Roger Goodell is essentially the CEO of the NFL. And when someone in that position approaches a serious issue like domestic abuse with blatant negligence, the result is confusion at first, and then anger.
A whole lot of anger. And at three stadiums today it will be quite visible.
Ultraviolet, a women’s advocacy organization, is flying planes over three NFL stadiums prior to today’s games with banners that read “#GoodellMustGO”. That message will be seen in East Rutherford ahead of the Giants-Cardinals game, as well as in Cleveland and San Francisco. Then tomorrow under the national spotlight of Monday Night Football another plane will be in Indianapolis, according to Bloomberg.
This is the part when I remind you that it’s only Week 2, and the second Sunday of a still young, fresh season. It’s a time when the league wants and needs you as a fan to be focusing on championship dreams that haven’t been shattered yet, and settling back into the business of carving a Sunday couch groove while obsessing over your fantasy roster.
And many of you are doing those things just fine. Many more, however, are dealing with a dilemma: loving all things football means supporting a league and a commissioner that needed to be forced into action on a domestic violence case by a second video, when the first one showing Janay Rice spilling out of an elevator should have been plenty.
Now almost daily excuses and half truths are piling up, and banners are already flying high above stadiums. Welcome back, football.
