Since all three were dead and buried long before Roger Goodell became the commissioner of the National Football League, there’s absolutely no logical explanation for Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain or writer Maurice Switzer perfectly sizing up the unintentionally comical commish.
But no line ever spoken or written better framed a man than how the following gem sums up Goodell, regardless of which of those deceased three (all of them have been credited with it) actually observed: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
It happened again on Tuesday while “Good Grief” Goodell was being interviewed on ESPN’s “Mike and Mike In The Morning” talk show.
Asked about an “Outside the Lines” report that Goodell came down hard on the New England Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady for Deflategate because the league had earlier given the Pats a ridiculously soft slap of the wrist for the far more serious Spygate, the commish replied: “I’m not aware of any connection between the Spygate procedures and the procedures we went through here. We obviously learn anytime we go through any kind of a process – try to improve it – get better at it. But there’s no connection in my mind to the two incidents.”
Which leads to the question: What’s in his mind? Oatmeal?
Does he not read his league office’s own work on such meaty matters? Did he not approve what the NFL’s own Troy Vincent, the league’s executive vice president of football operations, wrote to the Patriots last May, a letter that clearly stated that Spygate was a factor in the league fining the Pats $1 million and stripping draft choices over Deflategate?
Just to refresh everyone’s memory, Vincent wrote, in part: “There are several factors that merit strong consideration in assessing discipline. The first is the club’s prior record. In 2007 the club and several individuals were sanctioned for videotaping signals of opposing defensive coaches in violation of [league rules] this prior violation of competitive rules was properly considered in determining the discipline in this case.”
When your league’s own vice president writes that a prior violation of rules was considered in determining discipline, how could your mind possibly make no connection between the two? A tomato can could make the connection.
And if this really is Goodell’s grasp of reality, he would seemingly need to go. Now. Preferably before tonight’s regular-season opener between the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots and the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers.
Not that he’ll be there anyway. For the first time since taking over as commissioner in 2006, he’ll stay home from the NFL’s first big TV game, though he quite correctly assessed: “The focus should be on football. I certainly don’t want to be a distraction to that I think everyone wants to get back to football, and certainly I do.”
We all want to get back to football. And in an odd sort of way – at least until the truth came out earlier this week about Goodell’s role in Spygate – the business of football has been Goodell’s saving grace.
He oversees a league that generates $10 billion a year in revenue, and it’s scheduled to rise. It completely dominates the television ratings. Even with all of Goodell’s recent mistakes, the owners are no doubt pleased that he’s kept the focus on such faux scandals as Deflategate rather than the league’s far more serious concerns regarding domestic violence and concussions.
But this week’s news that Goodell apparently went out of his way in Spygate to protect New England owner Robert Kraft’s team at the expense of the rest of the league could be enough to move the rest of the owners to part company with their $44 million-a-year puppet.
For proof, merely consider this paragraph from the ESPN report: “Inside a room accessible only to Belichick and a few others, (the NFL) found a library of scouting material containing videotapes of opponents’ signals, with detailed notes matching signals to plays for many teams going back seven seasons. Among them were handwritten diagrams of the defensive signals of the Pittsburgh Steelers, including the notes used in the January 2002 AFC Championship Game won by the Patriots 24-17. Yet almost as quickly as the tapes and notes were found, they were destroyed, on Goodell’s orders.”
With that report, the last vestiges of Goodell’s goodwill with the league’s owners would appear to be destroyed. Especially after former St. Louis coach Mike Martz claimed this week that Goodell talked him into a writing a letter exonerating the Pats of any possible chicanery in their Super Bowl XXXVI win over the Rams, even though Martz says he still believes the Pats cheated.
Obviously, when you’re overseeing a $10 billion-a-year business, nothing is certain. But as the NFL prepares for a season that will end with the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl, it might be time to silence its foolish commissioner with a pink slip, if for no other reason than not knowing when to keep his mouth shut.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com