That was then…

Today, when I hear Goodell speak the BS repellent can’t be close enough. His act has grown old and the greed that drives him is surfacing like a zit on a teenager.

It’s like, “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”

The Patriots and Bill Belichick take NFL cheating to new heights with Spygate and they are handed a fine of $250,000 and they lose a first round draft pick. When did the integrity of the game become so inexpensive?

And then after Goodell rules on Spygate, suddenly the evidence disappears – it’s destroyed and the man who supposedly held the smoking gun to blow the lid off the entire scandal, Patriots ex-video assistant Matt Walsh, is a golf pro in Hawaii.

Is that Goodell’s answer to the witness protection program? Did Roger do a solid for an influential owner and a marquee team?

“The reason I destroyed the tapes is they were totally consistent with what the team told me,” Goodell said during a State of the NFL speech. “It was the appropriate thing to do and I think it sent a message.”

It sure did Roger, but probably not the one you intended.

Fast forward to BountyGate and this from Goodell…

“The quality, specificity and scope of the evidence supporting the findings of conduct detrimental (to the game) are far greater and more extensive than ordinarily available in such cases.”

Yet he severely penalizes players, coaches and front office personnel of the New Orleans Saints based on such evidence, which by the way, he fails to share with the accused.

Still the appropriate thing to do Roger?

Then there’s the hypocrisy that surrounds the player safety issues. It’s on par with Lindsay Lohan speaking on behalf of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Rules, penalties and fines are now out of control when it comes to helmet-to-helmet hits. This is football. Those hits are bound to happen. The mere existence of helmets in the game suggests that hits to the noggin are going to happen.

Now the over-policing of these hits, shrouded by a feigned interest in player safety, chips away at the fabric of the game and what makes it great.

Ed Reed, a player who is hardly defined by dirty play, is suspended for one game without pay for being a repeat offender. The league determined that since it was Reed’s third offense in the last 3 seasons, it was time to sit Reed.

Within 24 hours, after a Reed appeal, the league drops to a penalty of $50,000 and dismisses the suspension.

Old Roger trumpets safety yet champions the importance and value of playing on Thursdays, overseas and expanding the regular season to 18 games because “it’s what the fans want.”

WHAT A JOKE!

What the fans want Roger is not to have to be fleeced by the NFL for these half-ass preseason games.

Is anyone buying this?

The extreme reaction to helmet collisions is laced with contradictions and really let’s call a spade a spade – this is all about the suit brought on by the NFL Retired Players Association and the alleged cover up of the dangers of concussions.

Today’s proactive enforcement of player safety might be viewed favorably when the NFLPA has their day in court.

Meanwhile headhunters like Ryan Clark, someone who Goodell’s slacky Merton Hanks should suspend instead of Reed, suffers two concussions in the last 3 weeks and is cleared to play provided he wears a helmet like The Flintstone’s Kazoo.

And then after an average play Clark taunts the Ravens’ sideline while showing his own new weapon of mass destruction (as evidenced in the short video below). Mike Tomlin quickly pulled Clark from the game after the taunt.

Perhaps Clark is on to something. No not his thug showboating.  But maybe, just maybe the NFL could design a helmet that is safer and it might help to put most of this nonsense and hypocrisy to rest.

But then again that might force the league to part with something they cherish above all else – MONEY!

Lies, lies everywhere there’s lies…at least in the National Football League.

It’s interesting how much attention the cheering of Matt Cassel’s injury by Chiefs fans at Arrowhead Stadium is receiving.

I was there. I was amongst the fans. I watched it happen. I heard the cheers.

And it wasn’t what Chiefs’ right tackle Eric Winston described.

It’s understandable that Winston is upset. After all a teammate who relies on his health to provide for his family was knocked out cold on the turf at Arrowhead.

It’s also equally understandable that Winston can’t really appreciate the emotions of a Chiefs fan at that very moment. Being the professional that he is, Winston cannot walk in the shoes of a fan and he can’t connect to that thought process.

Let’s reset the scene…

This was my first trip to Arrowhead. The fans there were as advertised – friendly, hospitable and even playful about their team’s struggles thus far in the 2012 campaign.

All that they’ve heard for well over a week is how bad the team’s offense is; how they can’t protect the football and how they’ve placed a very competitive Chiefs defense at an unfair disadvantage by constantly forcing them to defend a very short field.

And the proof is there.

Heading into the game the Chiefs were a staggering -13 in turnover differential. Now they are -15, 8 turnovers higher than the next closest charitable team. And despite being the league’s 10th ranked defense they’ve given up the 5th most points and that’s after limiting the Ravens to just 3 Justin Tucker field goals on Sunday.

So with all of the local and national media discussion about the Chiefs rendition of a Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song“Give it Away”, there was bound to be some fan angst just waiting to unleash.

