Commissioner Roger Goodell’s rules of enforcing discipline in the NFL always have been a muddy head-scratcher. They seem a lot clearer after Ray Rice’s two-game suspension Thursday.
Judging by that ridiculously light wrist slap, this appears to be Goodell’s new list of no-nos:
1. Allegedly promise to pay teammates for big hits
2. Get free tattoos in college
3. Buy impotence drugs as a diabetic
856. Knock your fiancée unconscious
Yes, the first three “violations” on that chart all drew much harsher penalties than the one Goodell handed Rice after the Ravens running back — a New Rochelle native and Rutgers product — viciously assaulted his now-wife at an Atlantic City casino in February.
Jonathan Vilma, Sean Payton and Gregg Williams lost a whole season due to Goodell’s Bountygate debacle. You will recall that witch hunt was so botched Goodell’s former boss, Paul Tagliabue, overruled him in public.
Terrelle Pryor, incredibly, was suspended five games by Goodell for violating NCAA rules in the infamous tattoos-for-memorabilia dustup at Ohio State.
And Cowboys assistant coach Wade Wilson, who has fought diabetes his entire adult life, got the same game punishment as Pryor for checking out further medical options when Viagra wouldn’t do the trick.
Yet Rice gets caught dragging wife Janay’s limp body out of an elevator, then ends up with the same punishment as Ndamukong Suh for stomping on Evan Dietrich-Smith in a game.
Terrible move, Roger.
The NFL released a sternly worded letter from Goodell to Rice on Thursday and made it known Rice would surrender more than $700,000 in salary because of the suspension. But that didn’t make Goodell’s decision look any better.
It looks even worse, in fact, because Rice has yet to apologize publicly to his wife (he refrained from doing that again Thursday in a statement released by the Ravens).
Though it is Rice’s first offense and the charges will be dismissed if he finishes a counseling program, Goodell has to realize the NFL as a whole has a problem with abusing women.
A week doesn’t seem to go by without another ugly allegation of domestic violence by a player, with the Panthers’ Greg Hardy just the latest offender.
A six- or eight-game Rice suspension would have been Goodell’s way to send the message to the NFL’s huge (and growing) female fan base that beating up women is unacceptable.
And he blew it.
The wrongheadedness of Goodell’s move then was compounded by Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who called Rice “a heck of a guy” Thursday and offered his continued support.
Goodell doesn’t control the punishment for violations of the drug policy (the labor agreement spells those out), but it now is easier to see why the players don’t want to see that power given to him.
HGH testing isn’t in the NFL yet in part because of Goodell’s insistence on having the final word on penalties. Considering how randomly Goodell hands them out, the players’ reluctance is understandable.
The Vikings owners were ordered to pay damages after defrauding business partners, while Colts owner Jim Irsay was arrested for DWI and possessing pills not prescribed to him.
Their collective punishment (at least so far): Nada.
But if you’re a player or coach who supposedly made idle boasts in the locker room or got caught up in a silly college “scandal” or tried to help your sex life, prepare for the worst.
Goodell’s decision also says that — at least in the big corner office at 345 Park Avenue — all of that trumps beating up women.
Goodell needs to tell us how we possibly are supposed to think otherwise.