Goody may be GONE

[tsylvester]

Presser just ended; anyone remeber the song; "I'm your puppet"? nd if you watched, that person you heard screaming and flailing, ushered out the back door was Irsay ok just kidding, looked like some lost guy with a phobia of elevators....... But this presser was a joke, as many of the players have tweeted about....

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Rick Strom ‏@RickStrom 28m

How I feel about this #Goodell press conference: pic.twitter.com/7eVutisA1T

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/19/ultraviolet-isnt-satisfied-by-goodells-press-conference/

UltraViolet isn’t satisfied by Goodell’s press conference

The group that has been flying “Goodell Must Go” banners over NFL stadiums in recent weeks apparently won’t be changing the last word in the mantra to “Stay.”

UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy group, has asked the league’s sponsors to abandon the NFL until Commissioner Roger Goodell leaves office.

“This press circus did nothing to change Goodell’s long history of inaction on and blatant mishandling of domestic violence in the NFL,” UltraViolet Co-Founder Nita Chaudhary said in a statement. “The facts are the facts: 57 domestic violence cases saw little to no action under Goodell’s ‘leadership.’ We know what happens when no one is watching: Goodell ignores domestic violence. He has made it clear he will not even consider resigning, bringing into question his basic judgement.

“So now, we call on all of the NFL’s sponsors to take a stand against domestic violence by withdrawing their support for the NFL until Goodell is out of office. One in four women experience domestic violence in their lifetime, and it is clear that Goodell doesn’t yet understand the appalling nature of that simple statistic.”

So, basically, the banners will keep flying.

 

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http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/players-react-with-disdain-to-roger-goodell-s-press-conference-201552007.html

Players react with disdain to Roger Goodell's news conference

[tsylvester]

Yep, Goody acted as if this issue, domestic violence, just popped out of no where when it has been going on, just like society, since the league began. In his 8 years he had ample time to develop a good system to not only help the players, but implement a good discipline policy. As many reorters have said; he is paid $44 MILLION per YEAR to fore see things, yet now needs how many comitties to help him?

 

 

Not good, not good at all Goody.... Were I an owner, I would expect a lot more from the person I was paying that much money.

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http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11551518/how-ray-rice-scandal-unfolded-baltimore-ravens-roger-goodell-nfl

Just hours after running back Ray Rice knocked out his then-fiancée with a left hook at the Revel Hotel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Baltimore Ravens' director of security, Darren Sanders, reached an Atlantic City police officer by phone. While watching surveillance video -- shot from inside the elevator where Rice's punch knocked his fiancée unconscious -- the officer, who told Sanders he just happened to be a Ravens fan, described in detail to Sanders what he was seeing.

Sanders quickly relayed the damning video's play-by-play to team executives in Baltimore, unknowingly starting a seven-month odyssey that has mushroomed into the biggest crisis confronting a commissioner in the NFL's 95-year history.

"Outside the Lines" interviewed more than 20 sources over the past 11 days -- team officials, current and former league officials, NFL Players Association representatives and associates, advisers and friends of Rice -- and found a pattern of misinformation and misdirection employed by the Ravens and the NFL since that February night.

After the Feb. 15 incident in the casino elevator, Ravens executives -- in particular owner Steve Bisciotti, president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome -- began extensive public and private campaigns pushing for leniency for Rice on several fronts: from the judicial system in Atlantic County, where Rice faced assault charges, to commissioner Goodell, who ultimately would decide the number of games Rice would be suspended from this fall, to within their own building, where some were arguing immediately after the incident that Rice should be released.

The Ravens also consulted frequently with Rice's Philadelphia defense attorney, Michael J. Diamondstein, who in early April had obtained a copy of the inside-elevator video and told Cass: "It's f---ing horrible." Cass did not request a copy of the video from Diamondstein but instead began urging Rice's legal team to get Rice accepted into a pretrial intervention program after being told some of the program's benefits. Among them: It would keep the inside-elevator video from becoming public.

For its part, the NFL -- which in other player discipline cases has been able to obtain information that's been sealed by court order -- took an uncharacteristically passive approach when it came to gathering evidence, opening itself up to widespread criticism, allegations of inconsistent approaches to player discipline and questions about whether Goodell gave Rice -- the corporate face of the Baltimore franchise -- a light punishment as a favor to his good friend Bisciotti. Four sources said Ravens executives, including Bisciotti, Cass and Newsome, urged Goodell and other league executives to give Rice no more than a two-game suspension, and that's what Goodell did on July 24.

