Here's what I know. Roger Goodell is currently the commissioner of the National Football League. Regarding the whole New Orleans Saints' "bounty" snafu a while back, all the rest seems to be up for grabs. Where this on-going circus will stop is anybody's guess.
Here's what I think I know. In most businesses, management has the right to discipline their employees when they have done something that violates "shop rules". Depending on the business, that can encompass a wide variety of such offenses. Still, it's probably fair to say most, if not all employees were made well-aware of these rules when they hired in. If they decide to "step over the line", they do so at their own peril. Basically, they KNEW it was wrong, but for whatever reasons they did it anyway. It's difficult to have much sympathy for such offenders when they receive the appropriate punishment.
However, much like our judicial system, employees represented by a union have a built in appeal process they can go through whereby they can take their case to a higher, supposedly impartial power and have it re-examined to make sure justice has been fairly dispensed. That can involve a likewise wide variety of issues, indeed including whether a "crime" was committed in the first place and, if so, whether the accused was the actual perpetrator. That seems eminently fair. Before the "powers that be" bang somebody, sometimes greatly impacting their life in a negative way, it should be determined they "got it right".
The NFL is a unique and very strange business model. Roger Goodell is chairman of the board, and he represents 32 different subsidiaries, each with their own owners, that on the one hand try to collaborate for their common good, but on the other, try to beat each other's brains out. To boot, the NFL has an exemption from the federal anti-trust laws that apply to all other companies doing business in the US, or the league couldn't exist in the first place. And OMG, do they ever rake in the money.
Conversely, NFL players have their own union that represents them in various ways, including the right to an appeals process mentioned above if wrongdoing is suspected.
But this is where everything seems to stop making sense, particularly in the "Bountygate" case.
When the original allegations came out, several Saints players (in some cases former players), coaches, and even the general manager were handed down various degrees of punishment ranging from hefty fines to different lengths of suspensions from the game. Unpaid leaves of absence. These punishments were officially sanctioned by the Commish, Roger Goodell. It seems odd that the chairman of the board would get involved in such matters, but good luck having one of the subsidiary owners discipline his own, especially if they were star players, which would put his team at a disadvantage on game days. That would NEVER happen.
So OK, Roger banged the alleged perps, but wait, they have an appeal process. What's REALLY crazy is -- when the players go back to have their cases re-examined, guess who the judge is? Yep, Roger Goodell. That's NUTS. Ah, but that process was agreed to in the collective bargaining agreement that was endorsed by the union and ratified by the players, you say? True enough, but yours truly thinks they should quit worrying so much about players getting concussions and have the union lawyers checked out. Obviously they bumped their heads somewhere along the way. What, in the name of Forrest Gump, were they thinking?
After all the brouhaha of the last several months, with Goodell trying to stand his ground, and the players complaining they couldn't get a fair hearing, something finally gave.
To his credit, Roger Goodell has formally agreed to recuse himself from overseeing the final dispensation of the Bountygate matter, and let another "visiting" judge don the robes and preside over this particular case. Seems like a good idea in the interest of impartiality and fairness.
Right up until you consider who that judge is. Paul Tagliabue, the former commissioner of the NFL that Roger replaced. The NFL office is trumpeting Tagliabue as having a reputation of being very patient, and will take however long is necessary to render his final judgment. That all sounds great, if the players get to play and get paid while he's deliberating for who knows how long. Players' NFL careers are a very fragile thing. On any given day, for yet another variety of reasons -- they can abruptly end.
Here's the kangaroo court kicker. Ex-Commish Paul Tagliabue currently works for the same law firm as Roger Goodell used to before he assumed the throne. And among other clients, that firm's likely most notable one is -- yep -- the NFL. Forget about crazy, nuts, and yet another possible kangaroo court, and let's assume Tagliabue can have an open mind regarding the task he has taken on.
It doesn't matter because he's in a no-win situation, riddled with conflicts of interest. If he rules in favor of the players, that will fly in the face of the policy of the very firm he'll be going back to when this case is over, who is tasked with representing NFL management. If he rules against the players, they will likely claim the "fix" was in again, and the battle will continue to rage on in another forum in the future.
This has dragged on for way too long. They need to find somebody that's impartial, and couldn't care less about the NFL or the players, or anybody else for that matter. Give them all the evidence pro and con, and let them sort it out once and for all. And there will be no appeal process when that judge has rendered a verdict and rapped the gavel. Better yet, that judge should be oblivious to reality, have an attitude and raise hell with both sides while screaming from the bench to teach both a lesson. Shouldn't take more than a half hour or so.
ALL RISE. The courtroom of the Honorable Judge Judy is now in session.
Perfect.
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