Roger Goodell’s Unstoppable Football Machine- NY Times Magazine

[Dr. Gonzo]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/magazine/roger-goodells-unstoppable-football-machine.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Article touching on a number of topics but all leading back to Goddell. Surprisingly, Texans owner Bob McNair comes off as the biggest asshole in an article that has numerous quotes from Goddell and Jerry Jones.

McNair, the Texans’ owner and a big Republican donor, gave $10,000 last year to help repeal a ballot initiative in Houston that protected gays and lesbians from forms of discrimination.

I asked McNair if he was as sensitive to other offensive language, specifically the N.F.L. team in the nation’s capital’s being named the Redskins. McNair told me that he grew up in western North Carolina, around many Cherokee Indians. ‘‘Everybody respected their courage,’’ McNair told me of the Indians. ‘‘They might not have respected the way they held their whiskey, but. . . .’’ He laughed. ‘‘We respected their courage. They’re very brave people.’’ Put McNair down as not offended by ‘‘Redskins.’’

 

[glennhoffmania]

Very good article. Thanks for posting.

 

[edmunddantes]

‘‘I can’t tell you the last time I’ve been to a movie,’’ he told me, although in the next breath he said he had seen ‘‘The Intern,’’ starring Robert DeNiro, with his twin teenage daughters during the snowstorm the night before.

It's a subtle way of calling someone a habitual liar, but it works.

 

[Harry Hooper]

McNair is a piece of work, grumbling about Al Davis suing the NFL. The Texans didn't even exist back then.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Jesus, that whiskey comment is utterly cringeworthy.

 

[PedroKsBambino]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/magazine/roger-goodells-unstoppable-football-machine.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Article touching on a number of topics but all leading back to Goddell. Surprisingly, Texans owner Bob McNair comes off as the biggest asshole in an article that has numerous quotes from Goddell and Jerry Jones.

McNair looks like an ass. But don't kid yourself: Goodell is far and away the biggest ass in the story, as he is in most places he might wander to.

 

[Average Reds]

I am disappointed that McNair didn't refer to it as "fire water."

 

[Gunfighter 09]

It is amazing to see your paranoia confirmed. As a Raider fan, that McNair quote is fucking infuriating.

The loser among the Membership was Mark Davis, the Everyman spawn of the Raiders’ outlaw founder, Al Davis. His father, who died in 2011, was at constant war with the league. He still engenders bad will among certain owners in a way that does no favors for his son. (‘‘Oakland gets nothing,’’ Robert McNair told me. ‘‘Al used to sue us all the time.’’)

If the Raiders get shut down for Vegas or San Diego, I expect to see the above quote used prominently in their lawsuit against the league.

 

[soxhop411]

It is amazing to see your paranoia confirmed. As a Raider fan, that McNair quote is fucking infuriating.



If the Raiders get shut down for Vegas or San Diego, I expect to see the above quote used prominently in their lawsuit against the league.

and that right there is why Kraft didn't sue the NFL after "deflategate"

 

[Harry Hooper]

It is amazing to see your paranoia confirmed. As a Raider fan, that McNair quote is fucking infuriating.



If the Raiders get shut down for Vegas or San Diego, I expect to see the above quote used prominently in their lawsuit against the league.

Indeed, not exactly an appeal to policies and procedures.

Snyder might be a strong candidate for the "Screw the Patriots!" cabal as well:

‘‘God almighty, this is just terrible,’’ he said. ‘‘This really, really hurts.’’ He said he grows jealous of other owners whose teams are still playing.

 

[Average Reds]

It is amazing to see your paranoia confirmed. As a Raider fan, that McNair quote is fucking infuriating.

If the Raiders get shut down for Vegas or San Diego, I expect to see the above quote used prominently in their lawsuit against the league.

It's as if all of the NFL owners are emotionally stuck in Jr. High.

Idiots.

 

[Bleedred]

It's as if all of the NFL owners are emotionally stuck in Jr. High.

Idiots.

This has never been a question for me. These owners, though billionaires most of them, are the most juvenile, small and petty men on the planet.

 

[amarshal2]

It's as if all of the NFL owners are emotionally stuck in Jr. High.

Idiots.

This is exactly what I thought throughout that piece.

