We have enough information to say with some amount of certainty that Roger Goodell is the worst. The NFL’s commissioner is really good at making himself look terrible in essentially every situation because, well, he’s the worst.
For example, Goodell gave an interview to BBC Sport during his tour of the United Kingdom prior to Sunday’s New York Giants vs. Los Angeles Rams game. Plenty of folks don’t like the game because it’s an NFL game that takes place at 9:30 a.m. EST and it takes a home game away from one team, but this year’s game has a dark cloud over it regarding Giants kicker Josh Brown.
The entire situation has been bungled from the start, as Brown – who abused his wife, called her a slave, and called himself God – wasn’t dropped immediately from the Giants’ roster. In fact, the Giants were supportive of Brown at first and, instead of cutting him, put him on paid leave via the commissioner’s exempt list.
It’s the latest example of the league looking really bad in the face of domestic violence allegations (well, it’s more than allegations in Brown’s case, but just in general). Richard Conway of BBC Sport decided to ask Goodell about how the league bungles domestic violence so frequently compared to how it cracks down on, say, celebrations. Here’s how ol’ Rog answered:
Conway: The criticism that comes back to you is that people see punishments for touchdown celebrations but then only one game for a domestic violence incident. It must be very difficult to balance those things and explain them?
Goodell: They are. I understand the public’s misunderstanding of those things and how that can be difficult for them to understand how we get to those positions. But those are things that we have to do. I think it’s a lot deeper and a lot more complicated than it appears but it gets a lot of focus.
Really, no matter how Goodell answered this question, he was going to look bad, because it really is absurd how the league ostensibly cares more about celebrations than domestic violence. But my goodness, Goodell, this is the worst possible way to answer this question. To essentially insult the intellect of fans for, you know, putting two seconds of thought into how the league approaches “unsportsmanlike” activities and domestic violence shows a tone-deafness that is shocking for even Goodell.
(Via Deadspin)
