Goodell's discipline backfiring?

[Nightman]

The NFL can't have a 'look the other way' policy with weed...it has to appear strict

Not with concussions and liability....... the idea that the League is condoning players playing while high or hungover is a non-starter

The drug policy looks tough but it really just singles out a few idiots that can't comprehend they get tested once a year...... after that it is smoke til you choke

Goodell biggest fault is being too reactionary to cases like RRice and GHardy and not just standing behind the CBA...... he wants new women viewers so badly he has sold out his own players

 

[lockster]

I don't think being tougher on discipline was about reducing the amount of violations and off the field crime as it was about the NFL being perceived as not enabling the players and in essence...a PR move.

I think it's still the right idea...hold players to a high standard.

The big issue in all of this is that Goodell is completely clueless and wayyy over his head in doling out punishment.

If you look at any area of the country where the laws have been made stricter with tougher penalties...it's always a problem if the governing body thinks that the change in the law will resolve all problems. In order to effectively make a change it requires not only a change in the laws, but a change in education, rehabilitation and general care.





YR

in the long run. changing the law does little, a person only changes from a change of heart.it doesn't stop drug use, speeding, homicide. Theft, or any other crime. A person changes from inside out. The nfl is not the law, so they need to get out of this business. When federal gov't itself over the last 20 years had been found to have sold guns and drugs for money, this is one of the by products

 

[Bullflop]

Preface this by saying I despise Goodell and what he has done to the NFL... but objectively, hasn't his drug and personal conduct policy done more to demonstrate to the world how pervasive the problems are and that his "deterrence" by suspensions simply does not work? I don't have the stats, but seems to me that the number of drug and personal conduct violations have increased, rather than decreased, since he took office. So what has he achieved? Nothing. Other than alienating fan bases. I long for the days of Paul Tagliabue when there was no marijuana testing and when players acted fool

There's such a thing as being heavy handed, that's for sure. I think it'll eventually be Goodell's undoing. There's gotta be a happy medium and the way things are going, teams are being crippled by excessive numbers of suspensions that really don't resolve the problems. Fans are getting more and more exasperated with his woeful handling of the players and his false sense of justice. I think he'll eventually pay the price and be replaced. It's just a matter of time more than anything else.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

There's such a thing as being heavy handed, that's for sure. I think it'll eventually be Goodell's undoing. There's gotta be a happy medium and the way things are going, teams are being crippled by excessive numbers of suspensions that really don't resolve the problems. Fans are getting more and more exasperated with his woeful handling of the players and his false sense of justice. I think he'll eventually pay the price and be replaced. It's only a matter of time more than anything else.

He's going to drive the fans away eventually. People are going to get tired of seeing their players suspended over and over again a lot for minor infractions. Maybe that's when the owners will turn on him. I don't get the he makes them a lot of money. Anybody could make money as commissioner of the NFL.

 

[Bullflop]

He's going to drive the fans away eventually. People are going to get tired of seeing their players suspended over and over again a lot for minor infractions. Maybe that's when the owners will turn on him. I don't get the he makes them a lot of money. Anybody could make money as commissioner of the NFL.

Agreed. That's already happening with the way he issues suspensions and cripples teams as a result. The public is tiring of his heavy-handed BS. It's only a matter of time before the owners realize they're killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. In due time, marijuana laws are gradually loosening their harsh grip on society and the league will eventually be forced to change their ways. Goodell and the league will either change with the rest of the nation or he'll be replaced in the event he refuses. The league's unilateral ways are simply too antiquated for the changing times.

 

[bigbob]

Yes, the rules just make the league look bad.

Regular fans would never know or care that Randy Gregory was smoking weed if not for the rules.

On other discipline issues, it would be much easier to defer to the judicial system. The league punishment could be tied directly to the legal punishment which would keep the league from looking stupid when the give different players different punishment for what appears to be similar infractions. The problem would be in situations like Ray Rice where everyone saw the video. Waiting on the judicial system would be next to impossible in that situation.

Greg Hardy might be a terrible person, I don't really know; however, he was suspended for a complete year for something that he received zero punishment from the league. He did get paid while out, but many players get a bad deal in those situations. Even being on paid leave is not good for a player's career.

Legit performance enhancing drugs should be the only substance related issue that results in league punishment. Even that is now silly because they get guys like Irving for something that was low enough quantity and strength that he can say it was contained in a legal supplement. The Lyle Alzado type "performance enhancers" could never have been passed off as something you took by accident. Those were true performance enhancers. A 210 pound college LB running a 4.8 forty could be 250 and running a 4.6 within a year with the Lyle Alzado type drugs. Just think what Doug Free would have looked like on the Tony Mandarich chemical enhancement program. You can take all the Ritalin/Adderall, etc.. that you want and it won't still give you the Barry Bonds/Lyle Alzado/Tony Mandarich/Brian Bosworth type of performance enhancement.

Unfortunately for Bosworth he forgot that he quit the roids and that Bo Jackson was born with something you can't get from all the Deca Durabolin, Clenbuterol, Dianabol, etc.. in the world.

