Keller @ Large: Best Way To Treat Roger Goodell? Just Ignore Him
BOSTON (CBS) - Sorry I'm a little late to this, but I can't let pass the news that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says he'll be there when the Patriots open their title defense in September in Foxboro, his first visit to Gillette Stadium since he foisted you-know-what on us at the behest of his bitter, jealous owner-lords.
And this news raises an important question – how should the fans treat Roger when they see him?
Or rather, if they see him.
Says the great Michael Hurley of CBS Boston.com: "He's going to get whisked in, he'll be brought in a back door, he'll be brought right to a suite until they show him on TV, and then he'll probably bounce."
That sounds right, and so, what to do?
Turn en masse and shake our fists at the luxury box?
Pelt it with half-eaten glazed donuts?
Heckle, in our inimitable New England way?
I say, ignore him.
If you see him on the way in, pretend you don't. If you spot him in the box, look the other way.
No heckling, no signs, the total silent treatment.
Send this message: you don't matter.
You are inconsequential.
Trust me, recognition, however negative, is oxygen to guys like this. The Pats already shrugged Goodell and his cronies off by winning in spite of their best efforts to stop them; this will be the fans' chance to reinforce that message.
The best way to deflate a pathetic would-be bully is to make him feel invisible.
Ignoring Goodell would leave him confused, humiliated and totally on the defensive.
And the rest of the league can ponder the magnificence of New England fans, who know how to deliver the ultimate dis.
Listen to Jon's commentary: