Roger Goodell

Roger Goodell-The Cost of a Bad Decision

The calls to remove Roger Goodell as NFL Commissioner are understandable, his handling of the Ray Rice situation is a classic example of how not to handle a crisis. What makes this troubling was prior to this situation his handling at least in the area of player personnel conduct had been spot-on. The players are being shown that their actions had consequences which means playing football is a privilege not a right and a privilege which can be taken away. Regardless if Goodell stays or goes the two problems that are at the heart of what caused this crisis will remain-money and the star system.

The pro sports franchise business model might be the most unique of any business model. Usually one person is responsible for paying all the expenses of running the team. The person does this from their personal account and without the help from a corporation, board, or a financial institution. The owner probably got their money from owning a successful business which they probably are still running or are involved in some executive capacity. This is where it gets tricky. The reason the business is probably a success is because the owner is very involved yet for a pro sports team to be successful the owner can't be too involved. If he is than you have the Jerry Jones situation in Dallas. Instead he has to find someone in a front office capacity who is familiar with how the sport is run and turn the day to day operations over to that person. That person then has to find a coach that a has philosophy that front office agrees with. From there the front office person drafts and acquires players that fit the coaches' philosophy. If the front person finds the right players and coach is up to his job of getting the most out of the players than the team enjoys success. If not than the team has to start over. This gets expense which why you have to a billionaire for this model to work. The best way to ensure to that the team is a success at least financially is by having a star so even team isn't a success if the team's star is than people will pay to see the star.

Stars in football are often found early like in high school or college. When a star is found early like this he gets to enjoy privileges that most people will never enjoy. If he gets trouble there's a good chance he'll be let off with the lightest sentence possible so the star can continue to produce which leads to money for him and his team. This causes the player to have so power than he can often get what he wants. This applies to the pros-if the star  player doesn't like a coach or front office man than the owner will probably back the player. This spills over to the fans of the team. If a player holds out for more money or threatens to leave as a free agent or force a trade than the fans get onto the team to resolve the matter so the player will stay. If the player does leave and he is key reason why the team was successful and the team quits being successful than the owner loses money.

The solution? Probably what Goodell had been so well prior to the Ray Rice incident which was suspending players when they did things that were unlawful. By doing this he is costing the players money which is making them more likely to follow the laws. This in turn is causing the owners to lose money which is causing them to make the players follow the law so they too can make money. If Goodell had issued a stiffer suspension for Ray Rice than he and league wouldn't be in the situation they find themselves. Hopeful from this point forward the league will remember this and they can avoid situation like this.

Ray Rice

Ray Rice-Getting Right but.. 

 

 

Its good that the NFL & the Baltimore Ravens finally got it right with the Ray Rice situation. This is what they each should have done much earlier. I guess justice delayed is better than justice denied. That being said it's a shame it took an entity like TMZ to get the correct outcome.

 Like most people I find it hard to believe that an entity like the NFL with its FBI connections and an organization like the Baltimore Ravens which is owned by someone whose one of Forbes Top 500 Richest People hadn't seen the this video before TMZ released it. As they say in the South "That dog don't hunt." What's more troubling is way the Ravens were so quick to defend to Ray Rice. Teams in the NFL are constantly releasing players for lesser reasons and here was an opportunity for the Ravens to show that they cared and they blew it. You would think that for the sake of avoiding the public relations nightmare they would have released or suspended  Ray Rice. The team didn't need NFL's permission to do that. I remember years ago when the Denver Broncos suspended a really good Tight End named Clarence Kay for 4 games because he admitted he had used cocaine. The league was never consulted. and the punishment stood. The team acted in the best interest of the team and the player. Furthermore its not like Ray Rice last season was any good, he rushed for less than a 1,000 yards (660) for the first time in 4 years. He had just signed a big contract the year before and that was how he rewarded the team for giving him the big contract. He also plays a devalued position-running back. The last two years no running back has been drafted in the 1st round. Teams can find someone who can be productive at the position in any round. Alfred Morris has rushed for a thousand yards the last 2 seasons and he was 6th round pick.    

It also troubling that the NFL which has been pushing the agenda that player's personal conduct is important handed out such slight initial punishment 2 games. When a player can be suspended 4 games for getting caught smoking marijuana or can be suspended for the same amount of games for being accused but not convicted or pleading guilty to rape/sexual battery (Ben Roethlisberger), 2 games is a joke. You would think the NFL would have erred on the side of caution and suspended Ray Rice at least half a season (8 games) to a full season so they too could have avoided the public relations nightmare. What will probably happen from here is that Ray Rice will not play this season. Don't be surprised if he plays for some team next year. The NFL is a production oriented league and Rice has been productive. As outrageous as that seems remember Michael Vick do something equally if not more reprehensible and he's still in the NFL. What might work against Ray Rice is that devolved nature of his position. If he is picked up  the team that does will probably use the following spin-"America is a land of second chances and doesn't Ray Rice deserve one. He's paid a big price for his bad decision." The team will then announce that his contract is incentive laden and for one year. If he's productive than will be signed to longer term deal. This where being a running back continues to work against him, productive running backs start being less productive at the age of 30 which is about what age Ray Rice will be if that scenario happens.

It  says a lot about the justice system in America that the NFL & teams' punishment is more severe than the one given to him (Ray Rice) than the courts. I know that there are calls for heads to roll in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens, and the law enforcement that handled the case in New Jersey, but more than likely probably no one in those places will probably lose their jobs. It would be nice if they did. Hopefully this sends the message to athletes at least in America that are a lot more like us normal folks in that there are consequences for your actions. Shame it can't be that way for other people with money who aren't athletes.

Russell Wilson

Russell Wilson-Game Manger?

