If NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hears a cell phone tucked under the padding of a goalpost ringing while walking the perimeter of a football field, he probably shouldn’t answer it.
Former NFL receiver Joe Horn, who was fined $30,000 by Goodell’s predecessor for a flip-phone touchdown celebration, verbally flipped Goodell off in an interview with TheFootballGirl.com.
“I don’t like what Roger Goodell is doing,” Horn said. “He has so much power that he can almost shut people down. I just don’t like him. And I don’t like that on draft day these kids don’t know that they’re hugging the devil. . . . [T]hey really don’t know that the man they’re hugging will rip their throat apart. If he has an opportunity to take money from them, or there’s a situation where they’re guilty before they go to court, he’ll rip them apart. And there’s nothing no one can do about it. If the owners are happy with Roger Goodell, the fans, the media, no one can take his job from him. I hate it.”
A clear contrast exists between Goodell as “The Enforcer” and Goodell as “The Draft-Day Bear Hugger.” But Goodell doesn’t arbitrarily select his victims. Although issues linger when it comes to the procedures that apply to determining whether and to what extent players will be punished, only those players who land on Goodell’s radar screen fall in line for punishment. Players who not only avoid crossing the line but who stay far away from the line never find themselves under scrutiny.
Horn is right, however, as it relates to the scrutiny of Goodell. During the 2011 lockout, the league tried to sell Goodell as the commissioner of the entire sport. Ultimately, Goodell answers only to the owners. And as long as enough owners are happy with him, it doesn’t matter what Joe Horn or anyone else thinks.