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Fire Roger Goodell as NFL commissioner?


Fire Roger Goodell?  

63 members have voted

  1. 1. Fire Roger Goodell?

    • Yes
      58
    • No
      5


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Has he done enough damage yet to your NFL?

1. Government oversight of NFL affairs
2. (2) discrimination cases filed with the EEOC
3. The pension board fiasco
4. The CBA
5. Scheduling NFL games in Europe
6. Randomness of his fines and punishments
7. Destroying the Spygate tapes
8. Flipflops on what to do about Vic and depending on whichever way the media wind blew at the time

Its time to say goodbye to Roger! :wave:

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[quote name='GoBengals' post='641736' date='Mar 8 2008, 07:43 PM']tho i dont care about europe games.. no bengals home games can be effected so [b]im cool with other teams getting hosed..[/b][/quote]

In a way so am I but if I stand back and look at it from a leaguewide perspective, ...this guy needs to go. He's not good for my NFL.
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[quote name='Jeb' post='641738' date='Mar 8 2008, 07:45 PM']In a way so am I but if I stand back and look at it from a leaguewide perspective, ...this guy needs to go. He's not good for my NFL.[/quote]


yea.

i certainly voted he needs to go, but of the reasons the europe games dont bother me...

the guy is everything the sport doesnt need.
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[quote name='CTBengalsFan' post='641745' date='Mar 8 2008, 08:05 PM']How could a commissioner be fired? Would it have to be some vote by the owners?[/quote]

Yep, it sure does but it doesn't hurt to have a grassroots campaign by the fans as well. That way the minority of owners outwardly against him would be more vocal perhaps swaying the others.
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[quote]Report: Specter wants Goodell to publicly release letters sent to Walsh
ESPN.com news services

Updated: March 9, 2008, 3:39 PM ET
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Sen. Arlen Specter isn't buying what Roger Goodell is selling when it comes to how the NFL commissioner is handling the Spygate controversy.


The Pennsylvania Republican, according to a published report, doesn't think the NFL really wants to speak to former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh. To prove the NFL is being genuine, Specter wants Goodell to release letters exchanged between the league and Walsh's attorneys, The New York Times reported.

"I'd like to issue a challenge to the commissioner to make public the extensive exchange of correspondence between the league's lawyers and Walsh's lawyers," Specter told the newspaper.

Specter took issue with how any potential new evidence would be handled in the case.

"Any objective or accurate reading of the correspondence would show the NFL is trying to discourage Walsh from coming forward," Specter told the Times. "Especially the requirement in the letter, where the NFL calls for the destruction of whatever Walsh turns over without any provision for me or anyone else to see it."

On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that Goodell is proposing enacting easier-to-impose cheating penalties as a deterrent to similar future scandals.

The Post cited a memo sent to the league's competition committee Thursday and said the proposals included a change in rules that would allow league officials to make unannounced inspections of locker rooms, press boxes and in-game communications equipment.

The measure was among a series of changes to make rules stricter that Goodell wants to enact before next season "to preserve the integrity of the game" and "maintain public confidence" in the sport, according to the memo.

"As the Commissioner and Competition Committee, we must take every appropriate step to safeguard the integrity of the NFL," Goodell wrote. "We have already taken some positive and significant actions this past season, but we must go further to ensure fair competition amongst our 32 teams and maintain public confidence in our game."

Goodell pledged stricter penalties for competition-rules violations and proposed a plan requiring team employees to give the league reports of "actual or suspected" violations.

Another measure would place each franchise's main owner, top executive and head coach under the threat of league discipline to stipulate that they have complied with the rules and reported violations.

"I think there are a number of steps that should be taken in advance of the start of the 2008 season to improve and strengthen the enforcement procedures designed to preserve the competitive integrity of the game," Goodell wrote, adding that "too often, competitive violations have gone unpunished because conclusive proof of the violation was lacking."

Last month, Specter questioned the quality of the NFL's investigation of the Patriots' videotaping practices and Goodell's decision to destroy video evidence uncovered by the league earlier this season.

Goodell fined New England coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and docked the team $250,000 and a first-round draft pick after the Patriots were accused of videotaping New York Jets defensive coaches as they signaled to players in the Sept. 9 season opener.

Specter also cited NFL officials' indicating the Patriots had taped Pittsburgh Steelers' coaches during AFC championship games at the end of the 2001 and 2004 seasons and during regular-season games in '02 and '04.[/quote]
[url="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3284550"]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3284550[/url]
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I want the NFL to crack down on the crimial element. However, there needs to be a much better outlined appraoch than having him and him only passing judgement as there is far too much inconsistency in his rulings.
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[quote]Specter: Goodell's Spygate explanations don't pass scrutiny
By Mike Fish
ESPN.com

Updated: February 15, 2008, 3:52 PM ET


A day after meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in Washington, Sen. Arlen Specter said he continues to be troubled by a number of issues surrounding the league's handling of Spygate and will continue his investigation.