I came away understanding why Kraft just didn't feel he could fight the league. He doesn't want to be shunned to the Raiders table in the lunch room. So he swallowed his pride and accepted his demotion from the cool kids table to the second tier.

 

[pappymojo]

Seeing how stupid and petty some of the owners in the league are, I for one am extremely heartened to know that the Commissioner is not influenced by any of the owners.

 

[Hector Salamanca]

Two thoughts I had from that piece - does anyone actually feel bad for owners when their teams lose, as they seem to believe? The only circumstance that comes to mind is how heartbroken Kraft looked after the 2011 Super Bowl with having lost Myra earlier in the season. Second, who on earth grows up dreaming of being a sports league commissioner? Is that normal?

 

[Marciano490]

Two thoughts I had from that piece - does anyone actually feel bad for owners when their teams lose, as they seem to believe? The only circumstance that comes to mind is how heartbroken Kraft looked after the 2011 Super Bowl with having lost Myra earlier in the season. Second, who on earth grows up dreaming of being a sports league commissioner? Is that normal?

I wanna make $44 million a year when I grow up. Or not even a year. In total would be fine too.

 

[Hector Salamanca]

Touché.

 

[DanoooME]

It is amazing to see your paranoia confirmed. As a Raider fan, that McNair quote is fucking infuriating.



If the Raiders get shut down for Vegas or San Diego, I expect to see the above quote used prominently in their lawsuit against the league.

I wish I was a billionaire so I could buy the Raiders, play nice to get in the club, then turn heel and make Al Davis seem like a choir boy with my actions to screw the other owners over.

 

[grimshaw]

16 owners are 67+, and 9 are 75+ I hope to god there is significantly less tone-deafness when some of these grudge-holding, penny pinching, windbags go senile and some new blood comes in.

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

16 owners are 67+, and 9 are 75+ I hope to god there is significantly less tone-deafness when some of these grudge-holding, penny pinching, windbags go senile and some new blood comes in.

It's like waiting for Thomas and Scalia, though.

 

[Marciano490]

I know Jerry and Al's kids seem more with it, but what makes us hopefully these guys are raising kids that are going to come out any better than they are? Don't see many Thetises in the group.

 

[h8mfy]

NYT has two other NFL-related articles today (maybe should be in the Future of Football thread?):

Football going the way of Boxing?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/opinion/the-nfls-next-play-address-brain-trauma-or-fade-away.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

Willie Wood cannot remember his SB interception (CTE seels likely)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/sports/football/willie-wood-made-the-most-memorable-play-of-super-bowl-i-he-has-no-recollection.html?hpw&rref=sports&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

 

[bigq]

Goodell is presiding over the NFL at the height of its popularity and it seems increasingly likely that his poor stewardship will result in waning popularity in the coming years. Perhaps not in the near term however the overwhelming evidence of long term health consequences will lead to more parents not allowing their children to play and a gradual decline in interest in the sport. Yes it seems like this belongs in the Future of Football thread.

 

[Jettisoned]

I had a good laugh at this part:

The Jets’ owner, Woody Johnson, strolled past him unbothered, wearing a suit and a Jansport backpack over both shoulders.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

Willie Wood is also 79. Can we really say if its CTE or just old age catching up to him?

 

[crystalline]

Willie Wood is also 79. Can we really say if its CTE or just old age catching up to him?

Yes, you can say. The cellular profile of a CTE brain under a microscope is different from a brain of a person that has dementia or Alzheimer's.

Right now all CTE diagnoses are done postmortem by looking at the brain. It's not totally clear how behavioral symptoms correlate with the brain damage.

That's why I was asking whether Stabler had memory or personality problems, or whether only his brain showed changes portmortem. It might be that many people show the brain changes of CTE but not all show behavior changes.

 

[OCST]

This has never been a question for me. These owners, though billionaires most of them, are the most juvenile, small and petty men on the planet.

I think there is a "because of" going on here, not an "in spite of"

 

[Average Reds]

NYT has two other NFL-related articles today (maybe should be in the Future of Football thread?):

Football going the way of Boxing?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/opinion/the-nfls-next-play-address-brain-trauma-or-fade-away.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

The idea that boxing lost popularity because people were concerned with the savagery of the sport is preposterously false.

