Unless you have been living under a rock for the last three weeks, you most likely know of the controversy surrounding the Sept. 24 Monday Night Football game involving the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks.
I’m not going to get into the specifics of “Goldengate,” or any argument for that matter. It would be pointless, considering the NFL backed the original decision and the “W” will forever go to the Seahawks.
What irks me the most isn’t the catch, the poor officiating throughout that game or the past three weeks from the replacement referees.
What bothers me the most are the actions of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and how we, the fans and spectators, have seemingly allowed him to walk away without a scratch from this situation that put the entire season in jeopardy.
While I understand that ultimately, the owners did not want to pay whatever amount of money the referees were looking to get out of this new bargaining agreement, Goodell was by no means an innocent bystander in this situation.
In the last few weeks, Goodell has single-handedly tarnished the reputation of the entire NFL, while placing the blame on the real referees, as well as the coaches, players and management of all 32 teams.
Goodell sat back and watched his “experiment” turn the league into a chaotic mess on the brink of anarchy with each telecast.
It was clear that these replacement officials were not up to the level of officiating an NFL-speed game, and that’s not on them.
You can’t expect people that couldn’t even make it in the Lingerie Football League to miraculously call a professional game by the book.
You also can’t blame them for being easily swayed by a home crowd’s reaction as to which way they made a call.
In my eyes, they are innocent in all of this.
Goodell, however, backed them up a little too much, mostly because the league’s wallet was involved.
It’s one thing to let a bad call slip. But there were repeatedly missed calls, calls made the wrong way and the ridiculousness of one referee signaling a touchdown while the other signaled a touchback.
There is an issue here, and it’s not with the players and coaches overreacting and getting physical with the referees.
Bottom line, Goodell saw the havoc happening on the field the first three weeks and sat back and did absolutely nothing.
But we let him get away with it?
Let’s back track a little.
Last year around this time, another situation involving a league commissioner was getting national attention.
David Stern simply spoke for the coaches of the NBA (and unreasonably vetoed a trade that would have made the Lakers a super team, which they still ended up becoming this off-season anyway) on their reasons for not allowing a bigger portion of basketball-related income to go to the players during the negotiations of their new collective bargaining agreement.
When the league officially locked out a few weeks later, all of a sudden Stern was the bad guy for allowing this to happen, at least in the eyes of the fans and the media.
It was Stern’s fault the owners weren’t budging. It was Stern’s fault the players wanted more and wouldn’t agree to the CBA terms.
All the blame was placed on Stern.
Analysts and fans started openly calling for his head on a stake when there was nothing he could legally do to stop this.
Goodell, on the other hand, was heavily involved with the referee lockout and continually suggested that everyone needed to just ignore it and enjoy the game.
Where was the outcry when this happened?
Where were the analysts raising their pitchforks calling for Goodell to step down?
Where were the players claiming that they just didn’t understand him? It seems as if we were so relieved to get the “real” referees back, we would accept any explanation and compromise to get it.
While I won’t say that this one incident should call for Goodell’s resignation, I will say that he’s being watched closely.
I do not believe that he has the integrity and tradition of the great American sport in his best interest.
His actions over the last month have proved that.
For now, let’s just hope that with the real league officials in place, the game can be played the way it is supposed to be and without controversy.