Fans carried “For Sale” signs for Cassel. One fan hired a company to fly a banner over Arrowhead for an hour before the game that read, “We deserve better. Fire Pioli, Bench Cassel.”

The bile was boiling beneath the surface and it only needed a little more pressure before it erupted. With each interception and that disastrous fumble at the goal line you could sense the place was about to blow. And it did when Cassel went down.

When it became apparent that Cassel wasn’t answering the alarm clock anytime soon, cheers began to filter through the stadium. Some stood up and clappd to express their appreciation.

Shortly thereafter, Brady Quinn, the most popular guy in town, took the field.

The applause grew measurably.

Do fans have the right to express their emotions?

Of course they do. And while cheering a man’s injury is gutless and despicable it is a choice, albeit a very poor one.

Even cheering Quinn’s entrance into the game is classless given the circumstances. If Romeo Crennel gave Cassel the hook (which he should have long before the injury), cheering is acceptable then. It comes with the job description of a NFL quarterback.

 But not then. Not when a man is unconscious on the turf.

So while Winston is right to criticize, his recollection of the events is off the mark. There was a small minority of fans cheering the injury and the only reason the story has gotten so much play and why I’m even writing about it, is due to Winston’s embellished grandstanding to the media. He twisted the facts to make a point.

I know, I was there.

I was also at M&T Bank Stadium during the 2005 season opener on Sunday Night when Kyle Boller went down with an injury against the Colts. THAT was on a national stage and the cheering for THAT injury was much more noticeable than that for Cassel’s.

Only then the Ravens didn’t have an Eric Winston on a soapbox.

*****

QUESTION: Do fans have a right to cheer an injury?

Eleven years already; where has the time gone?

Tuesday marks the 11th anniversary of that horrible day in September. Everyone seems to remember where they were or what they were doing that day and I am no different.

I’ll never forget receiving a phone call from my brother that fateful morning telling me “a plane just hit the World Trade Center in New York City, quick get to the fire station.” I have been a volunteer firefighter for the past 21 years and it all changed for me that day. 

As I entered the fire station that morning to the sound of CNN reporting the United States of America was under attack I was horrified at the images of people trapped inside and the rescuers trying to rescue them when one of the Trade Center towers collapsed. As all eyes were glued to the television and the devastation being shown, news quickly came in about an airplane that struck the Pentagon and a plane that crashed in a field in Shanksville, PA.

I, like many others at that time, was motionless, speechless, and horrified. Needing some fresh air after breaking the eternity of silence I stepped outside; there it hit me that everything was silent. No airplanes soaring, no helicopters chopping past, no cars driving by. It was eerily still.

When I went inside to join my fellow fire dept. brothers, the fire station was filled with not only fire dept. personnel but with members of the community. Men and women both wept, for the news spread quickly that the remaining World Trade Center tower had fallen, as images of the injured littered the TV.

The phone at the fire house was ringing off the hook from members of the dept. wanting to know if we were going up there to help out. We were told to stand down for now. No one knew when or where or if another attack was going to unfold. Life as we knew it wasn’t so certain after all. Cell phones were being dialed at a rapid pace from the guys trying to contact family members and loved ones. My brother and I made sure all was ok with our family and everyone was safe and sound. As always we got the usual “stay safe out there and watch our butts” speech from both our mom and dad - but this time it was different, for they knew from the images on the television we could be faced with the same problem if something happened nearby. We calmly reassured them that we would be ok and for the rest of that fateful day we were.

The world seemed to have stopped that day - no calls, no nothing.

The streets were empty.

We watched along with the rest of the world that night as information was passed along about the day’s events in New York City, The Pentagon, and Shanksville, PA. Lists were being formed at the firehouse as to who would be available to hop a train at a moment’s notice to New York City to stand by for the city’s depleted manpower. Every department across the country was ready to go at a moment’s notice to help their brethren.

Unlike in many others, the phone call never came to our department.

Some were relieved not to have seen the massive carnage, while others felt helpless for all we could do was watch on TV and couldn’t be there to assist.

However, that changed over the next few days.

The next few days, the devastation was in full effect, images coming in from around “Ground Zero,” as it was deemed. The rescuers were still working 24 hrs. a day in shifts.

Firefighters, police officers, port authority officers, construction crews, numerous city and state agencies, as well as federal agencies were all heavily involved in rescue efforts. At the Pentagon the images were of the same devastation and crews working feverishly to rescue people that were still entrapped in the gravel of the walls that were impacted by American Airlines flight 77.

In Shanksville, PA, stories of the heroes onboard United Airlines Flight 93 began to unfold. Relatives reportedly received phone calls from family members onboard explaining how they had been hijacked and how they crashed while the passengers tried to retake the airliner. The country seemed united in relief efforts in and around the city of New York as well as Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.

