I hate using the Roethlisberger example because I actually supported his suspension and think it was the best thing for him and the team. My problem isn’t that Ben was suspended for his stupidity even though he didn’t commit the crime. My problem is that Vince Young and Brandon Underwood weren’t suspended. Goodell shouldn’t have made a big issue about a new day in personal conduct expectations if he wasn’t going to apply the same standards to everyone. It just made everything he’d said sound like so much BS.

“Here we go Steelers, here we go”…all the way to Hell following the pied piper in the devil shirt!

“I don’t understand all the animosity between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL. It seems like almost every week they are complaining about something.”

How do you get that from the article?
Ryan is an NFLPA player rep, and was only reporting NFLPA concerns to the membership… he wasn’t just speaking for the Steelers.

Ben didn’t get charged witg a crime, so according to you, he shouldn’t be suspended.

As for those of you saying this is a business and Goodell should have an iron fist, that means anyone at your work who gets arrested for a DUI, gets in trouble for spousal abuse, or doesn’t pay their child support should be fined by the company or suspended for a few weeks of work?

We call call the NFL a “business” but it really doessn’t work the same way other business work. We don’t get paid that amount of money, we can’t get endorsements, and we definately can’t refuse to come to work and still have a job.

I am a fan, however, of the parenting model that leaves doubt about how sever the punishment will be for different violations. I think it discourages risk taking, rather than calculating cost – reward.

The problem is that this is not a parent – child relationship. It is a business relationship and the players are getting real money taken from them in a justice system that is seeming less structured than the Wild West. There needs to be a clear construct of what actions produce what fines/suspensions, even if it is a range of punishments depending on detrimental publicity, perceived intent, conviction or injury caused. It absolutely must be a vague set of guidelines to accommodate for all the craziness that players can get themselves into, but it still needs to be laid out and followed.

And it’s not all about how players behave. Vince Young was arrested for assault and nothing happened to him. Pacman Jones had three years of convictions (yes, convictions–a guilty plea is a conviction) and involvement in two shootings before his first suspension. But Santonio Holmes was suspended for tweeting he was going to smoke pot with no evidence he actually did it.

@achap39 …

This isn’t about players living up to normal societal workplace standards. Since when do employers follow you home and dog your footsteps 24/7? Are you kidding? No other workplace demands these off-hours standards of its employees.

“If you don’t want to face consequences …, then DON’T BEHAVE IN A WAY THAT GETS YOU CHARGED WITH A CRIME!!! ”

Roethlisberger wasn’t charged with any crime, hell, he wasn’t even arrested. And he sat home for a month.

Goodell showed last year what a loose cannon he is.

Exactly…
Consistency. That’s all they’re asking for, and it’s not an unreasonable expectation.

If you read the article and ignored the lack of facts from this post, you would know that Clark said that the players want either an impartial committee involved, or to have specific language outlining penalties for personal conduct violations.

What’s wrong with that? All they want is a list of infractions and punishments. They want to know where they stand.

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Still laughing on this one…

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You mean like they did in the Super Bowl?

Told you guys!

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Not true at all. Goodell has shown an idiotic propensity for suspending players based only on allegations of wrongdoing. Even when it’s discovered that the allegations were unfounded, he does nothing to reverse the situation or apologize for his mistake.

So, it’s very simple: the players have to hope that a leech seeking a payday from a very public figure decides not to throw an accusation their way.

But Roethlisberger wasn’t charged, he sat at home for a month.

Perrish Cox was charged with FELONY RAPE, and he played on.

That’s what Clark is talking about. No consistency.

It’s amazing how many “fans of football” here are COMPLAINING about the Steelers trying to preserve the nature of the game. Go watch lacrosse with the Browns fans. The Steeler fans will keep on watching the Steelers knock your delicate players into next season.

“If you are going to fine which you see is needed be more consisdent.”
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Can i get some help figuring out what the hell he just said?

Last season Goodell was all over the map with inconsistent fines. Players would get fined $50K for hits, while others got nothing. Proof is that in the case of the Steelers, he actually ended up LOWERING fines, after the fact, with no explanation as to why.

If you’re going to fine players, fine, but how about a little bit of consistency, or at the very least, less obvious bias?

Fine everybody the same, for the same infractions.