Boxing faded because the sport itself became hopelessly fragmented by the creation of so many rival governing/sanctioning bodies. (BBBoC, EBU, WBA; WBC, WBO, IBF, etc..) Add in the obvious corruption of those organizations - even or perhaps especially at the amateur level - and you have a sport ripe for disintigration.

There's also the fact that boxing's decline has resulted in the rise of MMA, a sport that is arguably more savage than boxing.

Goodell is running a dangerously insular organization that is currently at peak popularity and which seemingly has nowhere to go but down in terms of popularity. That's as far as the analogy to boxing goes.

 

[h8mfy]

No disagreement about the multiple reasons for boxing's waning popularity or that Willie Wood might just have non-CTE senility (though Dawson speculates it is concussion related and Woods' other physical issues are cited),

But it was interesting (to me, at least) to see these two stories juxtaposed against the "Unstoppable NFL" story.

Can't link from my phone but today the Op-Ed Room for Debate column is on whether we should feel guilty about watching, including an interesting view by ex-OL Markus Koch.

I know I wince a lot more when watching these days compared to 30 years ago (perhaps a sign of my own age) but I still tune in. Maybe it is unstoppable.

 

[Section30]

I think there are several possible scenarios that can affect the popularity of football and diminish it greatly.

1) CTE studies get expanded to studying the brains of college players and they find it is present or pervasive.
2) NIH develop a CTE test that works on the living and the results show a widespread problem.
3) A large scale betting scandal involving players/teams/organized crime.
4) The whole "guys in New York" reviewing plays gets out of hand and the perception forms that the fix is in.
5) A whistle blower comes forward with damning evidence of: FIFA style kickbacks/collusion by owners against the players union/pick your large scale scandal.
6a) NFL prices itself out of the market for the average fan and they turn to more economical entertainment.
6b) NFL prices itself out of reach of the average entertainment company and they bid much less, or not at all, for the rights.

There could be a combination of these scenarios all occurring in varying degrees that could lead to disinterest or the re-evaluation by fans to choose something else to watch. I am not surprised to have seen several posters here discuss not watching or at least reducing their consumption of football after the Brady/Belichick era is over. If there have been enough problems with the NFL to aggravate dedicated fans on a sports website to the point of considering dropping their viewership, what percentage of casual fans have already moved on to something else?

 

[Average Reds]

There are a lot of scenarios where football's popularity falls off and I think that CTE is at the heart of most. I just found the analogy to boxing to be specious.

 

[djbayko]

Yes, you can say. The cellular profile of a CTE brain under a microscope is different from a brain of a person that has dementia or Alzheimer's.

Right now all CTE diagnoses are done postmortem by looking at the brain. It's not totally clear how behavioral symptoms correlate with the brain damage.

That's why I was asking whether Stabler had memory or personality problems, or whether only his brain showed changes portmortem. It might be that many people show the brain changes of CTE but not all show behavior changes.

I think that's why he was asking if we can say anything definitive about Willie Wood now, since he's alive.

 

[johnmd20]

There are a lot of scenarios where football's popularity falls off and I think that CTE is at the heart of most. I just found the analogy to boxing to be specious.

It's not totally specious, tho. I cannot ever recall watching football and thinking about the long term impact on the players. Just play the game, men! That has changed these past few years, as the research has piled up. My wife, a big football fan, no longer watches for this very reason.

It's not the exact same as boxing, but there are some parallels. Football is going nowhere, there is too much money for way too many people(unlike boxing, where the money was there for only a very small, select few) but this is most certainly the peak. It's brutal out there.

 

[Cesar Crespo]

I think that's why he was asking if we can say anything definitive about Willie Wood now, since he's alive.

Yeah, this.

 

[Section30]

I dream of the day when some enterprising congressman gets Goodell in front of his committee and asks him why the NFL doesn't provide lifetime health benefits for the players and starts reading a list of NFL injuries that season. The reading would go on for an hour.

As JohnMD20 wrote, "it's brutal out there"

 

[crystalline]

Yeah, this.

Whoops. Then, no, we can't say anything about CTE.

The question in my mind, though is still: how many people have CTE brain changes without behavioral problems?
One analogy is to broken bones. If a thousand people break their legs when teenagers, only a few will have behavioral changes as adults that change the way they walk. But most of them will show fracture-related bone changes that can be seen on x-ray. Is CTE like this or do the brain changes almost always lead to behavior changes? The Stabler NYT article assumes the latter.