For us at the fire station, with heavy hearts, it was business as usual answering alarms in between watching the news of rescue efforts being made in New York at the World Trade Center.

After about five days or so the phone call came into our department as well as other departments around the country for help. The call for help wasn’t to respond for help at the Trade Center but the call was to help our fallen brothers who perished on that tragic day.

Three hundred and forty-three firefighters were lost on September 11th, and the city and families didn’t have the resources to give them a proper burial.

Numerous fire departments from Maryland, both career and volunteer, loaded trains, buses, and personal vehicles and made the trip to New York City. During our trek to New York City I was trying to prepare myself for what I was about to experience. Images of the attacks ran through my mind as we all tried to make light conversation but it was apparent we all were thinking the same thing:

“Please prepare me for what I am about to see.”

We got to the city a little after 1:00 that morning and the city was like a ghost town. The streets were empty. It was a strikingly odd scene compared to the ones I’ve seen in movies and shows depicting a round the clock hustle and bustle of a city that never sleeps.

We found the hotel we were staying at, checked in, and caught last call at the hotel bar for a much-needed drink before we crashed for the night for some sleep to prepare us for the day. The next day we awoke, threw on our dress uniforms and headed to the cathedral for the funeral service of a fallen firefighter.

On our way it hit me - people on the street would stop us to shake our hands or clap when we walked past. For many of us we have never heard “Thanks” so much in our lives.

Arriving at the Cathedral there was a sea of blue from all the responders that arrived to pay their respects to our fallen brother, some from nearby areas and some as far away as California. This scene played out over the course of the next three days, attending funeral after funeral for our brother firefighters whom we had never met.

One thing that we all had in common though was our desire to help others.

As we toured Ground Zero it was an emotional roller coaster for my fellow firefighters and I. Talking to firefighters who lost brothers, sisters, dads, sons, cousins, and moms - all there still searching for them.

Streets were filled with shrines to family members that were lost and posters hung on every corner asking “have you seen this person?”

People helping people, neighbors helping neighbors, and strangers helping strangers - it was a time unlike any other in America.

We returned home with a sense of pride for what we had done - our best to help out the nation in this time of need, as well as being there for our fallen brothers.

Much like Football did for America in the weeks to follow.

The NFL cancelled a week of games following the 9-11 disaster that struck our country. However, we refused to give in and show the terrorists that they had “won.”

The return of football brought the country together even more and helped many – myself included - get back to a sense of normalcy. Tributes to the victims and to our country took over every single stadium throughout the entire United States.

The games had a different feeling about them that day. Sure it was about wins and losses but it didn’t feel that way. It was more about coming together as a nation to celebrate our unity. For me the game of football really helped me get past the tragic sights of that September day. It was something I could focus on to ease my mind of thoughts of my fallen brothers, although those thoughts have stayed with me every day since.

So as we all make our ways to the stadiums this week to root for our favorite teams or to boo our least favorites please take a moment to honor those that were lost on that fateful September morning. For me I will once again honor my fallen brothers in a memorial service then it will be off to put some time in at the fire station, as I know my fallen brothers would like me to do. 

The 2012 NFL preseason has been full of mistakes and miscues made by these replacement officials. It’s frustrated coaches, players, and fans to the point where many are nervous about their teams being put into jeopardy come the regular season.

This isn’t just bad judgment calls, but it’s more of an inability to properly dissect and evaluate situations to make the game continue in an orderly fashion. A great example of this happened during the fourth preseason game between the Giants and Patriots where the refs were unable to quickly come to a consensus on the penalties that occurred on the play. This resulted in a rather humorous dictation by the ref, who was unable to make sense of what had just happened. For the average NFL fan to turn on a game and watch someone babble on nonsense and make incorrect calls - that really takes away from the league’s integrity and paints a bad picture.

The inexperience of the referees doesn’t just affect the efficiency and time spent dissecting plays, but also can change the outcome of the games. This has already happened numerous times in during the preseason. In the week one preseason game featuring the Bills and Redskins, the officials placed the ball at the twenty yard line, indicating a touchback, after the Bills’ punting unit downed the ball inside the five.

Also in the week four game between the Rams and Ravens, the referees allowed returner Asa Jackson to tip a short field goal attempt back in bounds to himself and attempt return the ball for a large gain. However, Jackson stepped out of bounds before picking the ball up, which would therefore be a touchback. The officials, however, handed the Ravens the ball at the spot that the kick had been attempted from. The miscue by the officials cost the Rams over 30 yards in field position, the kind of mistake that could have changed the entire momentum of the game.

