Roger Goodell has decided to suspend Donte Stallworth for the entire 2009 NFL season. This suspension was foreseeable because the commissioner had been tough against players who violate the new NFL conduct policy.
Donte Stallworth deserves some sort of punishment for getting drunk, choosing to drive drunk, hitting a pedestrian, and ultimately killing that pedestrian. I feel that the punishment for these criminal acts should be determined by the criminal justice system. It is unfair to Donte Stallworth to be suspended for such a long period of time because NFL players do not have long careers. If his actions are inexcusable, fire him and move on or suspend him for a short period of time. In public school, I never saw a suspension go beyond 5 days because that was enough time to let the person reflect on what he did. If the action was worthy of a harsher punishment, then the student was expelled. There were no 6 month suspensions or anything ridiculous like that.
As the commissioner of the #1 moneymaking sport in the world, reputation and image are crucial. At the same time, it is important to take a step back and look at the precedent being set by Roger Goodell. To tell the truth… Goodell has no basis for his punishments nor his actions towards NFL players because as the commissioner, he can clean up the NFL’s image without giving such hefty penalties. It is similar to how the death penalty does not deter heinous crimes.
It feels like Goodell is the white slave master who feels the need to kill a disobedient slave just to send a message to the others. The NFL players are the ones doing all the dirty work and making millions for the owners and paying the salary of the commissioner. The players are the ones who can be cut at any moment while commissioner Goodell would have to do something terrible to have his job taken away from him. To suspend a player for an entire year, without pay, seems way too harsh a punishment regardless of the law that was broken, especially when the incident is not in any way related to Stallworth’s employment.
By saying that the NFL has an image problem is just another way of saying that the NFL has a nigger problem because the league is predominantly black. Jim Crow was a vicious overseer known for using harsh treatment towards slaves to make them act however he wanted. Roger Goodell is the modern day Jim Crow because he shows no empathy for the players nor does he care about their plight.