Most sources spoke with "Outside the Lines" on the condition of anonymity, citing the NFL's just-launched, self-described independent investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the former FBI chief, which is being overseen by John Mara, the New York Giants' owner, and Art Rooney II, the Pittsburgh Steelers' co-owner. Mara and Rooney are close confidants of Goodell's. The interviews, viewed together, paint a picture of a league and a franchise whose actions -- and inaction -- combined to conceal -- or ignore -- the graphic violence of Rice's assault. When evidence of it surfaced anyway, the NFL and the Ravens quickly shifted gears and simultaneously attempted to pin the blame on Rice and his alleged lack of truthfulness with Goodell about what had happened inside the elevator.

 

So many heads will be rolling.

[Jungletiger]

Tedy Bruschi publicly called for Goodell to resign on NFL Live today in a fiery reaction to todays conference.

 

I know Teddy Bruschi isn't the most popular guy aroung her but damn I like how he busted out on Goodell. In case you missed NFL Live

http://www.sportsgri...ls-resignation/

I used this site cause its the only video of the press conference reaction i found.

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I wonder what they are saying on the NFL net. I bet it is roses and butterflies over there.

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The litany of mistakes that followed is amazing, but perhaps as incredible as any are the texts Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti sent to Rice moments after he was released (the day the video was made public by TMZ).

“Hey Ray, just want to let you know, we loved you as a player, it was great having you here. Hopefully all these things are going to die down. I wish the best for you and Janay,” the first text read.

“When you’re done with football, I’d like you to know you have a job waiting for you with the Ravens helping young guys getting acclimated to the league,” said the second.

[tsylvester]

I wonder if certain people are fond of me making fun of Biscut now? Maybe some ham to go with the gravy?

[dc.]

Anyone see Bill Polian on ESPN last week? Saw it somewhere. Asked if the video could have possibly not gotten to Goodall.

 

Midway thru his first answer, in which he's saying there was no chance they didn't get the video, the feed gets interrupted.

 

Come back ten minutes later, ask the same question, and he goes on for three minutes about how, "things get lost" in a big system like the NFL...

[ForceEight]

Anyone see Bill Polian on ESPN last week? Saw it somewhere. Asked if the video could have possibly not gotten to Goodall.

 

Midway thru his first answer, in which he's saying there was no chance they didn't get the video, the feed gets interrupted.

 

Come back ten minutes later, ask the same question, and he goes on for three minutes about how, "things get lost" in a big system like the NFL...

Here's what you're talking about.

 

http://deadspin.com/bill-polian-disagrees-with-bill-polians-insider-opinion-1633593081

 

Look at Polian's reaction, specifically. Someone pulled the plug on that interview.

[tsylvester]

This was starting to simmer down on ESPN, now, after the Goody presser, it's caught fire again. I would be surprised if Bill couched his second answer, I did not see any video interuption on the deadspin feed, but since they asked him again, it would seem he did change the tone of his answer. Both answers can be true, but I am of the mind his first one is the right one.

 

Frankly it matters not right? Goody did tell the saints, no knowing is not an excuse and hammered them. His turn.

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I wonder if certain people are fond of me making fun of Biscut now? Maybe some ham to go with the gravy?

Who needs the shit when the shingle stinks already.

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Here's what you're talking about.

 

http://deadspin.com/bill-polian-disagrees-with-bill-polians-insider-opinion-1633593081

 

Look at Polian's reaction, specifically. Someone pulled the plug on that interview.

That is weird how you get both answers from teh same guy. I saw him do the 2nd vid live. I was wondering at the time if he was serious.

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/21/how-strong-is-owner-support-of-goodell/

How strong is owner support of Goodell?

While the Commissioner in theory represents all constituents of pro football, only one set of constituents controls his ongoing employment status — 31 owners and the CEO of the Packers. At Friday’s press conference, Peter King asked Goodell whether he still enjoys the support of the owners.

“I believe I have the support of the owners,” Goodell said. “That has been clear to me. They obviously expect us to do a better job. As I said to several, I don’t like to let down anybody, Peter. I hold myself to the highest possible standards.”

Chris Mortensen of ESPN reports that the support may not be as strong as Goodell believes. Some owners, per Mortensen, have adopted a wait-and-see posture, given the not-so-independent investigation from Robert Mueller and the pending Ray Rice appeal. Adam Schefter of ESPN points out that, when Goodell was elected in 2006, 15 owners voted for Gregg Levy, a lawyer at Covington & Burling. Per Schefter, there were certain characteristics of Goodell that troubled those 15 owners at the time.