I agree when when Harding was playing in 2015 every game the announcers brought up his suspension and went into detail on it I got so sick of it and now they do the same thing with every suspension so this just makes a league look worse they should keep it quiet and just go with fines big fines instead of suspensions

 

[Verdict]

Wow. How offensive on so many levels.

Why is it offensive to you?

 

[Verdict]

Everyone has an opinion on this subject. I don't think punishment is rationally related to the player's offense, or administered evenly.

If a player escapes culpability in the legal system he should also escape culpability in the NFL without clear cut, conscience shocking indesputable proof of a serious offense.

I understand that they don't want a bunch of wife beaters in the NFL but damn, there has to be some room for self defense, or mitigating factors and reason stirred into this. These guys are becoming at the mercy of any woman who cries wolf. How many innocent players have been blackmailed or punished over literally nothing?

This **** is crazy.

 

[Biggems]

When it comes to drugs in the NFL - You can take the Athlete out of the Ghetto, but you cant take the Ghetto out of the Athlete.

Rich, well to doers are some of the worst drug and alcohol abusers around, not to mention abusive.

 

[ghst187]

I'm tired of special privileges for special people and teams...

This!! There is clearly a huge discrepancy in punishments and who gets what.
Clearly Zeke getting set up and extorted by a liar warrants a year plus investigation and punishment but a kicker who admits to brutally beating his wife gets one game suspension and the team that hid this fact gets nothing. A QB that cheats the game to win then lies and destroys evidence gets only four games and keeps his SB ring. Cheating like that should've been instant vacating of wins and a year suspension. Guess this means the league cares more about public perception on hot button topics Han protecting the integrity of its product. And then the league doesn't care if some NYG WRs go on a drug cruise before the playoffs and also don't bother to drug test them after the video went public. Meanwhile, the league has also taken on the role of investigator, judge and jury beyond law enforcement with poor effect. They punish when law enforcement finds nothing. They are not protecting their own players from false accusations from extortionists. Why don't we pay some lady to publicly accuse Eli of domestic violence before we play them? Although I'm sure the league would have that investigation closed in a day.

The problem is when there are big discrepancies in the dispensation of justice and punishment then there is no fairness or justice. And this is a big part of the problem the NFL has now. Clearly there are favorite teams and players. The league also instantly overreacts to accusations against teams and players not in the good graces of the front office.

 

[csirl]

The upswing in drug suspensions is because of the attitude to performance enhancing drugs in college football which has led to a generation of PED dependant players. The fact that the NFL testing regime is soo poor and the penalties are so weak in comparison with international norns and athletes still get caught says it all.

 

[Proof]

Wow. How offensive on so many levels.

And people liked it! Lol

 

[jazzcat22]

I'd rather they take their time and get it right than do it fast and wrong

Yes, however, they should not have their own justice system.
If a court of law, which should be held higher than the NFL, finds a person not guilty, or in Zeke's case, no charges are warranted. then No punishment should come to that player.
The NFL monopoly carries it too far making up their own rules as they go.

 

[Jarv]

Not when the person investigating is a Giants fan. The amount of time is for them to eventually find something that they can hang a suspension on and nothing more. Brown had 20 DV calls to the police against him and the NFL provided his wife security at the Pro Bowl and they took a less than a week to investigate and give him a 1 game suspension.

Anything that hurts the Giants goes away fast, anything that helps them drags on and on.

This is what pisses me off the most.

 

[AbeBeta]

Why is it offensive to you?

The OP is speaking in code. People say ghetto when they really mean something else.

It is also clearly assuming players suspended for conduct violations come from the "ghetto." Why would you make that assumption? Gee could it be because of how they look?

Let's look at some recent conduct suspensions.

The last was Derrick Coleman - he's from LA area suburbs (he's also a noted devout Christian).

Manny Lawson - dad was on the military, grew up as a multisport athlete, noted leader in college. From Goldsboro, NC - Andy Freaking Griffith lived there. Doesn't sound like a "ghetto" to me.

Prince Shembo - from the same town!

These kids aren't from the ghetto, yet the OP must be assuming they are because of how they look

 

[Macnalty]

There's never been a war on drugs. If there were special forces would be assassinating drug lords and Columbian jungles would be on fire.

I am sure the OP meant "political" war on drugs.

 

[robbieruff]

When it comes to drugs in the NFL - You can take the Athlete out of the Ghetto, but you cant take the Ghetto out of the Athlete.

So West Virginia (ground zero of the opioid crisis) is one of the biggest suppliers of the league's talent pool??? I never knew...

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-opioid-epidemic-is-so-bad-in-west-virginia-2016-4

 

[AsthmaField]

If I'm not mistaken, everything Goodell does has to be approved by the owners. Including the most powerful owner in sports. They created this idiot.

Yep. If Goodell was fired today, they'd just hire another commish that did the same things. This is how the owners want it run for the most part.

 

[CCBoy]

Yep. If Goodell was fired today, they'd just hire another commish that did the same things. This is how the owners want it run for the most part.

Jerry pushed for free agency, then a cap, and later...an improved status after the lock out. Fair yet? No...

 

[LocimusPrime]

Discipline is good!