WIth a tip of the hat to Public Enemy, Butch Rosser, the folks at Thread aPa, and anyone else that had a contribution to the thread title.
Yes, as I'm sure you've already heard by now, Roger Goodell decided that today would be a good time to let the Minnesota Vikings know that starting LT Bryant McKinnie will be suspended for the first four games of the 2008 season. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Bryant McKinne shouldn't face some sort of suspension for his incident, because he should (although the fact that Goodell has decided to do this before any sort of hearing makes it an even bigger joke), but let's review the facts here.
McKinnie was arrested on four charges, including assault, back in February. Let me repeat that. February. FEBRU-FREAKING-ARY. Six freaking months ago. Before training camp. Before mini-camp. Before the draft. Before free agency kicked off. Roger Goodell has known for this long about what McKinnie did outside of that night club.
And Goodell picks right now. . .10 days before the start of the 2008 season and a month before McKinnie's next scheduled court hearing. . .to suspend him.
Are you friggin' kidding me?
Goodell could have done this days ago. He likely could have done it weeks ago. Hell, he probably could have done it months ago. But he didn't. He made the conscious decision to wait as long as he could before informing the Vikings of what his plans for McKinnie were.
The other day, Pacifist Viking wrote an outstanding piece detailing his dislike for the Green Bay Packers, and many of the reasons he listed are good, valid reasons. But I'm going to take the liberty of adding one more fact to his list, and that's the fact that no team in any area of any professional sport gets catered and cowtowed to more than the Green Bay Packers, and Roger Goodell is largely responsible for it.
Witness the bending over backwards. . .and, I can only assume, the bending over forwards. . .that Goodell did for the Packers during the entire Favre saga. Favre filed his paperwork to be reinstated, and Goodell sat around with his thumb in his butt and stalled. . .and stalled. . .and stalled. . .until it became obvious that Green Bay wasn't big enough to hold the egos of Ted Thompson and Brett Favre at the same time. No other team would have gotten that treatment with any other player.
Witness Green Bay's thug of a middle linebacker, Nick Barnett, who was to serve a one-game suspension to start the season for an incident in which he punched a woman in the face, but essentially bought his way out of it after speaking with. . .hey, it's that guy again. . .Roger Goodell.
Witness Green Bay's "young, talented" defensive tackle, Johnny Jolly. (And by "young and talented," what I mean is "wouldn't even make Minnesota's practice squad.") Jolly was arrested in early July in Texas and charged with felony drug possession when he was found to be carrying 200 grams of codeine. Not 200 milligrams. . .200 grams, or roughly enough to take down a damn brontosaurus. If convicted, Jolly faces up to ten years in a federal <Office Space> pound-me-in-the-ass </Office Space> prison. Where's Goodell's preemptive action there?
The double standard is amazing, isn't it?
I'm not a bit worried about facing the Green Bay Packers with Artis Hicks starting at left tackle. The Vikings would win that game if they started Maurice Hicks at left tackle. Quite frankly, they'd win that game if they started Taylor Hicks at left tackle (SOUL PATROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!) McKinnie will be back before the New Orleans game, and the rest of the guys on the line should be able to hold down the fort until then. It's the way that Goodell handled this entire thing that's nothing short of a complete joke and a total travesty. Six months to digest and process information, and you have to wait until the week before the season opener to "make a decision?"
Thank goodness Roger Goodell is only the Commissioner of the NFL. I'd hate to think what things might be like if he was making the decisions on anything that mattered in the grand scheme of things. But, yes, Roger Goodell is a joke, and this incident simply cements that. He feels the obvious need to play favorites, and a Commissioner really shouldn't feel the need to do such a thing.
That's all for now, folks. . .more fun and another hurricane update tomorrow. Until then, continue enjoying your weekend!