Just one play could take a game away from a team, and in the NFL, one game is the difference between winning and losing a division, and making or missing the playoffs. Something like this is putting the games in jeopardy and this cannot be tolerated in the National Football League.

Get the deal done. 

As the third week of the NFL preseason comes to a close, the time has come for teams to make their first round of roster cuts.  Teams have until 4:00 p.m. on Monday to reduce their present rosters of 90 players down to 75.

When viewing the NFL waiver wire, there are 4 designations that come into play, each with different ramifications.  Often, these designations are confused when reported in the press or simply labeled with the generic moniker “cut”, but there are different ramifications of each designation.

1.  Players with less than 4 years of service time are “waived” and are subject to waivers.  The waiver period in the NFL is 24 hours.  So, a player waived on Monday can be claimed by another team by 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday.  If multiple teams place a waiver claim on the same player, the player is awarded to the team with the highest waiver priority (the reverse order of the standings, worst to first).  If a player goes unclaimed, he clears waivers and is a FA, free to sign wherever he can find work.

2.  Players with 4+ seasons of service time are “released”.  These players, known as “vested veterans”, do not pass through waivers and are free agents immediately, free to sign with any other team.

These rules apply until the trade deadline (presently week 6 of the NFL season).  After the trade deadline (until the start of the next league year in March), all players - whether a vested veteran or a non-vested veteran – are subject to the waiver process.

3.  Injured players with 4+ seasons of service time can be immediately placed on Injured Reserve (IR).

4.  Prior to the first cutdown date, injured players with less than 4 years of service cannot go onto IR until they pass through waivers.  Those players are released with the “waived/injured” designation.  Known as “injury waivers”, this process exposes the player to waivers, but warns other teams that the player is injured.  If the player clears injury waivers, the team can then either place the player on IR or agree to an injury settlement (paying the player for the weeks that he is expected to be recovering from his injury) and then release the player.

Injury waivers only applies during the offseason up until the first cutdown date, thereafter, a player with less than 4 years of service time can be placed directly on IR.

Give me a good old-fashioned Sunday 1 o’clock kickoff any day of the week and 16 times on Sunday!

But the league continues to try and expand their brand and to reach a new audience on different days of the week. They are also delving into their female audience a bit more (see Alyssa Milano).

It’s all about growth and let’s face it, if men aren’t on board already, they never will be. Football for them (for some unconscionable reason) just doesn’t work.

So after women, what’s next?

Well, how about kids?

The NFL is doing a great job reaching kids on various levels with their NFL Play 60. It’s community centric, the lessons are valuable and in ways it becomes a built-in farming system for future die-hard fans.

It’s a win-win!

What is NOT a win-win is this silly idea that the NFL can be successful in Europe and even beyond that as a worldwide game. Patriots’ owner Bob Kraft thinks it’s doable.

“I think we’re starting to tap out in the United States,” Kraft said.  “If you look at the last Super Bowl we were in this past season, we had over 180 million people watching — that’s almost two thirds of America.  So for us to grow the game, we have to expand globally.  Having seen the kind of support we have received here in London, it is the intention of the NFL owners to get two games here, starting next year.”

Kraft also believes that London is deserving of a franchise.

“I personally think we should have a franchise in London and that is something I am going to push for. 

“I think I said that the last time we were over here in 2009 and before this next decade is out, I hope we have a team here.  I think that would be right for the NFL and this fan base has proven they deserve it.”

Have they really?

Some Londoners I’ve spoken to about the games played at Wembley Stadium believe that the attractiveness of the games stems from the spectacle nature of the NFL playing in London. Many of the tickets are given away and what’s wrong with a freebie to satisfy curiosity coupled with a few pints?

Let’s call Kraft’s opinions for what they are – spin doctoring and if his statements are genuine, then he and his colleagues are blinded by greed and laced with hypocrisy.

Out of one side of their collective mouth they’ll talk about player safety yet they continue to force players to play on 3 days rest now that Thursday night games are a regular season staple.

NOW there’s this silly idea of an NFL franchise calling London “home.”

Imagine back-to-back road games for the London Bridges, one of which is on the west coast of the States. How big of a disadvantage would that be for the players? When would they leave for a game in San Diego? On Thursday? Wouldn’t that then place them at a severe competitive disadvantage?

Think about college players on draft day, hoping and praying that the next team on the clock (The Bridges) don’t pick them.

Undrafted free agents and free agents will demand far more to play in London.

And what about the taxes? Londoners who make over £36,000 “enjoy” a 40% tax on any income above that amount.

Regardless of what Bob Kraft thinks, it won’t work.

Maybe he and his cronies should continue to think of new and innovative ways to refine the game, improve the fan experience, engage the community and protect the multi-billion dollar business they’ve created.

Sometimes more isn’t better.