I’m getting tired of Roger Goodell making unilateral decisions. Why does all the power fall on one commissioner? Who the hell decided that was a good idea?
Here’s my problem. He’s trying to do some sort of zero tolerance policy with “personal conduct.” I can understand some punishments levied on convicted players. But who decides what is moral? One man? My issue just happens to be his latest punishment of Ben Roethlisberger. I am biased because I am a fan but that doesn’t change the argument.
We have a person who went clubbing like many other young aged folk. Him and his entourage meet up with some partying sorority girls. They know of him and are hopping from club to club with his group. Clearly there is drinking and flirting going on. They know he’s a TWO time Super Bowl winning quarterback and just got signed to a HUGE contract. They also know he had an unproven rape allegation that was dropped and the conniving female is simply trying to extort him via a civil suit. So is it any surprise one of these women claimed rape again? The DA could not prove anything happened, it’s all he said/she said. So all we have is MAYBE sex in a nightclub but that can’t even be proven. Will this influence 18-26 yr old crowd? No, college men and women will continue to club before this incident, during this incident, and after. This changes and influences nothing.
Where’s this bad conduct? Sex is natural. Most everyone does it. The body craves it. I don’t agree with the choice of location /woman/situation however that’s just a conflict of my personal view. I don’t see it as immoral. Hell, I’m sure there are hundreds of players that are taking full advantage of the fame of being an NFL player and are scoring like Chamberlain and Johnson of NBA notoriety. To me sleeping around like that is despicable. But I won’t hold it against them as that’s just a personal conflict.
As an adult I just think “so he had sex, how does this affect me?” It doesn’t. Why am I pissed? I’m pissed at the fact he was even punished. It doesn’t affect me though, right? True but I DO watch the NFL for entertainment and this whole thing takes away from it. I’ll go on living my life and this will never touch me but I still take issue with it for Ben’s sake and any other player that has been caught like this.
Whether Ben had sex or not doesn’t matter. They’re partying and this is his private life. If he did have sex… again it doesn’t matter. Everyone does (well mostly.) So this affects adults that use logic… none. Does this influence kids? Hell no. There may be an outlier here and there but as a kid I look at Magic Johnson as a basketball god and wished I could play like him. My parents went on and on about how he had sex with all those women and had AIDS. So fucking what? As a kid I wanted to play all the time and I could dream of being like Mike, Wilt, and Magic. This simply won’t influence a kid or dash dreams at all. I know I’d love to look up to a 2 time Super Bowl winning football star. As a kid I wouldn’t “know” about sex nor even care about it, I’d be thinking about having fun.
This incident does not tarnish the image of football or the NFL. That image has long been tarnished by incidents of actual convictions – look at the Cowboys or Bengals just to name a few. Roger is hurting the image more which makes it highly ironic. Now they’re damaging Ben’s career and essentially fining him $2-3 million with the suspensions. So what if he has the money? That’s not the point. He’s earned that and should be given the chance to continue to earn it.
Art Rooney is a moron. He was ready to punish Ben no matter what Roger did (as if ol’ Rog could pass up the opportunity to be a dictator.) Some say quarterbacks are held to the highest standard and making an example of him will show the team does not support his actions. In fact, there’s talk of trading him.
Are you off your fucking rocker? Do you think we’ll lose the first 4-6 games without him? If so what the hell makes you think the backups can finish the season better than that and what makes you think drafting a top quarterback will possibly net better results? Ben is a PROVEN TWO TIME SUPERBOWL WINNING QUARTERBACK. So it’s about principle now, eh? If you want to take a stand then I want every team to dump anyone that has been convicted of a crime, charged with a crime, or investigated for a crime. THAT is taking a stand. That won’t happen so don’t blow smoke up our skirts with that lame excuse.
There is no reason to punish him this harshly… or at all. No crime was committed. No immoral act was committed. Wake up people, you probably had sex this very morning. Do you feel dirty or something? Get over it, it’s natural. You probably had a drink last night so it isn’t the booze you hate. Is it that ”evil dancing and rock roll music” that bugs you so much? This isn’t the 50’s anymore and just because you’re old doesn’t mean your train of thought is correct as the current generation is nowhere near you (and they’ll be the ones supporting the NFL.) I want the higher ups to get off their high horses.
There is no reason to even think of a trade or to punish him on a team level. Everyone has their heads so far up their asses that they can’t see the absurdity in front of them.
Despite the stupid ESPN pundits saying it’s deserved and “everyone is tired with him” it just simply isn’t true. Fans are still behind him. The big wigs are hanging him out to dry.