“The characteristics that bothered those 15 then have been on abundant display the last few weeks,” Schefter said.

Those characteristics (whatever they may be) could result in more troubling findings and conclusions from the Mueller investigation and the Rice appeal.

 

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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-simmons-goes-ballistic-roger-153400695.html

Bill Simmons Goes Ballistic On Roger Goodell, Dares ESPN To Punish Him For It

ESPN ESPN's Bill Simmons spent a significant part of his podcast on a furious rant against NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday.

Simmons called him a liar, and said it was "f------ b-------" that Goodell told the media that he didn't know what went on between Ray Rice and his wife inside the elevator until he saw the TMZ video.

"I just think not enough is being made out of the fact that they knew about the tape and they knew what was on it," he said. "Goodell, if he didn't know what was on that tape, he's a liar."

Simmons is one of Goodell's most prominent critics. He did a lengthy mailbag where he called for the commissioner to step down after the Rice fiasco broke in early September.

After about three minutes of ripping on Goodell, things took a turn. Simmons seemed to dare his employer to say something to him about the rant, though he didn't mention ESPN by name.

"The commissioner's a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast," he said. "Please, call me and say I'm in trouble. I dare you."

Here's what he said about Goodell:

I just think not enough is being made out of the fact that they knew about the tape and they knew what was on it. Goodell, if he didn't know what was on that tape, he's a liar. I'm just saying it. He is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test that guy would fail. For all these people to pretend they didn't know is such f------ b-------. It really is — it's such f------ b-------. And for him to go in that press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted. I really was.

[...]

The best point that a lot of people have made about this is this is exactly why he fined and suspended Sean Payton for a season [for Bountygate]. Sean Payton was like, 'I didn't know.' [Goodell] was like, 'Well ignorance [is not an excuse]' and suspended him for a year. This is the same exact situation and it's worse, because he knew and he's a liar.

And here's his message to ESPN:

I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I'm in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell. Because if one person says that to me, I'm going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner's a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast ... Please, call me and say I'm in trouble. I dare you.

Simmons has clashed with ESPN a few times over the years. In 2013he was briefly banned from Twitter for criticizing "First Take." In 2009he was suspended for criticizing an ESPN Radio affiliate.

The full audio can be heard here. The ESPN part starts about the 3:05 mark:

 

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/24/frank-deford-says-goodell-is-now-a-ghost/

Frank Deford says Goodell is now a “ghost”

One of the biggest questions regarding the future of Commissioner Roger Goodell relates to his ability to continue to be the Commissioner. Not in title, but in the day-in, day-out realities of doing the job.

Since Friday’s emergence from hiding via press conference, Goodell attended the Texans-Giants game on Sunday (saying nothing to reporters) and conducted a meeting on Tuesday with 11 former players and executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent. But with the Robert Mueller investigation, the Ray Rice appeal, and an NFLPA investigation pending, the full extent of any harm to Goodell’s image, reputation, and legacy won’t be known for a while.

In the opinion of veteran journalist and commentator Frank Deford, the damage already is done.

“I think he moral sway has absolutely evaporated,” Deford said on HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, via SportsBusiness Daily. “He’s a ghost now. I don’t know when he’ll leave but I don’t think he can continue to have any kind of real credibility. I think that the league needs is somebody from the outside. Remember, Goodell grew up in the league. He’s a lifer. He only sees it from a football point of view.”

In recent years, some league insiders have suggested that, as the NFL grows, it will become critical for the league office to search for outsiders with as much or more experience in big business than in football. Whenever the NFL hires a new Commissioner, that could be the strategy.

For now, though, it remains unclear whether a new Commissioner will be hired any time soon. With three different efforts to get to the truth about what the NFL knew and when the NFL knew it, it’s too early to know whether Goodell eventually will go.

It’s also too early to know whether he’ll stay, which makes it prudent for owners to refrain from making conclusive statements about Goodell’s job security until Robert Mueller’s conclusions have been issued.

 

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/24/poll-finds-fans-still-love-the-nfl-but-are-sick-of-goodell/

Poll finds fans still love the NFL, but are sick of Goodell

NFL fans still love their football. They don’t love the man who runs the league.

That’s the word from a poll of football fans taken by Marketing & Research Resources for Sports Illustrated. The poll found that despite all the recent news about players’ off-field misconduct, fans aren’t turning away from the league at all. In fact, 32 percent of fans say their level of interest in the NFL has risen compared to last year, while only 9 percent say it has decreased. The rest say their interest remains the same.

