice a feather-soft two-game suspension. The world bucked and blustered and the NFL -- the most popular sports league and pop culture entity in America -- was caught flat-footed.
Goodell was the face of the outrage, the banner carrier for indifference and arrogance. It was appalling, and the leader of the league -- who makes more than $40 million a year as he has lifted NFL football into an entertainment monolith -- had no answers then.
And he had no answers Friday, when Goodell faced his Game 7, his Super Bowl, his at-the-foul-line in a tie game at the Final Four before the world and gagged. His speech was tone deaf and so uninspiring that you had to wonder if Brick Tamland and Bernie from "Weekend at Bernie's" prepped him.
He said there was a problem. He stammered as he said the league was wrong. He looked nervous and as emotionally invested as a mannequin.
The NFL needed a leader. It needed a message of clarity and conviction. Heck, we needed that.
NFL fans everywhere wanted to put this behind us. It's not that domestic violence is not a serious issue, of course, but sports should be the distraction, the sideline, the escape from the serious matters of daily life.
So Goodell, reeling from the Rice debacle that begat the Adrian Peterson mess that made us ask why and realize that the guys who are the best at being gladiators on Sunday can be barbarians off the field, too. It's not a far leap, mind you, but we were happy to live the mirage as long as our fantasy team had a good day or our picks hit or our team won or our favorite player did things that made us want to congregate at the water cooler and relive it.
But the league's problems continued and the discussion picked up volume.
We looked and read and listened to stories from Charlotte and San Francisco and Arizona about abuse that made us gringe and question again the violence and the fallout. It made us wonder how an $8 billion industry can have a detailed set of guidelines for marijuana use but is completely confused when something as serious as domestice violence lands in its lap.
And Goodell was nowhere to be found. He missed season-opening photo ops and was noticeably absent and screamingly silent.
So when he took the stage Friday, it was the defining moment of his career. And that career may never recover.
Goodell accepted blame but was indifferent and emotionless. This about life and potential death. It's so much more than a league problem -- it's one that plagues our society -- yet the NFL has a chance to bring real change.
It's off to a terrible start. Ending his silence, Goodell said the league was going to get its house in order but did it with the energy of a sofa cushion. He said there was real change coming and had the empowered enthusiasm of a parked car.
Yes, the NFL needs action more than it needs a good public speaker. Still, the league craves leadership right now, and in the absence of leadership, people and corporations will follow bad leaders as a substitute.
And bad leadership as the NFL tries to right its ship in the eye of public opinion is as bad as the mistakes made in Goodell's original decision.
The actions from him and the powers that be in the NFL are what will shape this moving forward. He said everything is on the table and the league is committed to having new policy and procedures in place before the Super Bowl. He said he and NFL players union boss Demaurice Smith will meet next week.
But the words seemed as hollow as his expression, and the questions swirled.
Why have there been so many mixed signals -- Rice was suspended two games, the policy was revised and then he was suspended indefinitely -- and why were there not more answers other than catch-phrases and buzz words?
Goodell's sentiments are fine, and everyone wants this addressed and fixed as much as possible. But here's one version of how I'd have addressed the room at 3 p.m. sharp (Goodell was 20 minutes late; maybe his tee time got pushed back):
"Ladies and gentlemen, the league failed and I failed to lead it. Domestic violence is a national -- no, an international -- problem that plagues us all and leaves all of us looking for answers. The NFL in general and I in particular are no different. WE -- the NFL players, the staff, the owners and especially me -- could have done so much more to address this and hopefully, eventually help fight this problem. And from this moment forward, that fight -- not growing the bottom line or extra-point changes -- becomes the top priority of my office.
"From this day forward, everyone in this league needs to know that if you hit a woman or abuse a child, you will feel the full wrath of this office. I'll take your questions."
But Goodell waffled again. He was listless when he needed a leader. He was calculated when we needed passion.
After his mistakes, then his silence, his indifference and ineffectiveness Friday give little reason to believe he is the guy to lead the NFL back to the lead story on ESPN rather than the 6 p.m. national news.