People are still going ape over shock jock Rush Limbaugh and his association with a group planning to buy the St. Louis Rams. Add NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to that list. Apparently Limbaugh needs to beef up on his “Roamin’ Catholic Ginger Ruling With An Iron Fist” demo.
“I’ve said many times before, we’re all held to a high standard here,” Mr. Goodell said. “I would not want to see those comments coming from people who are in a responsible position in the N.F.L. — absolutely not.”
Mr. Goodell emphasized that it was extremely early in the process and that the Rosenbloom family, which owns the St. Louis Rams, is not even fully committed to sell its majority stake in the team.[..] via.
Support seems to be in short supply at the ownership level as well. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay is on record as saying “Not a chance in Hell.”
“I myself couldn’t even think of voting for him,” said Irsay speaking from the NFL’s Fall Owner’s Meetings in Boston.via.
I gave my take on this at the Washington Post blog, and while I think Limbaugh has every right to own whatever he can afford, Limbaugh doesn’t seem to be great for business. And some have drawn parallels to Michael Vick and the media’s attitude toward his reinstatement, which seems like apples and oranges. While Vick’s actions were obviously more atrocious, they seem to be over and done with. The last thing Goodell wants to do is monitor his owners the way that he has to do with the players.
Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth has received his punishment from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: he’ll miss the entire 2009 season without pay.
Stallworth, 28, who pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter in Florida in connection with a March 14 crash in which he struck and killed construction worker Mario Reyes, will be reinstated after the Super Bowl in February 2010, the league said.
Portions of a letter Goodell had written to Stallworth were released by the league earlier today:
“In my view, the essential facts are that you had alcohol in your system well above the legal limit, made a conscious decision to drive, and struck and killed a man. As you recognize, this conduct and the loss of life has caused serious damage to the NFL and NFL players generally. Legal arguments that focus on criminal liability under Florida law do not diminish that damage or your responsibility for your conduct. via.
Serious tangible damage to the NFL and its players? I doubt it, and I think this suspension is too heavy-handed. Unlike the state of Florida, Goodell isn’t bound by inconveniences like the presumption of innocence, for example. He can do whatever the hell he wants, and he is. Stallworth, for all intents and purposes, has paid his debt to society, and there’s no tangible evidence, other than drawing the ire of a few bitchy columnists, suggesting that Stallworth’s conduct has hurt the NFL’s bottom line.
I can appreciate Goodell’s position that he doesn’t want to be the guy that trots out a skill-position player for everyone to cheer on after he ran over “an innocent man” in his Bentley. While he was legally impaired. But considering that Stallworth is under contract with the Browns, he might come out ahead on that deal. It’s funny because the Browns are godawful, see.
Michael Vick is back in the NFL. Sort of.
Vick can participate without delay in preseason practices, workouts and meetings and can play in the final two preseason games — if he can find a team that will sign him.
Once the season begins, Vick may participate in all team activities other than games, but could play as soon as October. via.
Goodell is expected to make an announcement later this afternoon. I’m especially curious to see if anybody decides to roll the dice with Vick and bring him into camp. I still think the climate for signing Vick now–or even in August–isn’t right. But this was the first step in his potentially returning to the NFL, and I think the timing of the decision is good. It should bring a lot of mainstream buzz, both good and bad, as teams head to training camp later this week.
UPDATE: Darren Rovell thinks that Vick’s reinstatement might be a move to keep him out of the UFL. It’s not as terrible an argument as it might sound; the worst thing that could happen to the NFL is if Vick’s road to redemption ran through a rival league. Competition makes discrimination more expensive, and whether or not you think Vick’s well-documented antics were especially heinous, he’s done the time, and the league’s (read: Goodell’s) efforts to keep him off the field have been enacted arbitrarily. But now we’ll see who’s really interested in getting Vick–meaning less speculation from people that don’t know anything anyway, and that’s always a good thing.
The dog days of sports just got a little less dogged. Arf!
Aspiring to return to the NFL, Michael Vick met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday, and the big news coming from out of that sitdown was that Vick’s suspension, imposed before the start of the 2007 season, might be lifted after the first four weeks of the upcoming NFL season. However, that report was refuted by NFL sources late yesterday.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello indicated that reports of any reinstatement and subsequent suspension are premature.
“The commissioner has not made a decision,” Aiello wrote in an email on Thursday. “These reports are pure guesswork. As far as the reported meeting, we have been consistent in not commenting on the review process while it is taking place. … This is a serious matter. We are engaging in a careful and thoughtful process and no decisions have been made.” via.
Under the originally-reported plan for reinstatement, Vick would be permitted to sign with an NFL team before sitting out the first quartile of the season. And I’m not sure what a big deal that would be anyway, since Vick would probably need at least that much time to prepare himself to play. But Goodell seems hellbent on imposing his will on Vick, and I guess that’s okay, provided he doesn’t dunk him in a large tank of water or electrocute him. That would seem somewhat hypocritical. Somewhat.
Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick completes his federal prison term today, where he’s expected to shed the ankle monitor that he’s worn since his home confinement began on May 20th. Vick, having been released by the Falcons last month, still faces the obstacle of reinstatement by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before he can play for another NFL team.
As soon as that ankle bracelet comes off, Vick becomes the black Brett Favre, meaning that the speculation regarding his NFL future will be endless, and pointless, until somebody actually signs him. But instead of the question being “Will he or won’t he,” it’s “Where?” I’ve said before that any on-field benefit an NFL team would enjoy with Vick wouldn’t exceed the potential hailstorm at the box office. Do I want to see Vick back in the league? Hell, yeah. Do I want him on my team? Not a chance.
But any team could lessen that burden by signing Vick during the season, after all the season tickets have been bought and paid for. Some reports indicate that Goodell may not rule until then, anyway. But Vick’s best shot of playing everyday might involve another act of contrition–playing in the UFL. It’s hard to imagine anyone not being remorseful after playing there.
via.
NFL Commissioner and noted Stairmaster addict Roger Goodell is spending his Wednesday morning assaulting Washington State’s Mt. Rainer, the state’s highest peak at 14,411 feet. The Commish has been joined on the expedition by Seattle Seahawks head coach Jim Mora, Jr., who is no longer being referred to as “Junior” by the media for some reason. Surely a guy who said he would abandon the Falcons in a playoff run is entirely too mature to be referred to as “Junior.” From NFL.com:
Guide Peter Whittaker said the group spent about five hours Monday training in wind and fog. He and fellow climbing expert Ed Viesturs are leading the climb for charity that also includes Seahawks chief executive Tod Leiweke.
“Gotta say the commish performed,” Whittaker told The Associated Press in an e-mail. “He is a good listener and grasped mountaineering basics reasonably well. A lot of mountain to go though … we were at 6,000 feet.”
Goodell’s party had planned to start attempting the summit sometime early this morning. That crazy Goodell, he’s either a genuine man of the people or a five-star poseur. Somebody tell him that he can afford a parade of helicopters to just drop him onto the mountain if he wanted. In a 24-karat gold bobsled, no less. But I understand that Ranier is a pretty tricky climb. Most of it is up, until you reach the very, very top. And then it tends to slope away rather sharply.
