Sports Gone Insane, Day Twelve, Part Two: Goodell Goes On The Offensive

I really think this all goes back to the poll released yesterday by NBC News and Marist.

For about a week and a half, Commissioner Goodell was seen as silent and rudderless.

So imagine my surprise (until I thought about the poll yesterday) when I saw the ABC News Special Report that Goodell was finally in front of the cameras, feigning apology and stating he would do everything in his power to do better.

Well, perhaps firing the entire Baltimore Ravens organization might be a start here.

But he looked contrite, and, of course, that will be enough for the hounds baying for blood in the National Freefall League.

So...  What did he actually SAY, other than "We fucked up."?

The NFL released Goodell's statement in full in this .PDF file.

• The NFL stands behind the belief that Robert Mueller will conduct an independent investigation...  even though ties to the owners overseeing it and the Ravens and the financial well-being of the league to Mueller and his legal firm have been exposed.
• Goodell pledges re-examination and change to the programs of advocacy and resources for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.  Never mind that, as the BMOC in both high school and college, the odds that many of these "men" have not left beatings and sexual assaults and worse in their wake for years before becoming NFL players is near zero.  The problem is NOT just the NFL in this regard -- it's the ENTIRE MISOGYNISTIC PRESENTATION OF THE SPORT OF FOOTBALL.  AT ALL LEVELS.
• Education and resource information has been provided to the teams...  which I see as about the level of the dreaded "sensitivity training", to be immediately tuned out by the brutes.
• New partnerships with the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.  If you want to see how bad things are getting in this country, the NFL's problems helped create an 84% increase, week over week, of call volume to the NDVH.  The hotline was, seriously put, overwhelmed.
• He at least admits that the current standards and practices do not meet the expectations of those of us with brains in this country with respect to player conduct.
• Goodell and NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith will co-chair a panel of experts to look at the present policy and see how it can be modified (yet left Constitutional).
• There will be a new Personal Conduct Policy in the league by Super Bowl XLIX.

AND THAT'S WHAT I'M AFRAID OF.

I truly believe that Goodell will use this opportunity, buoyed by the continued support of fans across Football Nation America, to use a combination of the Constitutional protection (which cannot be removed) of "due process under the law" and blatant cover-ups like the Outside the Lines program showed off today on the Ray Rice fiasco to completely eradicate any and all Personal Conduct Policies and to allow the players to basically do whatever the Hell they want -- just like they have in high school and college.

How is a domestic violence victim going to be able to go up against the "fixers" of the 21st Century in the NFL, especially when that victim is going to need to allow "due process" to play out to take a football player off the field?

I think Goodell is openly lying when he says he believes the majority of the league is upstanding in these regards.  I believe that a bald-faced lie:  A rough back-of-napkin mathematics look at it would place my estimate of the number of players who have committed domestic violence and similar acts at half the freaking league.

The fans DO NOT WANT players who are "too human" and treat their wives and children well.

If they did, they'd shut off these games by the fucking millions over the last two weeks -- without question.  Eight million did turn off Falcons-Buccaneers, but 35-0 in the second quarter to 56-14 at the end for Atlanta was a more likely cause than this nation getting a conscience.