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Goodell makes good
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By David Owen
sports@newstribune.com
The NFL's newest Comish has had enough and finally takes a get-tough stance
There's putting your foot in your mouth and then there's putting your foot down.
Can you tell which one Don Imus did this week?
I'll give you a hint, Imus is not gellin'.
His remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team put him in an uncomfortable spotlight, which soon turned into a media firestorm.
It snowballed quickly.
Imus made his rounds on the media talk show circuit, trying to explain his actions.
No one was listening.
What he muttered in his 66-year-old voice may go down with the infamous quotes of such other important figures of our time: Jimmy ‘the Greek' Snyder, Howard Cosell and Jesse Jackson to name only a few.
Imus' bumbling, stumbling off-color remarks cost him his job, even though he apologized profusely to the Rutgers' players.
And while the Shock-Jock drifts into retirement, to soon be forgotten, somebody else is stepping up and placing his foot down hard on those who choose to make poor decisions, time after time.
In his first real show of force, the NFL's new commissioner, Roger Goodell, suspended the Tennessee Titans Pacman Jones and the Cincinnati Bengals Chris Henry for repeated off-field misbehavior.
Henry got an eight-game suspension, while Jones will sit for the entire season. Looks like Pacman ran out of power pellets. Jones filed for appeal Saturday and you can bet Henry soon will follow.
Are the punishments too harsh?
“I think it was a little bit harsh,” Jones said in a statement Saturday. “I expected the suspension, but for a whole year for a guy that hadn't been charged with nothing? I really didn't agree with it. But for the most part, I'm taking it like a man. I'm going to appeal it. We'll see what the future brings.”
In my opinion, it was about time for somebody to do something.
Goodell felt the same way, too.
“I must emphasize to you that this is your last opportunity to salvage your NFL career,” Goodell wrote Jones and Henry on Tuesday.
Goodell even stated that it's a privilege to play in the NFL, not a right.
Even though Jones and Henry are talented players, an NFL team consists of 53 players. And don't think for a minute that somebody can't be replaced one year later season. It's called the NFL Draft.
But the Comish took the punishments a step further.
Hitting an NFL player in the pocket book with fines and a multiple-game suspense without pay isn't the same as taking money away from your average salaried employee.
These players are the cream of the crop, raking in big signing bonuses along with a hefty annual salary.
Goodell made sure his message wasn't going to go unnoticed by the teams' owners and general managers.
He placed the possibility of franchises getting fined or even losing a draft pick for their players' actions.
That's hitting them where it hurts. If you can't control your players, the NFL's commissioner is making it quite clear that you can't pick them either.
This is going to make teams second-guess about drafting that top-round pick with off-the-field issues. Or, it may even make that top-tier college athlete rethink the type of situation he's getting into.
Goodell took a radical approach to keep the NFL's growing fan base from slipping away because some athletes can't help but to find themselves in questionable situations.
Now, if he can just throw-out the television blackouts, he'll truly be a revolutionary.
There's putting your foot in your mouth and then there's putting your foot down.
Can you tell which one Don Imus did this week?
I'll give you a hint, Imus is not gellin'.
His remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team put him in an uncomfortable spotlight, which soon turned into a media firestorm.
It snowballed quickly.
Imus made his rounds on the media talk show circuit, trying to explain his actions.
No one was listening.
What he muttered in his 66-year-old voice may go down with the infamous quotes of such other important figures of our time: Jimmy ‘the Greek' Snyder, Howard Cosell and Jesse Jackson to name only a few.
Imus' bumbling, stumbling off-color remarks cost him his job, even though he apologized profusely to the Rutgers' players.
And while the Shock-Jock drifts into retirement, to soon be forgotten, somebody else is stepping up and placing his foot down hard on those who choose to make poor decisions, time after time.
In his first real show of force, the NFL's new commissioner, Roger Goodell, suspended the Tennessee Titans Pacman Jones and the Cincinnati Bengals Chris Henry for repeated off-field misbehavior.
Henry got an eight-game suspension, while Jones will sit for the entire season. Looks like Pacman ran out of power pellets. Jones filed for appeal Saturday and you can bet Henry soon will follow.
Are the punishments too harsh?
“I think it was a little bit harsh,” Jones said in a statement Saturday. “I expected the suspension, but for a whole year for a guy that hadn't been charged with nothing? I really didn't agree with it. But for the most part, I'm taking it like a man. I'm going to appeal it. We'll see what the future brings.”
In my opinion, it was about time for somebody to do something.
Goodell felt the same way, too.
“I must emphasize to you that this is your last opportunity to salvage your NFL career,” Goodell wrote Jones and Henry on Tuesday.
Goodell even stated that it's a privilege to play in the NFL, not a right.
Even though Jones and Henry are talented players, an NFL team consists of 53 players. And don't think for a minute that somebody can't be replaced one year later season. It's called the NFL Draft.
But the Comish took the punishments a step further.
Hitting an NFL player in the pocket book with fines and a multiple-game suspense without pay isn't the same as taking money away from your average salaried employee.
These players are the cream of the crop, raking in big signing bonuses along with a hefty annual salary.
Goodell made sure his message wasn't going to go unnoticed by the teams' owners and general managers.
He placed the possibility of franchises getting fined or even losing a draft pick for their players' actions.
That's hitting them where it hurts. If you can't control your players, the NFL's commissioner is making it quite clear that you can't pick them either.
This is going to make teams second-guess about drafting that top-round pick with off-the-field issues. Or, it may even make that top-tier college athlete rethink the type of situation he's getting into.
Goodell took a radical approach to keep the NFL's growing fan base from slipping away because some athletes can't help but to find themselves in questionable situations.
Now, if he can just throw-out the television blackouts, he'll truly be a revolutionary.
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