10-10-2012, 02:09 AM
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#10
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1000 Posts +
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Fairbanks, AK
Posts: 4,447
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Credibility weakened, Goodell couldn't back down
Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports
Regardless of the league's sloppy investigation, questionable evidence, legal battles and the tremendous hits on Goodell's credibility in recent months, the NFL commissioner could not back down now.
Not after a CBA appeals panel, which forced him to reconsider the previous discipline, upheld his authority to rule based on "conduct detrimental to the game."
WHAT'S NEXT? This is going back to court
Remember when the league announced its findings in March? It said 22 to 27 players were involved. Just four were punished. One day, Vitt's name showed up on the typed transcript of a ledger as one pledging $5,000 for a bounty on Brett Favre. The next day, the league said it was a mistake. That's some typo.
Sloppy. Like the charge by NFL investigators that Hargrove was seen on a video uttering "pay me my money" when Favre was briefly knocked out of the 2009 NFC title game. Turns out, that probably wasn't Hargrove's voice — or least there's no proof.
Then there's the whistle-blower, Mike Cerullo.
The former, low-ranking coaching assistant is viewed with suspicion by the defense because he was fired by the Saints. But he was so crucial to the league's investigation.
The holes in this case did no good for Goodell's reputation. In a recent Gallup poll conducted for USA TODAY Sports, Goodell was the least-liked commissioner among those running the four major pro sports leagues.
But he still has his power to rule in what he deems to be the best interests of the game. While the players grumble about this, shifting some of that authority would have been a deal killer in the last round of labor talks.
Fat chance that power is up for renegotiation now.
Bell: Credibility weakened, Goodell couldn't back down
I'm not a fan of saying "this," but... this.
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