It has been sometime since the Weekly Lineup was had any sort of activity. In fact it has been almost two years to the date. But that doesn't mean that we can't take a few moments to acknowledge all that has happened in the last few days, weeks and months. There is a lot to cover but here is our opinion of all that has happened.
The NFL has long had an image of strong, sometimes even brutal men whose on-the-field feats are largely praised and off-the-field antics are largely ignored because of who they are and how much money they bring to the sport. So it shouldn't be any surprise that guys like Aaron Hernandez, Ray Rice, Ray McDonald, and Greg Hardy are where they are. But what's more surprising is how much the teams and the NFL have mismanaged and covered up these players wrong-doings.
Ray Rice is the easiest and most tangible of all of these stories because of the video evidence that we have all seen. He was once believed to be one of the best, if not the best, running backs in the game but now finds himself without a job because an impulsive decision to hit his now-wife. The evidence was there, Ray reportedly said in several statements to his team and the NFL that he hit his wife and he was slapped on the wrist because of who he was and what he meant to his team and the game.
As we have all seen in the last 48 hours, this mismanagement and cover up of the truth is coming to bite the NFL is the ass... and hard. Roger Goodell seems to grasping at straws and trying to find just one more lie to cover his tracks so that he can keep his job. I have no doubt in my mind that he knew exactly what happened and, more importantly, saw what happened and chose to ignore it.
The more I think about this situation, I can't help but be reminded of the Penn State Scandal that every Central PA resident loves to forget: Penn State, Joe Paterno and his staff that had every chance to bring justice to those who deserved it and failed. They failed to take appropriate actions that would have kept Jerry Sandusky away from innocent kids that he defiled. And by no means am I trying to say Ray Rice hitting is wife is in anyway as heinous as molesting children but the situation seems way too similar for me to not at least draw some parallels. Just like Penn State, the NFL only chose to take appropriate action when they were named as a responsible and knowledgable party to a horrible incident. Goodell should be fired for his role in this whole scandal. Keep in mind that Goodell is by no means responsible for the actions of NFL players but he is responsible for taking proper actions against players who violate both league rules and state or federal laws. The owners have every responsibility to make sure that Goodell can't fail at his job anymore. Don't let another guilty person go free so that they can hurt any other innocent person. Goodell has failed again and again and again to fairly and justly reprimand criminals in his game. But the sad truth is that the NFL doesn't really care about about the character of the players, coaches and owners in their organization as long as they aren't losing money because of it.
I'll be the first person to say that I am getting fed up with the NFL because of all of the drama and changes that have come to the game since Goodell took over. My interested in the game has dropped dramatically because the rules during the game and surrounding the game are in place to allow for the maximum profit. I know the NFL has always been a business but never has it seemed like only a business and not about the sport itself. Find me the same level pandering in baseball or hockey that you see in the NFL. Find me the same amount of players in the MLB or NHL that have a criminal record. Find me a sport that cares less about the character of its players. If you do, please let me know.
-Mike
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