Roger Goodell is a racist...?

Question

Ever since Goodell took over as commissioner every began to accuse him of having double standards towards black people and one question was always asked...

"lf (name here) were white would he receive a lesser punishiment?"

Well now that question has been answered. I'm white, but even I can see a problem with this picture. T. Johnson, Pacman, C. Henry, M. Vick, R. Williams, D. Rhodes... just to name a few, all black players... all received suspensions. Now Bill Belichick comes along and is caught cheating and then openly ADMITS to it and he receives a fine... basically a slap on the wrist considering the money he makes. I've doubted all who screamed it... but now I've gotta admit, Roger Goodell is proving himself to be, nothing more than a racist... or can at least be accused of holding double standards. Thoughts?

Look... y'all are dancing around the topic here. No I'm not a Vick fan, no I don't think he should have lied, and I understand that the players I mentioned broke LAWS as well. Fact of the matter is that Belichick admitted to CHEATING... was he cheating last year in the playoffs, was he cheating when they won 3 superbowls, has he been cheating every since he became a head coach, or is this a new thing... nobody knows. He admits to cheating and gets fined... and the rest of the punishment is given to the team/franchise... how is that fair?! Like I said, it might NOT be a race thing... it could just be that Goodell has a double standard... why don't you guys read the whole thing before opening your mouth? Besides... I'm perfectly allowed to speak my opinion, and thats all it was. Sheesh... go undo the bunch in your panties now... you don't want to chafe :)

BTW... I know the Vick situation is much worse than everyone else on the list, I just didn't see a reason to list everyone else and not him.

No actually I don't see a 1st round pick being that big of a deal to the Patriots. Not only are they going to have a great record this year so its not like they're going to be going top 5, but second of all, who's going to worry about draft picks when they're holding up the superbowl trophy at the end of the season?

Answer 1

First of all, the offenses of the players that you listed not only broke the player conduct policy, but in many cases the law itself. Steroids use, keeping a cache of illegal weapons, dogfighting, and the other offense are actually breaking state and, in certain cases, federal laws, so the punishment had to be more severe than simply a fine.

While I agree that Bellichek got off with a slap on the wrist, the truth of the matter is the NFL does not have a concrete rule or penalty about stealing signals from other teams. It is obviously frowned upon, but the rulebook does not have any concrete rules or standards on what you can and cannot do when it comes to this situation. So Goodell could only do what was available to him, which was the highest possible fine allowable under NFL rules. A suspension, even though that's what a lot of people want, would probably not be appropriate since there is no rules in the rulebook that would allow it, and Goodell would likely face a lawsuit from Bellicheck and the players committe if that he did that. I can promise you that the NFL will lay down ground rules and likely harsher punishments for these types of rules violations in the off season, but until then that's the most you can do to Bellichek.

So let's not throw around the race card so easily, shall we?

Answer 2

A few simple facts why the "other" people got more Harsh punishments:

All of these guys either cheated or had multiple run ins with the law, and if your so bent on thinking he has a double standard, remember this: each incident is treated and handled differently, you cant set strict guidelines for offenses because each one is different, and here are each of the players cases you mentioned:

Tamk Johnson: Multiple run ins with the law, spending time in jail and violating his probation: 8 games

Pacman Jones:....where do I begin? Lets just state the Las Vegas shooting incident.

Michael Vick: Will all know the story already.

R. Williams: Let's just say his hands are always filled with "green" and not money.

Domonic Rhodes: Violated theleagues Substance Abuse policy with Steriods.

Just to make your point even more invalid, Wade Wilson, assistant head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, who is WHITE, was suspended for 5 games for using HGH, a banned susbtance. Belichick had no control over the video tape, he wasn't the one using it. Yeah I know youll say he's the head coach and should watch over it, but think about it, do you know how many people work for a head coach?

So in reality, no one is thinking Roger Goodell is a racist, sounds like your just trying to bash him because Belichick wasn't suspended yet Goodell imposed the maximum fines and punishments he could within NFL guidelines.

Answer 3

First of all suspending a coach in the NFL is not common practice. Jared Allen got suspended by the league. This was a completly different situation then the players so you cannot honestly compare them. Vick has federal charges against him, not just recording coaches big difference. Pacman basically was involved in a murder a little worse then running a video camera. Chris Henry has been arrested numerous times again worse then video taping a coach. Tank Johnson had illegal firearms once again worse then running a video camera. Dominic Rhodes tested positive for an illegal substance and got same suspensions as Jared Allen. So your point is well thought out just kidding, try to find another way to stick up for these overpaid atheletes.

