Roger Goodell further trying to ruin the game - controlling referees

[Bolt4Life]

Anywho, I tap out. People overract about what people say on here by exaggerating what the person they quoted actually feels. Debate never goes anywhere one way or the other. Insults are the end result generally.

I'm out.

[crixus]

Roger started out good, but he's let the power go to his head. And now it's catching up to him.

[R4PT0R]

Originally Posted by SillyBoltsFan

I think Goodell has does both good and bad...

That said, I can answer the question you posed CT. To do so, specifically what the question is about needs to be defined.

As it appears that you have defined it, "an entertainment company", then I would tend to agree it's been "positive".

However, from the terms of the sport of football it has been negative - and for many of the same reasons that have made it grow as an "entertainment company". It's become all about "offense", "high scoring", and worst of all "fantasy and stats". In the process, the sport of football has been degraded.

There are many, many, many examples - but I'm going to put forth just two to illustrate my point.

The league talks about "protecting the players" and comes up with stupid rules about "defenseless receivers" (which is distinctly different from "no hits to the head") and then instruct the officials to call anything even close as a foul. I've seen PF calls against defenders that came in after the receiver has taken a step and smacked the receiver full in the chest with their shoulder and been called.

Yet - they allow wham blocks, guys taken a defenders head off from the blind side (say Weddle on the 4th-29), and all manner of other very hard football hits against defensive players. Heck, there was one game this year where a statement was made that it was okay to hit someone in the head full speed as long as they were running the ball. Yup, it's all about player safety

If it was really about "player safety", they would apply the same reasoning to all aspects of the game - and for not only offensive players, but defensive players as well.

Second example - the calling of penalties. Again, it's all about the offense and scoring - and against the rules. A minor example here is a DB can sneeze on a receiver and be called for PI, yet a receiver can shove and run over a DB and get away scott free. The big place this sticks out though is the calls (or lack thereof) for holding by offensive lineman. It's in the rule books, but the league's "philosophy" is to look the other way, don't call it, don't slow down the game :rolleyes", favor the offense. You see regularly offensive linemen with their arms wrapped around a defender's neck and taken them down - yet no penalty. You see hands shoved under shoulder pads and defenders being physically thrown and pulled back and no calls. Now let a DT arm bar a center or guard to prevent him from getting to the second level and FLAG. It's utter bull

So yes - there have been and continue to be things that are very negative regarding the sport of football - regardless of the fact that they may be good for the entertainment company...

Excellent, excellent post.

[chargersfan85]

Goodell needs to go like 5 years ago. Also I expect there to be a story that comes saying the refs have been fixing games like they did in basketball that is the only explanation(except for Goodell fixing games) to how bad they have been

[biggestfan]

Originally Posted by chargersfan85

Goodell needs to go like 5 years ago. Also I expect there to be a story that comes saying the refs have been fixing games like they did in basketball that is the only explanation(except for Goodell fixing games) to how bad they have been

To me it's clear that the league has a hand in swaying outcomes of games. If you look at the way this season transpired you have to wonder. It looks like the refs are doing this on the surface. But I have always felt theres more to that. The major sports leagues are ratings driven. The networks are also involved in this tragic comedy. when there are actually no known laws or legislation forbidding professional sports leagues from fixing their own games, whats to stop them if they can get away with it to suit the greater needs. It was clear to me this year that "they" wanted Peyton Manning to be relevant again. The Broncos were the beneficiaries of this during their run. if they actually let teams play the games and called fair games with no mettling, the outcomes could possibly turn out much different