From all appearances it seemed to be a typical September football weekend for both the National Football League and college football. People watching games and milling around wearing merchandise from their favorite teams and supporting a business whose leadership is under fire from sports journalists and some women’s groups.
National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell has taken much criticism following his Friday news conference about the league’s handling of the Ray Rice suspension. But the sports media, which seems to be acting as if it was hurt by the NFL emotionally, is not going after USA Soccer or college football with the same gusto. Apparently in the sports media’s haste to put Goodell in his place since Harvey Levin released another Ray Rice assault video, they have overlooked a good number of NFL woes and that list starts with Aaron Hernandez, Jovan Belcher and Josh Brent. None of their crimes took place in 2014. December 2012 was a pretty bad month for the NFL with the Belcher murder-suicide and Brent killing a teammate in a car crash. Brent was eventually found guilty of DUI manslaughter. But while the league was going through what should have been a crisis problem in December 2012, the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports and New York sportswriters were more concerned about the New York Jets media circus.
Goodell has been condemned yet there is no criticism of NCAA President Mark Emmert. According to the arrest nation website about a dozen college football players have been arrested in September alone and then there is the women’s soccer player Hope Solo who played in a game over the weekend and is facing two counts of domestic abuse and will be going to court to answer those charges in November. USA Soccer has been mute about Solo.
For the most part, the sports media and advertisers have ignored Solo and the college football arrests. The skeptic in the sports media world should be raising questions about USA Soccer, the NCAA to the same level as Goodell on his handling of Rice and question the motive of a beer company being unhappy with the NFL. The NFL mirrors society and the sports media should be questioning of the Atlantic City, New Jersey prosecutor in the Rice case, Emmert and USA Soccer. Goodell is just one player in a multi-faceted picture.
This article was republished with permission from the author, Evan Weiner. The original article was published in Sports Talk Florida and can be viewed by clicking here.