Answer 4

i think his punishment is better than suspending the coach, think about it for a second, it doesnt matter who is officially coaching the patriots, its belichicks system, his plays, and his assistant coaches who would run things probably the same way he would. but by personally fining him $500,000, the team another $250,000 plus taking away possibly multiple draft picks this punishment will be felt for a longer time than just a suspension.

when a player does something wrong a suspension deters them because a team loses part of its strategy for winning a game, for a coach it doesnt matter, the whole team is still there, they playbook is the same, its just somebody else calling them.

plus most of those other players that you mention have had troubles OFF the field regarding illegal activities (dog fighting, fights, shootings, marijuana etc) this instance is cheating ON the field of play. so the comparison isnt really valid

also goodell fined him the maximum that he could under current NFL rules, most fines that are given to players are simply in the $10,000 range or maybe $20,000 if its something really big, this is half a million bucks plus another quarter million to the team and the lost of one or more picks in the draft, i think the punishment was severe enough

Answer 5

Each of the cases that you brought up is ridiculous. Are you forgetting about Wade Wilson supsended for 5 games for using HGH. There's no race issue here. Ricky Williams violated his suspension by failing a drug test, Dominic Rhodes broke the drug policy which had been in place and he knew the consequences, Chris Henry had legal issues, Michael Vick broke the law and is going too jail, Tank Johnson was an idiot having weapoons and had more legal troubles and broke his suspension and the terms of it. I don't see anything that was racist in his abilities to make a determination one what is going on. Personally he was fined the maximum amount of money, the Patriots have lost draft picks which is big, and the team was fined. Now if Bob Kraft had any ball he'd fired Belicheck.

Answer 6

First off 80% of the league is black so the chances of Goodell disciplining a black instead of a white guy are pretty high. Secondly all of the players you mentioned were on at least their fourth chance. And some of the ones you mentioned were actually arrested and charged with crimes while all showed a blatant disrespect for authorityand the commissioner's office.

Tank Johnson-had enouhg guns to battle al Qaeda in his home; plus had was already on probation and went to jail for violating it

Pacman-garbage; he has been arrested five times; he has been charged with a felony; when he had his chance to defend himslef to the commissioner, he lied to him

Chirs Henry-was arrested, I believe, three times within a year for DUI while on the league's substance abuse program

Michael Vick-he was convicted of financially supporting an interstate dog-fighting ring; he was accused of participating in gambling and racketeering

Ricky Williams-another piece of trash; he was killing the Miami franchise and repeatedly failed drug tests all the while lying about it saying that he had cleaned his act up

Domincik Rhodes-he was caught with performance enhancing drugs in his system; the union and the league agreed that it is an automatic four game suspension

But while you only care to point out these few players, how baout Wade Wilson. There's a typical white guy for you. He is coach that was caught with HGH that he says was his diabetes. He got five games because he doesn't have a union backing him. Goodell is doing the right thing by cleaning this sport up and taking out the trash before it gets a bad reputation like the NBA.

Answer 7

Roger's a racist ? So I guess Wade Wilsons' great grandma must have visited the slave quarters. 100 grand is an awfully stiff fine for doing something that did nothing to raise the performance of his team, so Wade must be part black. Belichick didn't get off easy because he's white, it's because Goodell doesn't too piss off the owners(his bosses) too much. I guarantee you the penalties were negotiated in private before being announced.

Answer 8

i dont think he is a racist, u have to admit wade wilson the cowboys qbs coach got bust for HGH and received a 4 gam suspension. I think his suspension of black athletes have been fair. The case with Belichick could have been handled better. I really dont think you get that great of an unfair advantage over another team by taping their hand signals. In either case I thing Belichick and the O[Coordinator should of got at least one game suspensions.

Answer 9

totally different scenarios. bill belichick didnt drive to the game drunk with his car loaded full of guns, he didnt stop to see his pitbulls lose a fight and then murder the dogs. he wasnt involved in a nightclub shooting that left a man paralyzed. he didnt stop at a nightclub to get into an altercation that left his bestfriend/bodygaurd dead from a gunshot wound. last time i checked he hadnt been accused or suspended multiple times for smoking pot. he cheated, all the teams steal signals. watch the coaches on the sidelines cover their mouths when they radio in their plays on sunday. they've been doing this for years because the other teams steal signals. i'm not a patriots fan.

Answer 10

I don't think he is racist. When Shawn Merriman got suspended for steroids he said that it some how got mixed in his supplement that he takes. After the season was over Roger Goodell publicly released Merrimans' steroid testing results for the year and it showed out of 16 weeks he failed 1 test. So he was helping Merriman try to prove his point. If he was racist he wouldn't of released the results.