Goodell Lies Again: NFL Takes Domestic Violence 'Seriously,' 'Not Going To Tolerate It'
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Albert Breer nailed it when he was on the air with 98.5 The Sports Hub's Zolak & Bertrand on Friday: "This is what happens when the [NFL] league office is full of lawyers and PR people."
When confronted with an issue as serious as domestic violence, the NFL offices choose not to do their best to eradicate the problem and punish those who commit acts as heinous as those committed by Giants kicker Josh Brown. Instead, they choose to suppress, cover up, or flat-out ignore information. They choose to pretend that the problem isn't there.
And when they are exposed, the lies only continue.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in the past two years has become the poster child for everything that's wrong with the NFL. He is one of those aforementioned "PR people" who sees something like the Josh Brown debacle as a chance to "spin" the story into an idea that the league is actually doing something about it. How can anyone actually believe a word this guy says anymore?
Goodell recently conducted a new interview with BBC Sport, which was published Friday. He said during the interview that the NFL takes domestic violence "incredibly seriously" and is "not going to tolerate it."
The gall on this man, to not only let his league office quite obviously tolerate such violent acts by Brown, Ray Rice, and others, but to do what it can to make sure the public doesn't know about it. The league has already been exposed as liars, and amazingly, Goodell continues to lie.
It's already been thoroughly proven that the league most certainly does not take domestic violence "incredibly seriously" and clearly has tolerated it. The new domestic violence policy was yet another round of lip service from Goodell, who really, truly should not survive this latest problem.
The league office is full of lawyers and PR people who can't keep up with all of the controversies it wants to cover up and deny. Its commissioner still somehow thinks that people will believe what he has to say about these issues. Goodell tried to explain away the Josh Brown situation by citing a lack of information for the league in its investigation.
How could anyone possibly believe Goodell when he says the league could not obtain enough information? There's no way the NFL lacks any kind of power when it comes to getting the information they need. The truth is, they didn't want all of the information on Josh Brown, so they avoided it. Or they got everything they needed and tried to make it disappear. That's what "fixers" like George Clooney in the movie Michael Clayton do. They make problems go away, instead of addressing them head-on.
The New York Giants, and by extension the NFL, protecting Brown is perhaps one of the strangest hills ever died upon. That they would go this far out of their way to suppress the serious acts committed by Brown, a kicker whom most NFL fans probably couldn't name or pick out of a police lineup, is astounding. Not that it would be OK to do the same if it were one of the NFL's star players, but you could at least wrap your head around the office's slimy actions. This just makes no sense and it's nothing short of sickening.
The NFL continues to be corrupted by its power, and Goodell continues to be a laughably disingenuous pawn in the NFL's disgusting behind-the-scenes window-washing when it comes to issues that are, yes, incredibly serious. The league has felt it could get away with these actions for a long time, and it's finally catching up to them.
Yet, still, Goodell tries to give you his PR-speak. It's time to take this man - and Giants owner John Mara, for that matter - and remove him from his perch, because if his credibility hadn't already disappeared entirely, it has now.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.