Ineptitude At The Top

Most of the time, when something is perplexing and I find myself staring at a computer screen with a glazed look in my eyes, it takes just a few hours of deep thinking and a half pack of cigarettes for me to come up with a reasonable explanation. But when it comes to professional sports commissioners, I am at a loss. Sometimes their decisions make Congress look like a well run organization. In this newest chapter, NFL sheriff Roger Goodell has topped the list of the biggest head-scratcher of the century. He has suspended a quarterback coach five games, and a star safety four games, for the same offense. I officially do not understand life.

Let's break this down for a second. A coach, who does nothing on the field physically, is being suspended for using a drug that is a physical enhancer. He is being reprimanded more than an active player who does everything on the field physically, and took a drug that is a physical enhancer. Anyone else see a huge gap in logic? After hours upon hours of racking my brain, I still cannot understand the thought process of Mr. Goodell. When coming up with the amount of games in a suspension, does he just shout whatever comes to his head while sitting at his desk finishing a crossword puzzle? Clearly, he would have to put more thought into than that. But no man who has ever finished third grade, let alone the commissioner of the NFL, would hand out these lopsided suspensions after more than two seconds of thinking.

I have been thrilled with Roger Goodell thus far. I think his zero tolerance policy is just what the NFL needed. But this is outrageous, and makes him look like a fool. At the same time that the Baseball Gestapo was undressing Terry Francona in the middle of a Sox/Yanks game, somehow Goodell makes Bud Selig look like a genius at his job. That is an extremely difficult task, by the way. These commissioners say that they care about the integrity of their sports, but it's obvious to me that they care more about the image of integrity than integrity itself. Now it seems like they are even screwing that up.