Silverman: Goodell's Incompetence Overshadows His Desire To Do Good
By Steve Silverman
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There is blood in the water and the sharks are circling.
Roger Goodell probably knows that there can't be a positive outcome to the Ray Rice video scenario, and that's a shame. It looks like NFL commissioner could be in the middle of a Nixonian cover-up when it comes to who had a copy of the infamous video that shows Rice knocking out his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer, in an Atlantic City elevator in mid-February.
If Goodell is not lying, the only explanations are gross disorganization and incompetence within the NFL's Park Avenue offices.
My guess is that Goodell is lying, and the reason for that is he was most likely trying to be compassionate toward Palmer. In Goodell's mind, the longer the duration of Rice's suspension, the more harm that was being done to Palmer, who is now Rice's wife.
Rice was originally suspended for two games, and that would have cost him two paychecks. If he had been reinstated as planned, he would have received his weekly paycheck from Week 3 through the end of the 2014 season.
While that ignores the big picture of domestic abuse and violence towards women, it could have helped Palmer.
But when the video surfaced on TMZ Monday morning, the firestorm began. Personally, I was not taken aback by the horror of what Rice did to Palmer. I had seen the previous video of Rice dragging her unconscious form out of the elevator and that was awful enough.
It had also been widely reported that Rice had admitted knocking her out in the elevator. The video just confirmed what he had said, and what anyone investigating the situation could have easily concluded.
But once the video surfaced, the large majority of observers were shocked by what they saw. What did they think happened in the elevator?
What do they think happens thousands of times every day to women at the hands of abusive men all over United States? Women get punched, battered and beaten, often in a far more brutal manner than the beating that Rice gave Palmer.
Rice should have been suspended for a year to begin with. When we looked at the tape at the time of the original two-game suspension, we called for that one-year penalty. We also said that Goodell was not qualified to mete out justice the way he has been throughout his tenure in the NFL.
Nothing has changed in that area. He is not a lawyer, like previous commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Goodell set himself up to be the NFL's version of Teddy Roosevelt, as he wanted to speak softly and carry a big stick.
But it's not enough to have a feeling about what's right and wrong and act accordingly. There are too many incidents involving NFL players to let emotion have anything to do with it. That's where a legal background would come into play.
If Goodell had wanted to do this the right way, he could have appointed a retired judge to handle discipline for the league.
But now Goodell is under intense scrutiny to determine if he lied about seeing the tape. It seems probable that he did, and it's ironic that the lie may have come out of a desire to help Palmer.
If that is the case, it means that Goodell was acting out of misguided compassion. In not wanting to hurt Palmer, he appears to have done more damage to battered women all over for not coming down on her abuser.
Goodell is a strong businessman who has made billions for the league and its 32 owners. But his ability to run his league on a day-to-day basis has been hurt badly. He has made a series of errors that he cannot possibly overcome.
His heart may be in the right place, but his lack of competence and foresight is dragging the NFL down.
Follow Steve on Twitter at @ProFootballBoy
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