Goodell Squirms But Sticks to His Unloaded Guns

Hand it to Bob Costas. He asked the hard questions. In his inimitable, personable, professional, but persistent style, he pressed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on the PatriotGate issue. Costas confronted Goodell with the accusations of inconsistency in the punishment meted out to Patriots' coach Bill Belicheater and to the organization.

Responding to the comparison of the Belichick fine to the fine/suspension of Cowboys' QB coach Wade Wilson, the following exchange took place:

Costas asked: "Wade Wilson, quarterback coach of the Cowboys, received a shipment of HGH. You suspended him five games, fined him $100,000, which is one-third of his salary. Half a million, we guess, is about one-tenth of Belichick's salary. Wilson, who is no longer a player, said he received it to help him cope with the effects of diabetes. Is that a disproportionate penalty?"

Goodell replied: "First of all, I'm not going to get into the personal situations of why Wade was taking it, but that's not an accurate point. Second of all, Wade Wilson was involved in a criminal activity. It was against the law. There's a very clear policy for our clubs and our players that if you violate that, it's a four-game suspension. I suspended him for five games because I think a coach should be held to a higher standard. That is why I approached it that way. They all understand the rules, and I think we did what was appropriate in Wade Wilson's case, and I'm comfortable with that."

Goodell also insisted that the fact that the Patriots have two first-round draft picks in next year's draft did not lessen the impact of losing one of them. Any clear-thinking individual would have to call that hogwash. Most teams only have one pick in the first place, Commish. The Patriots are set to lose their pick but retain the pick obtained from the Niners. You tell me which pick is apt to be the better one?

During the Patriots' shellacking of the Chargers on national TV last night, Madden noted how "unaffected" Belichick seemed by the whole affair. Madden meant it as a compliment to the three-time Super Bowl winning coach, but it seemed, ironically enough, to this listener as an appopriate indictment of Goodell and the NFL in their mishandling of the whole affair.

Goodell has positioned himself as the new sheriff in town, the zero-tolerance gunslinger who won't turn a blind eye to bad deeds. Looks like he is nothing more than a hired hand, prepared to cater to the rich landowners while playing hell with the rowdy cowhands.