The Seahawks win last night (9/4/14) and Russell Wilson's not overwhelming stats (19/28, 191 YDS Passing, 2 TD, 7 Rushes, 29 Yards) is helping to continue the debate over the type of quarterback he is. Is he a game manger? If he's not than what is he?
I've given this some thought and here's the answer-he's a cautious playmaker. That's someone who usually makes the correct call during the course of the game or season. You may ask how is he a playmaker since he's never thrown for 30+ Touchdowns Passes or for 4,000 yards? Here's the best stat that proves he is-he's tied for the most Touchdown Passes for a rookie (26). The person he's tied with? Payton Manning. His interceptions went down between his rookie (10) and his 2nd year (9) which shows he's getting smarter with the ball. Why that is nice and good its somewhat irrelevant give the position he plays-quarterback. The most important stat for any starting quarterback is wins, especially a win or wins on the game's Ultimate Stage-The Super Bowl.  Don't believe me? Than how come Joe Namath (173 TDS, 220 INT, 27,663 Yards), Terry Bradshaw (212 TDS, 210 INT, 27,989 Yards) and Troy Aikman (165 TDS, 141 INT, 32,942 Yards) are in the Hall of Fame? As you can see their stats aren't that great, in fact only Namath has an historical stat or record (he was the 1st Quarterback to throw for 4,000 yards in a season) but they won. Namath won  the biggest game in the history of the AFL and possibly the most historic in Pro Football (Super Bowl III), Bradshaw lead the Steelers to 4 Super Bowl Championships (Super Bowl IX, X, XIII, & XIV) in 6 years, the 1st team to win 4 Super Bowls, and Aikman lead the Cowboys to 3 Super Bowls wins (Super Bowl XXVII, XXVIII, XXX) in 4 years, the 1st team to do that. To show how important the stat of wins is among quarterbacks why is it that Fran Tarkenton (342 TDS,266 INT, 47,003 Yards), Dan Fouts (254TDS, 242, INT, 43,040 Yards) and Dan Marino (420TDS, 252 INT, 61,361 Yards) aren't held in as high as a regard as they could be despite really good stats? That's right none of them won a Super Bowl. Fran Tarkenton holds a really dubious distinction-he's the first quarterback to lose 3 Super Bowls (Super Bowl VII, IX, & XI),  Dan Fouts never lead his team to the Super Bowl, and Dan Marino lost his only Super Bowl appearance (Super Bowl XIX).  Russell Wilson has already shown he's a playmaker because he's won on game's important stage-the Super Bowl-something which has eluded players with superior stats.
 

College Football Playoffs

                   

 College Football Playoffs: Will the Smaller Schools be allowed to play?

 

The excitement in college football that there is finally a playoff needs to be tempered. The reason? Will the smaller schools in the FCS (which I hate, wish the NCAA had stuck with Division I-A) be allowed to play in the playoffs?

The argument always offered under the old system (be it pre-BCS or during the BCS) whenever a smaller school(Marshall in the late 90's, early 2000's, Boise State recently) had a good year or were good for a few years was because they played in smaller conference they would lose convincley to a school from bigger conference because the bigger school had better talent. When a smaller school did beat a school from a larger conference especially in a bowl game  (Boise State win over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, TCU win Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl) because the margin of victory was small seem to lend credence to this argument. Another argument used against the  smaller school was their strength of schedule wasn't strong enough to warrant an invite to a major bowl. When a smaller school tried to counter this by scheduling a school from a larger conference the larger schools wouldn't accept in case they lost or if a series of games were scheduled if the first game was close or the smaller school won then the larger school would drop the series by paying off the smaller school. Also because football schedule are set up in advance if the smaller school at time the game was to be played was playing better than they had when the game was scheduled than again the larger school would drop the smaller school and pay them off. Now that the playoff is here, this seems like this will be the time for the smaller schools to have the opportunity, but will they get that opportunity? Say that two SEC Schools (like Alabama & Georgia) have 1 loss each or one is unbeaten and the other schools' loss was to the other, wouldn't they be more likely to get the invite over say a Boise State? What if there is a school from a bigger conference like say like Michigan State last year which lost only once to a respected school (Notre Dame) and that was early, but went onto to go undefeated in a power conference (the Big 10), wouldn't they be more likely to an invite over a smaller school that went unbeaten in lesser ranked conference and didn't have the same strength of schedule. I know people are going say that's unfair but think about this-don't you think the reasons the bigger schools agreed to a playoff was because they were pretty sure they could maintain the status quo of them winning the national championship. That I have to even bring this up is sad because in life and especially in sports you often have to fail before you or the team finds out what adjustments needs to be made in order for you or the team to win. Besides if a school from a smaller conference were to win the national championship that doesn't mean an end to the status quo. That has happened before and didn't ruin the system or upset the apple cart. The school was BYU and the year was 1984. Now someone's gonna say that BYU isn't your typical school from a small conference because  this was during the  time period when BYU had a series of  good quarterbacks (Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, & Ty Detmer). That doesn't change the fact that during this time period they played in the WAC which wasn't then, nor is it now a major conference. Besides the quarterback that season wasn't any of the ones listed, it was Robbie Bosco. The reason most people haven't heard of Robbie Bosco is because he wasn't drafted in the 1st Round like most of the listed quarterbacks (he was drafted in the 3rd round by Green Bay and he only played 2 seasons before his career was ended due to a should injury) and he didn't win the Heisman like Detmer (he finished 3rd in 1984). So if a school from a smaller conference can win the national championship especially during the pre-BCS era and not bring down the system shouldn't smaller schools get the opportunity in this era of fairer play? Let's hope so because the beauty of college sports in the one and done system of play which will be in play during the playoffs is anyone can win on a given day/night.