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.

Super Cheaters

Roger Goodell has had more than enough on his plate in this second year of his oversight of the NFL. First drug abusers, then dog-fighters, and now good old-fashioned, first-class cheaters.

In light of the way the New England Patriots were caught red-handed and pants-down, we can now officially end the debate over whether the bums deserve to be in the debate over who is the all-time greatest team and begin the debate over whether the penalty they received was harsh enough.

Goodell, thus far, has been the modern-day equivalent of Judge Roy Bean, the famed "hangin' judge" of the Pecos. His responses to league violations have been swift and severe. Until now.

So, Belichick, the head football cheater of the Patriots was fined $500,000. Big whoop! You think he will miss it? Do you really even think that, ultimately, when all is said and done and the Boston Cheaters figure a way to slide the money under the table to the head cheater, the money will even come out of his pocket?

Wade Wilson, the Cowboys' quarterback coach, a man living on pauper's wages in comparison to Belichick is serving a five game suspension in addition to the hundred thousand dollar fine he received for an infraction of the rules that occurred before he was on the staff of the Cowboys. He bought human growth hormone (HGH) online. The natural speculation would be that he was buying it to give to Bears players. So far, no fines or suspensions have been slapped on the Monsters of the Midway. Nope! The cowboys are being inconvenienced and penalized for what went down on the Bears' watch.

I guess that is another story entirely, except it begs the question: where is the suspension for Belichick? If a little HGH is worth five games, what is blatantly cheating during the course of a game worth? And if a lowly quarterbacks coach deserves a suspension for misbehavior, should the head cheater not be held to at least as high a standard?

The team penalty in the form of a first round draft pick if the Pats make the playoffs or a second and third if they don't seems equitable enough. How about this though? Forfeit the game we KNOW they cheated to win. Make the miserable low-life bastards who make a mockery of your sport 0-1 rather than 1-0!

Why isn't this a bigger story? Why is there no groundswell, no across-the-board demand for justice? Why does the mighty media of the Northeast wink at this? Is it because it is their beloved Patriots? Would they be ready to torch Jerry Jones if this had happened in Dallas?

Hey! I know justice is blind, but does it have to be retarded? Or...is it justice at all? One thing for sure, we should do history justice and drop the Patriots from any and all conversations about greatest team ever. There are some Packers, Steelers, 49ers, and Cowboys teams who deserve better company than that.