But as for Goodell, the fans seem to be tiring of the commissioner. The poll found that only 28.5 percent of fans want him to remain as commissioner. A plurality of 37.8 percent of fans think he should be fired, and 33.6 percent of fans aren’t sure if Goodell should keep his job or not.

The response to the latter question may sound like bad news for Goodell, but the response to the former question demonstrates why the owners are in no hurry to get rid of him. As ugly as the news from the last few weeks has been, the NFL continues to thrive because the paying customers — the fans — still love the game. Until Goodell’s unpopularity begins to cost the owners money, the owners have little reason to get rid of him. And right now, Goodell hasn’t diminished the passion of football fans.

 

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https://tv.yahoo.com/news/nfls-sponsors-quietly-shift-ads-amid-women-woes-160451535.html

NFL's Sponsors Quietly Shift Ads Amid Women Woes

A version of this story first appeared in the Oct. 3 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

The NFL is enduring unrelenting criticism for its handling of violent incidents involving players. And for the first time in the league's 94-year history, the scandal has the potential to affect the NFL's $50 billion business, particularly among one important constituency: women.

A University of North Florida study finds that 25 percent of female NFL fans say the handling of the domestic violence case involving Baltimore Ravens star running back Ray Rice would "discourage them from attending games" and consuming other "league-related media content." While the NFL remains the top lure on TV, the league's male viewership has been flat since 2009 as female viewers have jumped more than 10 percent, according to Nielsen. Women make up about 35 percent of the league's regular-season audience, rising to 45 percent for the Super Bowl.

National Organization for Women president Terry O'Neill repeatedly has called for commissioner Roger Goodell to resign, most recently after Goodell's Sept. 19 news conference during which he vowed to reform the league. Meanwhile, several female sportscasters, including ESPN's Hannah Storm and Jane McManus, Fox Sports' Katie Nolan and Pam Oliver and CNN's Rachel Nichols, have been among the most prominent voices on the NFL story. "Sports is for everybody, but everybody was not being heard," says Storm, who delivered a passionate critique on SportsCenter after she watched the video of Rice punching his then-fiancée while at the breakfast table with her three teen daughters. "Asking the tough questions, asking the right questions is critical to my job as a broadcaster and as a parent."

Several NFL sponsors also are asking questions. Multiple media buyers tell THR that clients have requested their ads not appear during games featuring the Ravens or Minnesota Vikings, the team ofsuspended running back Adrian Peterson (due in a Texas court Oct. 8 on a child abuse charge for whipping his 4-year-old son). CBS, which kicked off its $275 million Thursday Night Football package Sept. 11 with strong ratings for a Ravens game, had one sponsor ask to be removed from the broadcast and another request its ads shift, likely away from a discussion of the violence issue during CBS Sports' pregame report. CBS declined to identify the sponsors.

So far, no advertiser has defected entirely from football. "The NFL is too important to most advertisers to pull out," says one buyer. Still, the erosion of confidence is palpable, with major sponsors includingAnheuser-Busch, PepsiCo and McDonald's releasing strong rebukes. Radisson Hotels has suspended its Vikings sponsorship. And Procter & Gamble pulled out of an October breast cancer initiative that would have had players wearing pink mouth guards. "That implied threat of financial repercussions is extraordinary," says Storm.

Anheuser-Busch, the league's biggest sponsor, inked a six-year, $1.2 billion deal in 2011. PepsiCo spends $100 million annually on in-game ads. But the TV networks funnel exponentially more into NFL coffers: ESPN has an eight-year, $15 billion deal for Monday Night Footballthat is worth nearly $2 billion a year; CBS, Fox and NBC collectively pay $3 billion annually for NFL rights.

Goodell's news conference -- during which he admitted he "made mistakes" -- was widely criticized (including by players reacting on Twitter as Goodell spoke) for offering little in the way of transparency on why the NFL, with a potent security force of former FBI agents could not get its hands on the Rice elevator video.

It has been extraordinarily humbling for a league that enjoyed $10 billion in revenue in 2013 and an ironclad grip on its business. "The league has created this intimacy with the American public," says Tim Green, a former Atlanta Falcons linebacker who did a stint at Fox Sports. "It's everywhere. And so the American public wants the NFL to respond in a bigger way."

Certainly the NFL is accustomed to scrutiny. The league has been dealing with the issue of player concussions for years (three movies are in development on the subject). But the woeful response to the ugliness in its ranks could be an inflection point in the NFL's dominance.

