Is it fair to blame Commissioner Goodell for the lockout. Roger Goodell has done a number of things since becoming commissioner of the league back in 2006, a lot of which has been controversial. It ranges from rule changes to protect vulnerable players on the field to the discipline of unruly players off of it. Most of this has seemed necessary. Wether you agree or disagree with the policies and their consistency, you must at least agree that his intentions seem noble. Now fast-forward to 2011. Is it okay that while the players are locked out we can’t trust the commissioner of our league to have navigated us through this time of uncertainty quickly and efficiently. I understand the the commissioner is chosen by the owners of the league, but that doesn’t mean that the commissioner has to take their side on every issue. This issue of the lockout being more important than most others.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said, when the owners voted to extend Goodell’s contract back in December, “It will be very difficult probably in many ways, and we want to have someone who has his own views, who’s going to have to make some hard decisions that maybe some of us won’t like.” Well Robert, it looks like you were wrong, from day 1 commissioner Goodell has taken the side of the owners. Instead of doing what’s in the best interest of the league, he instead opted to be on the side of the people that voted for him as commissioner, and not the one’s who ultimately pay for his check, the fans. It may not be fair, but Goodell is like an NFL quarterback on this one, the face of the league that gets the praise when things are going great. Guess what? Things aren’t going great which means that Goodell should be blamed.
At the pace we’re going there might not be a Kickoff on September 8, 2011. In fact, I’m almost certain of it. Being a fan of the Redskins, I’m used to things not going my way, or making any sense, but as fans we deserve better than this. I’m tired of watching TV and seeing somebody in a suit tell me that everything that can be done, is being done. How do you figure? If everything that could be done was being done, we’d have football by now. Instead we get to hear news about a bunch of greedy men that need the aid of the U.S. government to split 9 billion dollars in revenue, and the man whose face is on all of this is none other than commissioner Goodell.
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