The League of Dishonorable Gentlemen

My late father impressed upon me the importance of honor. "It is", he said, "the only possession that you carry to your grave". Sadly its importance appears to have declined in subsequent generations, to the state today where honor is not even an afterthought by many of the affluent and influential.

The last 8 months have highlighted just how far the value of honor has fallen, and in particular within the offices of the National Football League and an avaricious coterie of its franchise owners.

The Constitution and By-Laws of the NFL require the Commissioner to be a person of unquestioned integrity. Furthermore the NFL Code of Conduct states:

"... as an employee of the NFL or a member club, you are held to a higher standard and expected to conduct yourself in a way that is responsible, promotes the values upon which the League is based, and is lawful. Persons who fail to live up to this standard of conduct are guilty of conduct detrimental and subject to discipline, even where the conduct itself does not result in conviction of a crime.

The phrase "unquestioned integrity" is, I assume, a catch-all for honesty, fairness, openness, toleration and sincerity. These attributes would also be included in the higher standard of conduct suggested above. And yet these injunctions appear to be continuously ignored by all those who have conducted and supported the bizarre Deflategate prosecution.

The Academies of US Military and the US Air Force embrace a Cadet Honor Code that simply states:
"A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."
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And it is based on three simple rules of thumb:
Does this action attempt to deceive anyone or allow anyone to be deceived?
Does this action gain or allow the gain of privilege or advantage to which I or someone else would not otherwise be entitled?
Would I be dissatisfied by the outcome if I were on the receiving end of this action?
It is obvious from the disclosures, statements and filings during Deflategate (and for that matter, Bountygate) that the following persons have violated that code of conduct. Goodell, Vincent, Pash, Gardi, Kensil and Blandino to name the most obvious. But (AND ITS A BIG BUT) it also includes those owners (see rules of thumb 2 and 3) who remain steadfast supporters of the continued persecution of the NFLPA and those it represents.

Unfortunately those responsible for administering discipline for such conduct are the very ones guilty of that failure. It is incumbent upon the owners (even the guilty ones) to rectify the obvious conflict of interest and either remove or place in abeyance those officers charged with disciplinary responsibility, until due and fair punishment has been administered.

Until this correction has been completed - the NFL remains a League of Dishonorable Gentlemen.

I feel bad for not paying attention to what happened to Coach Payton in regards to bountygate. Another great coach/player to get railroaded by Goodell. Damn shame.

-OR- they just don't read past the headlines, get an opinion formed and thats the end of it..

example.. I'm just now learning about the screw job bountygate was for the saints, read a couple articles right when it first came out, opinion was formed, that was the end of my interest. Without deflategate and the comparisons I'd have no clue about the NyFL's previous lies like the ledger of bounty’s paid not matching the actual injuries in the game the NyFL claimed it was for.. and not matching the second game the NyFL claimed it was for after people figured out the first was a lie.

I admit if it was the jets or colts or ravens, I'd just read the headlines, and from there not want to read any more about it at all but would take every opportunity to slam that team I could find.. just like they are doing.

The NFL did this BS in Bountygate too. "YES WE HAVE A LEDGER SHOWING ALL THE BOUNTY PAYMENTS MADE FOR SAINTS PLAYERS WHO INJURED PLAYERS ON OPPOSING TEAMS" "ok that sounds damning, show it to us" "WELL WE DON'T HAVE THE LEDGER TO SHOW YOU BUT WE DO HAVE SOME VIDEO OF A PLAYER TALKING ABOUT IT" "ok that's not what you said earlier but that is still pretty damning" "HERE'S THE VIDEO" "that's... that's not what you said it was, there's no evidence in this video at all" "WELL WE KNOW WHAT GAME IT WAS" "...nobody got injured in that game" "OK IT WAS ACTUALLY THIS OTHER GAME" "the only person in that game who got injured tripped over his own feet!" "WELL WE STILL HAVE THAT LEDGER WE TOLD YOU ABOUT, WE JUST AREN'T SHOWING IT TO YOU"