It’s the fall season, pumpkin spice is everywhere, and football Sundays are back. With my Green Bay Packers at 3-0 (and the 49ers at 0-3), I’m quite comfortable and pleased with my spot on the bench; all is right in my world. Football season for the Benchwarmer means a few things: It means sporting my Clay Matthews jersey; talking football with my students; and spending Sundays eating, drinking, and watching the game.
But most importantly, football season means lots of exciting (and hopefully humorous) columns where I can piss people off with my endless s**t-talking about other football teams—and the NFL in general. For those sports fans who follow my column, we know that I, the Benchwarmer, LOVE to bash on NFL structure, the 49ers and their all-too-cocky quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and profess my love for the godlike Clay Matthews—apologies to my boyfriend if he reads this.
Last season however, I found new inspiration for my columns: the New England Patriots and their quarterback Tom Brady. Based on some hilariously angry emails from indignant Patriots/Brady groupies regarding previous columns, I made some new “friends” in the Santa Maria community. And the truth is, I’m greedy and want to kick off this first column by making more “friends.”
Now, while I will touch on the Patriots assuredly, there is a greater issue at hand here, which ties into the Patriots and their more recent espionage with the Deflategate scandal. Like many problems, they start at the top and trickle their way down—so to the top we go.
Roger Goodell. Current NFL commissioner and mouthpiece for America’s biggest money-making sport. Coming off a disappointing loss in court over his “handling” of the Deflategate issue, Goodell said that “he’s open to changing his role in how the league disciplines its players.” He followed that up by stating he is also “open to changes in the player disciplinary process.”
First: Duh, Goodell—your presence in the NFL at this point makes about as much sense as having a monkey fill that role (though I wonder if the monkey would be more competent?). While Goodell has not stated that he will be removing himself from power, it’s glaringly apparent that it needs to happen.
Second: Process? What process? There is no legitimate process for disciplining NFL players; Goodell is effectively judge, jury, and executioner. And the lack of process is part of the problem, but let me explain.
Over the span of 10 years, Goodell has really backed himself into a corner. Let’s travel back in time to the 2007 “Spygate” scandal involving who? You guessed it—the Patriots. For those of you who don’t remember, the Patriots were caught filming the hand signals of New York Jets coaches during a game. Reports stated that the Patriots had videotaped opposing coaches during at least 40 games over a period of several seasons from 2000-2007. Goodell fined the Patriots head coach a measly $500,000 and the team itself was fined $250,000; they also lost one first-round draft pick. As far as I’m concerned, they got off very easily. Of course, the Patriots responded with righteous indignation about how they “couldn’t believe these accusations,” and touted their “success” as a team. But if I was guilty, I’d respond with the same over-zealous, I drink the Patriot Kool-Aid response too; denial does funny things to people.
Perhaps his lack of effective discipline during Spygate is why Goodell came down hard on the Patriots during Deflategate. But this inconsistent disciplinary style has created myriad punishment problems with players in the NFL.
Now, some columns have expressed that issues such as Deflategate and Spygate are minor and deserve less punishment than other player-centered issues in the NFL. To that I say: bulls**t. Cheating is cheating—WHY DO PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTAND?! In the real world (where NFL players and coaches don’t live, evidently) if you cheat you can get kicked out of school, fired, lose credibility, etc. Human laws don’t apply in the NFL, however.
The Patriot groupies have ridden on the wave of “what proof is there that they cheated?” Look, maybe it’s because I am biased against the Patriots (actually I am. Who am I kidding?), or maybe it’s because I feel slimy when I look at Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. My question for all you Patriots lovers out there: If you have “one of the all-time greatest quarterbacks” and “one of the all-time greatest coaches” then why do you need to cheat? I don’t think other teams in the NFL can make up reports from 40 different games, and deflated balls don’t lie either.
But in some ways, compared to the plethora of criminal behavior popping up across teams in the NFL, cheating can be considered minor—but lack of integrity in the NFL seems to be a minor issue as well. Moving forward, the problem is that not only has Goodell been unable to competently handle minor, football-related issues, he shows he’s lacking an established disciplinary process, and he has destroyed his credibility when it comes to passing judgment on real crimes.
Take for instance the disciplinary action against Ray Rice, who was suspended for only two games after beating his then-fiancée. According to CNN, Goodell’s separate punishments led to a ruling of double jeopardy. Or Adrian Peterson who was indicted for whipping his son, only to have a judge overturn Goodell’s suspension decision as well, CNN reported. Then there is Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy who was suspended for four games due to domestic abuse charges. CNN reported Hardy is now aiming to appeal this ruling for a reduced suspension in a public court.
Ultimately, this is why Goodell needs to step down from his position of disciplinarian. Aside from its being a massive conflict of interest, Goodell’s self-administered justice system has opened up opportunities and loopholes for schmuck players to get off with lesser punishments. Singlehandedly, Goodell is undermining the NFL’s rather pathetic attempts to clean up criminal behavior; it’s nothing more than a bunch of hot air at this point. The NFL truly needs a lawyer to handle arbitration and discipline, perhaps even a panel of experts—a public relations bobble-head has clearly not been doing the job.
I’m quite over this continued pattern of criminal behavior, and players getting away with it with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
But what do I know? I’m just a Benchwarmer.
Kristina Sewell can be contacted through the editor at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 8-15, 2015.