Feanor

The support for Roger Goodell in the media has been pretty strong.  Of course, the media was never very fond of this Spygate business to begin with and was rather eager to see it go away.  Why?  The media, particularly media leader ESPN. had spend much of 2007 hyping up the Patriots, constantly describing the team in the superlative.  Obviously, the media felt it could market itself a little more effectively if it could convince fans they were watching the best team ever, and if my limited observations are indicative of anything, it worked.  Every online forum or message board you'd go to and hundreds of new Patriot fans would emerge to cheer on "their team" while many others would come forth saying things like "sorry guys, I hate to admit it but I'm realistic, and the Patriots are the best team ever."  Goodell perhaps, saw the possibility of the Patriots winning it all and tried to hush up Spygate in response, thereby garnering media support. 

Truth be told, I don't know Goodell's motive.  I know he wants to make money for the NFL as a whole, and he felt that hushing up and putting an end to Spygate would best accomplish this.  If it were a team besides the Patriots, would Goodell's punishment have been more harsh, would his willigness to extend negative publicity to that franchise have been greater?  Well, he was more than willing to embarrass the Bengals when several of their players became involved with drugs and alcohol.  When Moss became involved in a sexual abuse case, Goodell did his part to hush things up, issuing no punishment or public comment on the matter.  Regardless, I can't prove that Goodell favors the Patriots, but what I can show is that he covered up Spygate prematurely. 

First and foremost, why did Goodell destroy the tapes submitted to him?  To prevent other teams from using them to their advantage?  Hardly.  How would other teams even gain access to them?  And if their impact was "minimal" as Goodell contends, why would it matter if other teams saw them or not?  And speaking of minimal, if the impact was so minimal, why were the Patriots so deliberate with their filming techniques?  Why was Walsh's work submitted directly to Ernie Adams, Belichick's right hand man if the impact here was "minimal?"  Why is Goodell going out of his way to defend the Patriots and their use of taping, calling its impact minimal?  And again, if the impact was so minimal, why did Goodell burn the tapes?  That has got to be the fishiest part of this whole business.  Other teams were probably denied access to them to begin with, and the impact was allegedly minimal.  I can only think Goodell destroyed them so that they would not be brought in as evidence in a potential lawsuit by betters against the league or the Patriots.  It just makes no sense that he'd destroy them as a mere manner of league policy. 

There are other questions to answer.  Why was a Patriots attorney present when Walsh met with Goodell?  Certainly, that would have compromised Walsh's ability to tell the full truth.  Why didn't Goodell suspend Belichick?  He suspended Wade Wilson for using steroids for personal, medical purposes, this led to NO competitive advantage for the Cowboys.  Yet he only suspends Belichick 500k (chump change for Bill) and removes a draft pick (not very meaningful, as Patriot fans here have said time after time, because the team already had a high first rounder).  I find it hard to believe that Goodell found this punishment harsh.  He knows football, and he knows it was his punishment that had minimal effect on the Patriots.  The information Walsh revealed to Goodel and the Patriots' attorney, in and of itself, does not warrant further punishment.  But it most certainly warrants further investigation.  There are simply too many questions that remained unanswered.  And given Goodell's track record, I don't think he should be the one leading the investigation. 

I absolutely applaud Senator Specter's investigation into the matter.  If he doesn't, the matter will die and the problem will continue, that's right, continue!  A punishment like the one Goodell issued is certainly not enough to deter the Pats from doing this in the future.  Maybe they'll be a bit more discreet this time, but it helps to know the Commish wants this matter dead as much as you do.  If it gets revealed by an outside source, you may be in trouble, but if it is the NFL that catches you, you know the Commish has your back.  Those criticizing Spector for using "tax dollars" on this matter when there are more pressing issues for Congress to resolve don't know the first thing about fiscal economics and are just rehashing cliches they heard on ESPN.  What money the government spends on this investigation, if it happens, is extremely minimal, perhaps .001% of the budget if that even.  It's utterly insignificant, especially when compared with wasteful social programs that nobody ever complains about.  Finally, if you actually believe that a Senate hearing on gas prices or terrorism instead of on the NFL is going to solve those problems, you are deluding yourselves.   Again, this is just people watching ESPN and repeating what they heard from Len Pasquarelli or John Clayton or someone else. 

It's very hard to be an NFL fan when you know that the Commissioner will administer discipline in an arbitrary manner, will favor some teams over others, make a big deal out of certain violations, and hush up others depending on how he feels.  It's impossible to say that things are not being fixed and that end results are not being pushed by the league toward reaching a particular outcome after Spygate.  If you are not a fan of the Patriots, it becomes tough to trust Goodell as the highest authority in the NFL.  And frankly, I'm a little worried about NFL ownership as a whole for  not questioning how Goodell handled this matter.  I'm under the impression Goodell convinced owners that the quicker Spygate ended, the better it was for the league financially, so the owners let him handle the situation without interference.  Bandwagon fans, meanwhile (and yes there reamain a lot of them) were convinced that Goodell was right because the media was backing him and the Patriots.  So Goodell figured he had enough support to go about this his own way and not be questioned for doing anything wrong.  For the most part, he was right...but he didn't anticipate that pesky Senator from Pennsylvania breathing down his back. 

Due to the media and ownership backing him, I don't think Goodell's stepping down any time soon.  It's a shame though, because what he does not realize is that in the long run, the NFL is a more profitable enterprise by retaining its integrity than by covering up all its problems.  I predict that within the next ten years, as Goodell's reign moves forth, the league will find itself lacking fans and money more quickly than it realizes.