What next for Goodell?

[OJsDad]

Pro sports as a whole has to balance public image vs. results on the field. The entitled, the bad boys, the troubled, they all get passes to various degrees in all sports because the same fans who find their behavior abhorrent will be rooting for them when they make the winning dunk, touchdown or home run. The 24/7 news cycle gives bad boys no place to hide.

I think part of what is going on is Goodell is the commish at a time that people are becoming more aware of these athletes bad behavior and his punishments to them is getting more scrutiny.  You can probably go back as little as 10 years ago and find a lot of the same issues going on but not the public attention to them. 

[Con]

I also think that when the footballs are measured during the upcoming season and you will see that there is such a variation in the PSI due to pre conditioning of the leather, humidity, gauge variation, and the natural gas law and temp that Kraft will then lower the hammer on Goodell.  No way that this tight a spec on football pressure will be maintained if the balls are measured at half time and full time after games outside.  Now I know facts wont sway most people/fans but it will be enough once a big data set from NFL games is used to overturn the Pats loss of draft picks.  You are going to see some ugly numbers for inflation from bad weather conditions and between the balls from both teams.

Con

Remember, Goodell didn't punish Brady and the Patriots for the deflation of the footballs, but the cover up.  In the same tradition that the Federal government sends people to prison when they cannot get them for anything else.

I think time will tell if it was a cover up.  There has been a lot written about how it was a slanted report that didn't examine a lot of the problems that the NFL had in this (like leaking wrong information and setting up a sting operation).  Also the scientific evidence was ignored, which gauges used etc etc.  The bottom line is there was a suspicion of wrongdoing (with only some text chats giving this credence) as well as an "awareness" whatever that means from Brady.  Pretty thin to be handing down draconian punishment but again it reinforces that Goodell (or his management group) managed to take something simple and botch it to incredibly bad proportions.  Long term this doesnt help the NFL and that's what is going to get him fired.  I don't think Kraft has finished this but has conceded ground to set himself up for a more opportune time.

[OJsDad]

Well, Goodell upheld Brady's suspension. 

Now it's the courts turn to weigh in. 

[mirth]

Injunction. Brady plays the entire season. Courts settle it in the off-season

[MetalDog]

I agree with mirth.  Unless the league can exert pressure to get the case heard before/during the season.  Then, I think Brady is exonerated and Goodell and the shield get another black eye.  And I say good for that!!

[mirth]

Goodell looks like an idiot right now. Brady and Greg Hardy both get 4 games? Beyond dumb.

[MetalDog]

As my grandfather used to say, 'Goodell looks like a jackass eating briars.'  I can't stand his smug face or the way the NFL acts as if they were above the law.

[mirth]

I love having Ray Lewis sermonize about Tom Brady. Priceless.

[bayonetbrant]

Goodell looks like an idiot right now. Brady and Greg Hardy both get 4 games? Beyond dumb.

What's worse is the way they handled Hardy's suspension.
Actions happened while old CBA was in place.  Punishment should've only been 2 games based on CBA
Punishment now being meted out under the standard of the new CBA.  NFL tries to give him 10; he appeals and gets 4, which is (honestly) twice as much as he should have based on the labor contract.
Honestly, he should be out of the league, but the NFL doesn't have the testicular fortitude to tell these guys that they're out of the league after a conviction.

[mirth]

As much as it would suck for Pats fans, I'd love for Brady to say 'screw this' and announce his retirement.

[bayonetbrant]

What I think is funny is how many people are hammering him for destroying his cell phone, and guffawing at the claim that he does it regularly.  If you had a bunch of texts between you and Giselle talking about kinky sex positions and getting your scrog on in the kitchen sink, you wouldn't want to take any chance that some digital forensics dude was going to pull that off of your phone even after you supposedly wiped it before trading in / recycling / donating / whatever.  Nope.  That sucker goes in an industrial shredder and the remnant dropped into a nuclear reactor.

[mirth]

Yeah, that's made me chuckle too. In this era of media circus, the idea that you would just turn over your personal cell is absolutely ludicrous. All your personal shit would be on TMZ in less than 24 hrs.

[OJsDad]

Injunction. Brady plays the entire season. Courts settle it in the off-season

Unless the judge is a Jets fan.   >:D

[mirth]

Injunction. Brady plays the entire season. Courts settle it in the off-season

Unless the judge is a Jets fan.   >:D

In that case, he'll butt-fumble while trying to hand the ruling to the clerk.

[mirth]

Apparently Goodell was a little nervous after announcing the Brady ruling

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/07/29/scarborough-police-watch-over-roger-goodells-home-on-prouts-neck/