So, I think now that we've spent some time in the Roger Goodell era of the NFL, it might be the time to take a look at how it's affected both our favorite team, and the league as a whole. (Dav, I don't want to hear about the 'Skins. Ian, you're excused.)
Tagliabue had gotten a pretty bad rep there at the end, and the league itself, as Bengals fans well know, had devolved into day care for millionaire man-children behaving badly. Drunken boating, smoking pot and screwing around with teenagers, establishing and running vast dog-fighting networks in the greater-Atlanta area, eating only McDonalds in the offseason (I'm looking at you, Ocho-Cinco). These are all things that all of us would love to spend our time doing, but we don't. Because it's not appropriate or even moral. I think it's safe to say we left all that behind in college, right? But not NFL superstars.
So in comes the new sheriff, and while things haven't calmed down entirely, there are certainly less reported incidents. But wait, there's bad news.
The bizarre, off-field antics have been muted somewhat, in favor of odd, totalitarian 1984-esque "the rules are the rules and I reserve the right to change the rules at any time without notice" power plays by the upper-management of the sport. Here's a Deadspin post that goes into it slightly. Everyone gets fined for everything, no one knows what's ok and whats verboten, and Hines Ward gets two fines for normal hits, but NOTHING for a career-threatening shot on Bengals rookie LB Keith Rivers. They say the hit was clean, which I think is debatable.
That isn't the only example, obviously. Justin Tuck, Adrian Wilson, and this bizarre episode that's also chronicled in the Deadspin post, wherein Andrew Whitworth and John Henderson are fined equally for an episode that pretty clearly started and ended with Henderson:
So what's the deal? Have we exchanged an ineffectual doormat of a commissioner with a mad despot who rules the league with all the stability of Kim Jong-Il? Or is this just part of the transition from lawless Mad Max wasteland NFL to an Aldous Huxley sports league?
I'm putting the question to the House. I believe that part of the NFL's appeal is its reputation as the "Wild West" among major sports (sorry, hockey), and Goodell is trying to introduce order into a situation which is always going to reject it. Do you guys think we're going to see major changes? Or is Goodell's entire tenure going to be known as the period of arbitrary fines and confused players taking their frustration out on each other?
Sub-question: Has Goodell helped or hurt the Bengals, or were they always destined to collapse like this?
3 comments:
The NFL is a great example of "Democracy by Remote". If people are upset enough, they won't watch. Clearly that isn't happening, so until it gets to a tipping point, we will all be complicit in whatever actions, or lack thereof, the NFL takes.
Personally, I love when stupid personal fouls/tauting end up costing a team...even if it's Hines Ward (who I wish had at least admitted he was sorry he ended up breaking River's jaw. I can't imagine he set out to do that.)
That smiley bastard better keep his head on a swivel for every Bengals-Steelers game the rest of his career. Rivers is younger, faster and bigger than he is, and he's going to be gunning for a revenge shot. Intentional or not, I'm sure that kid thirsts for blood.
I think Goodell has 2 major goals
1. is to maintain the integrity of the league's image so it does not devolve into an NBA-esque mire of moral grey area.
2. Protect the superstars while still maintaining the ferocity of the game.
The first issue is a problem because these guys have gotten away with anything since they were 10 and broke, and all of a sudden having rules and money does not always work.
The 2nd issue I think all comes down to technology and selective breeding. 40 years ago football players did not need facemasks and hard helmets because they were not big enough and fasty enough to cause serious damage. Once that happened they went to hard helmets and facemasks.
I think a similar leap in technology is coming to the NFL, I am just not sure what that looks like. Memory foam pads that absorb 90% of hits, leg braces that halep stabilize knees without sacrificing mobility and speed, who knows.
But the NFL's strength is they are not star reliant. They can absorb the loss of several stars every year (Romo, Brady, Palmer) and still have interesting games and random people showing up to do great things.
Kurt Warner for MVP!!
Post a Comment