 

[Leather]

It's a subtle way of calling someone a habitual liar, but it works.

Except that The Intern came out in September and is available to rent on Amazon. I don't think that was the author's intent. Or maybe it was and t was just a misfire.

 

[BillWarDamnEagleJay]

Except that The Intern came out in September and is available to rent on Amazon. I don't think that was the author's intent. Or maybe it was and t was just a misfire.

Think it was a obvious attempt at a snide dig / hatchet job on the part of the author since no one would equate watching a movie on TV/internet/whatever with 'going to a movie'

 

[Quiddity]

I think there are several possible scenarios that can affect the popularity of football and diminish it greatly.

1) CTE studies get expanded to studying the brains of college players and they find it is present or pervasive.
2) NIH develop a CTE test that works on the living and the results show a widespread problem.
3) A large scale betting scandal involving players/teams/organized crime.
4) The whole "guys in New York" reviewing plays gets out of hand and the perception forms that the fix is in.
5) A whistle blower comes forward with damning evidence of: FIFA style kickbacks/collusion by owners against the players union/pick your large scale scandal.
6a) NFL prices itself out of the market for the average fan and they turn to more economical entertainment.
6b) NFL prices itself out of reach of the average entertainment company and they bid much less, or not at all, for the rights.

Two other things I would say that will at least upset the NFL's grand plans to double its revenue over the next ten years:

1)Them banking so heavily on fantasy football to be a big part of their revenue stream which is heavily gambling in nature. DFS was a big part of this and we have seen the industry in big trouble over this past season with more and more states declaring it the gambling that it is. This isn't something that blows up the league, but I do think they've been banking on fantasy to help with the growth of the league and a few years from now we may not see the DFS industry even exist, or if it does in a form that draws in considerably less revenue than it was envisioned to.
2)The inevitable decline of ESPN. I believe ESPN is the NFL's biggest payer of rights? ESPN's business model is built on forcing significant numbers of people who don't watch the channel to pay its extremely high rights fees through cable packages. As the cord cutting phenomena continues to pick up steam, the network is hemoraging money. There will be a downsizing and this will effect those rights fees. They will not be continuing to go up and up like they have.

16 owners are 67+, and 9 are 75+ I hope to god there is significantly less tone-deafness when some of these grudge-holding, penny pinching, windbags go senile and some new blood comes in.

I think it will get worse as the teams get handed down to people inheriting them rather those owners who built up the wealth personally to purchase the teams.

 

[Norm loves Vera]

I can't believe this is on the WWL... critical of the ginger hammer

"So Goodell's pay, like the pay of other entertainment executives, continues to shock and awe. But his situation is unique in some regards. The owners who set his compensation aren't just his pals -- they're also his subjects, insofar as he wields the power to punish them and their employees. They're incentivized to reward Goodell so that he rewards them, which is why it'll be fascinating to see if the commissioner's pay decreases in the wake of Deflategate, which ticked off Robert Kraft, and the Rams' move to L.A., which reportedly went against the wishes of Richardson."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14802447/roger-goodell-high-salary-explained

 

[Harry Hooper]

Super Bowl ratings were down, so time for the Commish to be let go.

 

[ifmanis5]

Roger's iron fist is being chopped by the NFLPA, slowly but surely in a new deal: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/02/19/nfl-nflpa-make-progress-toward-deal-on-roger-goodells-role-in-player-discipline/?tid=sm_tw_ps

 

[crystalline]

Roger's iron fist is being chopped by the NFLPA, slowly but surely in a new deal: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/02/19/nfl-nflpa-make-progress-toward-deal-on-roger-goodells-role-in-player-discipline/?tid=sm_tw_ps

Which was one major point of Deflategate-- to get the players to expend negotiating chits on Goodell's discipline role. Instead of using them on things the owners really care about, like the share of profits players and owners get.

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

Which was one major point of Deflategate-- to get the players to expend negotiating chits on Goodell's discipline role. Instead of using them on things the owners really care about, like the share of profits players and owners get.

Sad but true. The fact that they have to spend negotiating capital to get this to where it always should have been really sucks. Wonder if it eventually costs D Smith his job.