Imrem: Goodell getting free pass from Chicago Bears owners
NFL owners, including the McCaskey family, seem to have forgotten one of the primary principles of life.
You're judged by the company you keep.
Maybe they didn't forget. Maybe they're so arrogant that they don't care how anyone judges them.
It's so odd that NFL owners choose to remain in the company of Roger Goodell.
Why would any of them want this guy as commissioner of the league?
The question is more compelling when asked of the McCaskeys. After all, Virginia McCaskey's father, Papa Bear Halas, invented the NFL.
If anyone should express outrage over the way Goodell is soiling the league's shield … well, the McCaskeys should.
Nothing, though.
Labor Days come, Labor Days go and Goodell continues to labor while millions of productive Americans are out of work.
As the NFL begins a new season Thursday night, isn't anyone in the league offended by that?
The NFL has prospered during Goodell's tenure and it is said that money is at the root of his job security.
Yacht-buying, private-plane-buying, castle-buying money.
That's the only plausible explanation for why through it all - through all the botched cases involving Tom Brady, Ray Rice and so many others - the high priest of pro football is untouchable.
To say nothing of through this week's ESPN "Outside the Lines" report of Goodell's clumsy dealings with the Patriots concerning Spygate and Deflategate.
How much more of this can NFL owners condone? Have they no shame? Is their conscience only cash conscious?
The Washington Post recently categorized all 32 league owners and the McCaskey family was listed as "irrelevant."
The article said, "The league seems interested in the market, moving the NFL draft to Chicago, but the McCaskeys are mostly uninvolved."
Isn't it about time they became relevant and involved?
The best way would be for the McCaskeys to become assertive, express disgust over Goodell's gaffes and lead a movement to overthrow him.
The McCaskeys could stand up and say it isn't enough that Goodell's reign of error has generated end zones full of revenue for them.
But, no, the McCaskeys have uttered no such sentiment.
The impression is that Goodell could cause World War III and keep his job by acquiring television rights to the conflict for the NFL.
Apparently, human ATMs aren't fired. They are retained, maintained and paid $40 million annually to keep doing what they're doing.
What NFL owners are ignoring is that money can't buy integrity, dignity, honor, nobility or a conscience even if it can buy more boats, planes and castles.
The irony is that in reality Roger Goodell is a false premise in a fancy suit and tie.
The best that can be said for the commissioner is that he didn't mess up the NFL.
But the truth is that not even me and you and a dog named Boo, as concussed as we all might be, could clank our coconuts together and turn the NFL into a losing proposition.
Nor can Roger Goodell, as hard as he seems to try.
NFL owners refuse to change commissioners for fear that the move would kill their money goose and cut down their golden tree.
So as long as there are Labor Days, there will be Roger Goodell continuing to labor along in the job.
Oh, if only the McCaskeys would step up and exorcise him from the league that Papa Bear Halas helped invent.