The Tyrant Wins Yet Again

I wanted to wait on this one, and I was tempted to not even write anything about this topic. It's a crazy issue and a serious one, and I'm maybe not the most qualified person to speak on it. But when the lying tyrant Roger Goodell continues to get away with wielding his power for power's sake, I can't not say anything.

In case you've been living under a rock for a while, here's the basic rundown of what happened. Just over a year ago Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott was accused by an ex-girlfriend of domestic violence. Obviously, this is something that has to be taken very seriously, and it was; both the police and the NFL stepped in to investigate the claims. As it turns out, the police felt there wasn't enough evidence to go forward with a trial, and especially when the accuser failed to show up for the court date, the charges were dropped.

Photo from Getty Images (photographer uncredited)

Now the NFL is not the judicial system, and as we learned with their witch hunt of Tom Brady, they don't need proof beyond a reasonable doubt. They only need a "preponderance of evidence" to say, in essence, that it's "more probable than not" that Player X committed Offense Y. In the case of Elliott, they took over a year to investigate all of this, and felt that he did in fact commit the acts he was accused of. By virtue of the domestic violence policy put in place after the Ray Rice debacle, Elliott was suspended six games. He appealed, and yesterday the suspension was upheld, though Elliott will be allowed to play in this week's game against the Giants due to...legal technicalities? I don't even know.

Now, I've spent years attacking Goodell for being an incompetent, lying tyrant, but I'm going to play devil's advocate here. After the aforementioned Ray Rice debacle, the NFL put that domestic violence policy in place to at least give the impression that they give a crap about domestic violence. But last year, when the Josh Brown story broke, the league only suspended him for one game, though the Giants would release him a few days after he admitted to his pattern of abuse. Regardless, it showed that the league actually doesn't give a crap about domestic violence. The Elliott situation gave Goodell an out: he had a chance to try and show society that yes, the league takes these accusations very seriously and will stick to its guns when it comes to these situations. As far as PR stunts go, it's pretty effective.

Photo by USATSI (photographer uncredited)

Here's the problem though: we have to go back to the police investigation. Police obviously interviewed the accuser and went to fairly great lengths to verify her story. But they found serious inconsistencies between her account of what happened and other evidence (including some text messages that showed her trying to convince a friend to lie to extort money from Elliott). This is partially why Elliott's charges were let go. Now, while the NFL was doing its investigation, they also interviewed the accuser. The investigator who talked to her took her testimony and all the other evidence into account, and recommended that the league not suspend Elliott due to the same concerns police raised. Of course, Goddell in his infinite wisdom decided to ignore that and go ahead with the suspension because he's Roger Goodell and can do whatever the hell he wants. And unfortunately, that's why the arbitrator upheld the suspension. The CBA allows it. That's why Tom Brady's lawsuit was defeated in the Appeals Court. It's why I fear Elliott's lawsuit may not stand up either.

The precedent has been set, and it's a scary one. The NFL can do whatever it wants to its players, without evidence and without regards to the truth. Now, this is a more serious issue than the league not understanding the Ideal Gas Law. Domestic violence is a problem that does need to be dealt with, and offenders need to be punished harshly. But when the evidence to support the punishment is spotty, punishing them anyway reeks of evil totalitarianism. I'm not saying Roger Goodell is evil, because I don't think he is. But I would argue that he is incompetent and corrupted by absolute power, and without any safeguards to protect against his power, he will continue to bring unchecked poor decisions on the NFL, as he has done for years. And the owners are fine with this, because the league continues to bring in money and he serves as a perfect puppet. Goddell is an employee of the owners, and as long as he's around to bungle everything, no one will focus on their sins.

I said it last year when Brady's suspension was reinstated, and I'll say it again. The only recourse to save the NFL from itself is a players' strike. I will continue to advocate for it, even though I love football, because going without games for a while is worth it if the lying tyrant can no longer adversely impact the game in the false name of "the integrity of the shield."