Specter, R-Pa., told ESPN.com that Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., offered support Thursday for his inquiry into the New England Patriots' questionable videotaping practices, saying Leahy is "prepared to have the committee pay for people who travel and investigate." Leahy sat in on a part of Wednesday's session with Goodell and league counsel, Specter said.

"I'm determined to go forward," said Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. "You have answers and positions where [Goodell] is saying that with the destruction of tapes that, 'We did the right thing. We're absolutely sure.'

"Well, that is absurd … Goodell says things that don't make sense."

Among the issues that continue to trouble Specter:

• Goodell's imposition of a penalty -- the loss of a first-round draft pick, a $500,000 fine to Patriots coach Bill Belichick and a $250,000 fine to the team -- before the Pats had turned over evidence, including notes dating to 2002 and six tapes from the 2006 season and 2007 preseason, requested by the league. The Patriots were caught videotaping defensive signals from the sideline in their Sept. 9 season opener against the New York Jets. The commissioner imposed his penalty on Sept. 13, four days before New England provided the tapes and notes.

"Did they know the scope of the wrongdoing before the penalty was imposed?" asked Specter, a former Philadelphia district attorney. "The answer is no."

NFL spokesman Greg "Hatchetman" Aiello said in response Thursday that Goodell's swift punishment stemmed from the fact that the Patriots had been caught at the Jets game and from Belichick's admission that he had been taping signals since he became New England's coach in 2000. Belichick reportedly told Goodell that he thought he was within the rules to tape other team's signals as long as the information wasn't used in the game at hand.

"[Goodell] issued the discipline as quickly as he could to send a strong message to teams that this wouldn't be tolerated and there'd be a severe penalty if you violated the rules," Aiello said. "The discipline included they had to turn over everything they had related to that taping procedure."

Specter heard that explanation from Goodell on Wednesday. On Thursday, Specter said, "The words absurd and ridiculous keep coming to my mind because he [Goodell] says it with a straight face."

• Specter said it was unsettling to learn that the tapes, as well as notes, turned over by the Patriots in September had been destroyed in Foxborough, Mass., rather than in the league's New York offices. Aiello said that the documents and tapes were destroyed after they were reviewed by NFL officials Jeffrey Pash and Ray Anderson and that the call to destroy the material came from Goodell, saying "There's no further use for it, so he said get rid of it."

"Everything has changed," he said. "Nobody could use those -- they are scrap paper -- except [as] evidence."

With the evidence destroyed, Specter said there is no way to tell what advantage the Patriots might have gained in the illegal taping practice.

• Specter is particularly concerned about how the taping might have affected New England's games involving teams from his home state in the 2004 postseason.

In a preseason opener in August of that year at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, the Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles played in what proved to be a preview of the 2005 Super Bowl, which was won by the Patriots 24-21. And in an Oct. 31 regular-season game in Pittsburgh, the Steelers beat the Patriots 34-20. Those two teams later met in the AFC title game, which New England won 41-27.

Later Thursday, the Steelers released a statement that read: "We consider the tapes of our coaching staff during our games against the New England Patriots to be a nonissue. In our opinion, they had no impact on the results of those games. The Steelers fully support the manner in which commissioner Goodell handled the situation and the discipline that he levied against those who violated league rules. We are confident that the commissioner has taken appropriate action in his investigation of this matter, and will do so again if new information arises which requires further investigation and/or discipline."

• Specter believes the NFL hasn't gone far enough in its offer of legal protection to former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh, who has suggested to ESPN.com that he has potentially embarrassing information about the team's taping practices.

The league has offered to indemnify Walsh against exposure to a lawsuit from the Patriots, but the proposal stipulates that Walsh must tell the truth and return anything he took improperly. Under those conditions, the team still could file suit against Walsh even after he turns over evidence to the Patriots and league.

"Matt Walsh is an important guy, and they have made it so conditional," Specter said. "All they [have] to do is say, 'We're not going to sue you.' It is not a big deal."

Specter said he has spoken with Walsh's attorney three times in the past two days and understands that Walsh is "scared." He said the Judiciary Committee could afford Walsh immunity if Walsh ever were summoned to testify at a Senate hearing. He described both Walsh and Walsh's attorney as "cooperative."

[b]• Specter said he was concerned to learn from Walsh's attorney that an NFL security representative, Dick Farley, had been investigating Walsh. Specter said: "I confronted them on that, and Goodell says, 'Yeah, he [Farley] works for us. Yeah, he is a security guy, but we didn't know he was investigating him.' "

Aiello said Thursday that it is an overstatement to suggest the league is investigating Walsh.

"The only thing we're doing is looking at public records and trying to verify his employment history in an effort to learn about him," Aiello said.[/b][/quote]
[url="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3246788"]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3246788[/url]
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