I don’t think there has ever been a commissioner, CEO, or boss more hated than Roger Goodell, the man who runs a multi-billion sports league called the NFL. The NFL will prosper despite its poor leadership but the sport’s growth has fallen because of Roger Goodell. The story I’m about to share is one that you probably won’t find believable. It’s more idiotic than you could possibly imagine.
Bob Costas went public for the first time regarding his time covering the NFL. The details of this report from ESPN are shocking. Goodell had Costas removed from the 2015 Super Bowl and banned from covering the NFL forever:
“I think the words were, ‘You’ve crossed the line,’” says Costas, who says he no longer has the text.”My thought was, ‘What line have I crossed?’”Later, Costas says he pointed out that he had been saying these things about football for years — often on NBC. That didn’t matter; it seemed this was one time too many. Costas was told he was off the Super Bowl LII broadcast. Costas insists that rather than being upset or feeling punished, he felt relief. Still, he says he and NBC recognized that pulling him off the Super Bowl would raise questions. Costas had a proposal: He should interview Roger Goodell.
“I was looking out not only for myself, because I’d like to do the interview, but I was also looking out for NBC because that would have taken them off the public relations hook and eliminated all the confusion about them supposedly kicking me to the curb or throwing me under the
bus. ” Costas says Lazarus and Flood told him they would check with the NFL. The answer came back quickly: Goodell wouldn’t do it. Costas says he had asked to interview Goodell before Super Bowl XLIX but been rebuffed then, too. This was not the norm across all sports. Costas says he had regularly interviewed league commissioners during their championships.In the end, Costas says he regretted ever taking part in the story; not because he regretted his comments about football, but because of the strain it created around his relationships with NBC colleagues. “The upside is not equal to the fear I have.” “The networks, all of them, dance to the NFL’s tune. It’s just kind of the way it goes. Everyone walks on eggshells around the NFL.”
I originally saw this blog from Barstool after Dave Portnoy wrote a piece on it. Talk about a real hero. Someone who will actually stand up to that clown Goodell. Portnoy called Goodell, Hitler in his article and it couldn’t be a more accurate description of the NFL commissioner. Goodell had Portnoy arrested during Super Bowl media day. He then had him detained during the Super Bowl despite the fact that Portnoy had paid for a ticket. He then had his thugs rip up his ticket for the game and Patriots after party as well. Portnoy would have been thrown out of the Patriots after party but a group of fans threatened to riot and the NFL backed off. Goodell is a man who is a coward and a man who is stupid. What he fails to realize that his antics only gives Barstool more attention. A thing that he would love to disappear.
I’m going to guess that all of those things may have played a role in Costas speaking out. I’m not a Costas fan by any means. I find him kind of annoying. However, this guy shouldn’t be fearing for his life. Costas might get gunned down by the NFL for even speaking out about concussions and he’s clearly afraid of Goodell. I know Bob isn’t a scary guy by any means so I’m proud that he came out and said anything.
The more I think about this, I don’t find it that surprising. As Portnoy described Goodell, he’s the modern day Gestapo. Speak out against the NFL and Goodell will have you thrown down a well to drown. More people are only coming out to talk shit about Goodell because he’s a man that needs to be stood up to. Goodell lied about Deflategate. He had zero self awareness towards the Ray Rice domestic violence scandal. He suspended Sean Payton is a bogus bounty gate allegation.
What Goodell doesn’t understand is you can’t just make things disappear. There is never any accountability. Goodell really is stupid. He probably says something like “Barstool is annoying, well have them arrested”. That is the opposite action that causes only future problems for him. This is a man that has such thin skin that he had his wife create fake Twitter accounts to stand up for him. No one got booed louder at the Super Bowl than Goodell did because NO ONE is a bigger clown than he is.
I can’t wait for the day to come that I get arrested at the Super Bowl. It’s going to be a marvelous day. I hope Goodell makes an enemy out of me one day because it would be the greatest gift I could receive for my career. Oh, and before I go. Goodell does nothing but lie about CTE and Marijuana research too. Concussions are in fact bad and Marijuana can absolutely help with managing pain.
