Roger Goodell 'State of the NFL' Presser on ESPN

[Matthias]

They should have let Cromartie ask a question.

[rayzor]

I think most of us probably knew Goodell sides with the owners more than the players, this quote seems to enforce that.

meh...its pretty well known and even admitted by the NFLPA that they really got the good end of the last CBA.

[panthers55]

I think most of us probably knew Goodell sides with the owners more than the players, this quote seems to enforce that.

Of course he is on the owners side. They are the one who voted him in and can vote him out. The NFL is the owners. The players have their own man, hence the negotiations.

[Jangler]

Is he going to keep doing PS3 commercials?

[rayzor]

anyone hating on him needs to realize that he is the guy that has made the NFL as big as it is. even under tag, most of the growth happened because of things goodell did.

if anyone's interested, here's a really good read on goodell: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1181467/2/index.htm#ixzz1Cp5lKzbz

the whole article is good, but the little excerpt i pasted gives an insight into how he works with these players. he isn't an enemy of the players like some people believe.

Two years into his NFL commissionership, in 2008, Roger Goodell received a phone call from Cowboys defensive tackle Tank Johnson, whom Goodell had suspended for eight games the previous year for repeated gun violations. As a condition of his reinstatement, Johnson pledged not to own a firearm for the duration of his NFL career. But one night outside his mother's home in Mesa, Ariz., Johnson had startled two young men who were using long screwdrivers to break into his car, a vintage '71 Chevelle SS, and they ran away. Johnson decided he needed protection for himself and his family. So there he was in a gun store with a .40 caliber pistol in hand, ready to buy it, when he figured he'd better call Goodell and explain the situation. Certainly the commissioner would understand.

"Tank," Goodell said. "Don't do it. Walk out of the store."

Angry, Johnson put the weapon down and walked out, remaining on the phone with Goodell. "I was so pissed off," Johnson says now. "When I got outside, he said, 'If you had a gun last night, what happens? If you use the gun, maybe you're in jail. Maybe you get shot, maybe your mother does. But you're out of football.' So I don't get the gun, and I'm pissed."

Then Johnson saw something he'll never forget. "That night a car parks outside my mom's house," he says. Private security, arranged by Goodell. "Every night till I left for training camp, from sundown to sunup, maybe six weeks, that car's there, with security watching my mom's house.

"Pretty good alternative to me maybe blowing somebody's head off."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1181467/2/index.htm#ixzz1Cp5lKzbz

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

anyone hating on him needs to realize that he is the guy that has made the NFL as big as it is. even under tag, most of the growth happened because of things goodell did.

if anyone's interested, here's a really good read on goodell: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1181467/2/index.htm#ixzz1Cp5lKzbz

the whole article is good, but the little excerpt i pasted gives an insight into how he works with these players. he isn't an enemy of the players like some people believe.

Just asinine that anyone says hes running the NFL into the ground. The Discipline policy has gotten the players attention and bad seeds are quickly filtered out if there is no desire to change.

Sure there have been rules in place to soften up the hits but player long term health concerns are the primary emphasis. I think an adjustment to the play and the officiating will eventually settle in a happy medium and improvement in equipment will keep this a physical sport.

Goddell wants the CBA done but not at the expense of owners forgoing stadium improvements and overall improvement for the "fan experience" It is a business and watching the revenue streams being eaten up by the salary increases and less attendance in a few markets the NFL as a business needs to be reevaluated.

[rayzor]

i'm more on the players side than the owners as i think they aren't really asking for too much and it was the owners who backed out of the CBA and caused all this to happen. it's the owners who said "we want you to play 2 more games a year, but we are going to decrease the amount the players on your team can get paid". owners got screwed in the first CBA a little, but they have only themselves to blame. they're just trying to level things out a bit but they are being obstinate in trying to accomplish that leveling.

both sides have pricks at the top that are trying to show of their cocks.