"While I hold no illusions that folks at the league are in love with our coverage, I certainly believe that they know it's important to fans," says ESPN senior vp Rob King, who oversees SportsCenter as well as the company's newsgathering operations. King says he has not heard from the league about the network's coverage, which has included a damning Sept. 19 Outside the Lines report that Ravens management knew what happened in that Atlantic City, N.J., elevator. (The Ravens have denied the allegations in the report.) Meanwhile, Keith Olbermann, who has taken to calling the NFL the "National Freefall League" on his ESPN2 program, continues to be among the loudest and most impassioned voices calling for Goodell to step down. "I can't think of a time when we said, 'We have to be careful because this is a league partner,'" adds King.

With Peterson's court date looming and an investigation by former FBI director Robert Mueller ongoing, there is sure to be more to come. "Clearly the NFL has their antenna up now," says Fox Sports executive producer John Entz. "It probably should have been up a long time ago."

 

[dc.]

Summons got nailed by ESPN.. Three week vacation

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http://news.yahoo.com/free-bill-simmons-twitter-espn-suspension-131204683.html

Yeah now they are being called to the carpet for it.

 

You think the NFL is pllying pressure now.

[dc.]

Ruh roh, Roger...

 

AP report now has names on it... name of the cop who sent the video and name of the official he sent it to, Head of Security Jeffrey Miller. He claims to have received a voice mail from a woman (unknown name) acknowledging receipt.

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11589797/official-says-ray-rice-video-was-sent-nfl-security-chief-jeffrey-miller

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/26/mueller-needs-to-find-a-way-to-interview-the-ap-source/

Mueller needs to find a way to interview the AP source

So what’s next for supposedly independent investigation conducted by former FBI director Robert Mueller? It’s possible that he won’t have much time to finish the supposedly independent investigation, because his name is surfacing as a candidate for the suddenly vacant position of Attorney General.

Assuming Mueller continues with his current assignment, Thursday’ Associated Press report makes one of Mueller’s tasks clear: He needs to interview whoever it is who claims to have sent the video to the league office.

Sure, the knee-jerk reaction will be that the AP will protect its source zealously. But based on the source’s justification for authorizing the AP to update its two-week-old story to include the allegation that the video was sent to NFL security director Jeff Miller, the source apparently has a strong interest in seeing the truth emerge.

“Since the NFLPA and NFL have launched separate investigations into the league and the Ravens’ handling of Ray Rice’s case, I want to make a few things clear,” the source said. “No one from the NFL ever asked me for the inside-elevator video. I mailed it anonymously to Jeff Miller because he’s their head of security. I attached a note saying: ‘Ray Rice elevator video. You have to see it. It’s terrible.’ I provided a number for a disposable cellphone and asked for confirmation that it was received. I knew there was a possibility Mr. Miller may not get the video, but I hoped it would land in the right hands.”

If the source hopes that the truth will be uncovered, the source should want to participate in the official process of uncovering the truth.

So Mueller should contact Rob Maadi of the AP with a simple request: “Tell the source I’ll protect his or her anonymity completely and entirely. I just need to be able to sit down with the source, talk to the source, fill in some of the gaps, frame questions that should be asked of Jeff Miller and others in the league office, and assess the source’s overall credibility.”

For reasons identical to why the NFL should have demanded to see the elevator video, Mueller needs to demand to explore the validity of the claim that the elevator video had been sent to the NFL. To make that happen, Mueller needs to make a reasonable case to the AP for getting access to the source. If the source declines to cooperate despite Mueller’s reasonable case for talking to the source, then the source and the report should be disregarded as not credible. If the source agrees to cooperate, then only Mueller can decide whether the source or Miller is telling the truth.

And here’s where the appearance of independence would have served the investigative process well. If Mueller doesn’t aggressively and creatively attempt to get access to the AP source or if Mueller gets access and dismisses the source’s story as not credible, the media and the public will be inclined to believe that Mueller’s decision to accept Miller’s version over the source’s version was influenced at some level by the ties between Mueller’s firm and the NFL.

Of course, there’s another potential solution to this. The source can step out from the shadows and tell the story, with a name, face, and voice attached to it. With law enforcement looking very bad for how the Rice case was prosecuted, the person who is trying to disseminate truth under the cover of secrecy needs to seriously consider standing up publicly and blowing the whistle.

In the end, that person could end up being the only hero to emerge from this mess.

 

[dc.]

The guy who sent is has identified himself. So that part is easy.