So now the suspension is back on. I lost count after a while, but think this is maybe the tenth or eleventh time Dallas Cowboy running back Ezekiel Elliott's six game suspension has been upheld, reversed, re-upheld, etc.
It all seems to depend on which side can court and judge shop in a favorable venue to get the ruling they want.
What has been lost in the on-going whack-a-mole court mania is the reason it came about in the first place.
Dear Mr. Elliott was alleged by some to have physically abused a fair damsel, sometimes known as a significant other -- or old lady -- whatever.
But he was never even charged with such a crime, much less convicted of same. Therefore, as the always perfect -- right -- American jurisprudence system goes, EE remains innocent until proven guilty. In other words, pure as the driven snow, or perhaps of the same high character and quality of the best white lightning in all of Tennessee. Forget steroids and human growth hormones, just a few snorts of that stuff can make any animal, two-legged or four, run wild as well, but I digress. But I never saw it in the black variety. Go figure.
Nevertheless, enter one Roger Goodell, grand exalted supreme ruler of all things pro football, and sometimes referred to in his lesser capacity as Commissioner of the NFL.
High lord Roger and his minions determined, in their infinite wisdom, that mere commoner Elliot had run afoul of the player conduct code. Off with his head, or at least a six game suspension.
And so it came to pass.
But then it was reversed by one of those pesky courts.
[They tend to get in the way of, ahem, righteous authority at times in those countries dumb enough to keep relying on democratic systems with checks and balances. Unfortunately, the US happens to be one of those backwards countries.]
Then re-instated by another.
Then off again.
On again.
Off, on, off, on, off, until most of us lost count.
Any sort of moral justice went out the window a long time ago. It became, and remains all about winning -- by both sides -- the NFL and the Players Union -- which both have an army of lawyers to keep pressing on.
Do I think EE originally smacked that girl around? Probably. But because no charges were filed, then it becomes like the proverbial tree in the woods falling and trying to determine whether it made any noise while nobody officially witnessed it.
Did Goodell and his merry band of discipline hander-outers have a right to punish such a tree, excuse, Elliott, without any proof of same either? Probably so as well.
It's called a clause in the Collective Bargaining Agreement whereby any player that casts the league in a negative light can be zapped for doing so.
EE was guilty of this. Or was he?
After all, none of this ongoing court craziness would have happened if Goodell hadn't handed down the suspension -- for a crime that legally never happened -- in the first place.
So who indeed has cast the league in a negative light over all this time?
Maybe Goodell should be given a suspension. And it appears more than a few owners -- his bosses with hiring/firing power -- have become dissatisfied with his performance as their exalted leader.
Dude's making over $40 million a year, which they have to pay for, and he continues to bring them aggravation and bad press?
I dunno who's right and wrong here. I just wish somebody somewhere could make a decision which is binding, and this whole cluster -- you know what -- was decided. Period.
I mean, so what if EE misses a few games? He'll still be raking in millions. And if his absence costs the Cowboys a playoff spot -- so what again? There's no way they were Super Bowl caliber even with him.
And if the league ultimately loses this legal wrangling? Who cares? Maybe their heavy-handed tactics need to be taken down a serious peg. Translation -- you can't zap somebody until proof has been shown they actually committed a crime/violation. In this case, they don't have it. Never did.
Regardless, somebody with the authority to do so, please make a final call and stick to it.
While I'm all for instant replay and the democratic system, this "upon further review" stuff is getting ridiculous.
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