The most stunning aspect of the N.F.L.'s new policy on domestic violence is that the league, through Commissioner Roger Goodell, admitted that it had made a mistake.
The N.F.L. never admits it makes a mistake.
Never.
Not in labor negotiations when it locks out players, not in the face of abysmal performances by officials and not when it gives a star running back a love tap after evidence that he brutalized his fiancée.
In a letter to team owners released on Thursday, Goodell wrote: 'My disciplinary decision led the public to question our sincerity, our commitment and whether we understood the toll that domestic violence inflicts on so many families. I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future properly reflect our values. I didn't get it right. Simply put, we have to do better. And we will.'
Better late than never, I suppose. But why so late?
Perhaps because the N.F.L.'s moral high ground is so low.
After issuing a two-game suspension to Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, Goodell simultaneously played offense and defense, spinning rationale after rationale for allowing Rice to get back to running.
In cases of racism, sexism and homophobia, we tend to argue for our limitations. Goodell was no exception.
Speaking to reporters at the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, this month, Goodell insisted that he had made the right call. He said that the important thing was to be consistent with other penalties that had been issued.
All the while, he seemed to ignore the disturbing footage of a star player dragging his unconscious fiancée out of a casino elevator.
'We have to remain consistent,' Goodell said at the time. 'We can't just make up the discipline. It has to be consistent with other cases, and it was in this matter.'
Goodell pointed out that Rice had never been in trouble before, ignoring that a first-time offense hadn't made Rice's fiancée any less unconscious.
Besides, Rice was remorseful.
'You know, you have a lot of people voicing their opinions,' Goodell said, 'but I think it's important to understand that this is a young man who made a terrible mistake.'
He declared that Rice's actions had been 'inconsistent with what we're all about, and we've dealt with it in a serious manner, and we're very confident that this young man understands where he is and what he needs to do going forward.'
The leader of any organization sets a tone of tolerance or intolerance. In issuing such a light reprimand in the form of a two-game suspension, and then stridently defending his decision, Goodell made the abuse of women in a male-dominated sport seem like a misdemeanor. He opened the door for less-than-enlightened commentators to suggest that the woman might have provoked her treatment.
On Thursday, facing an undercurrent of outrage that showed no signs of subsiding, with the possibility of demonstrations and even boycotts, Goodell did an about-face. What's galling about his sudden turnabout is that we see the same intransigence in other areas.
In the face of mounting criticism from American Indians and others, Goodell insists that there is nothing racist about the Washington team's nickname, that the majority of fans support it, and that he sides with the team's owner, Dan Snyder, on that issue.
For all the lip service Goodell and the N.F.L. paid about the evils of bullying last season, the commissioner will allow Richie Incognito to wear an N.F.L. uniform this season.
And while the league has agreed to settle with thousands of former players in concussion-related lawsuits, the league has yet to come clean - as the tobacco industry did - and admit that the violence of its game is at the root of short- and long-term debilitating injuries.
Still, the N.F.L. finally admitted that it was wrong about something. On Thursday, Goodell, faced with sustained outrage, made the right call and said he had blundered.
But just once it would be great to see this multibillion-dollar empire admit the truth without being backed into a corner.
Post By http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/29/sports/football/nfl-rights-a-wrong-but-only-after-further-and-further-review-.html
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