Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Russell Wilson — these are the faces the NFL wants to promote, the clean-cut pitchmen of the league.
But the faces of the NFL this week are Commissioner Roger Goodell, who will be revealed as two-faced if he did engage in a coverup of domestic violence; Ray Rice and the battered face of Janay Rice; and Adrian Peterson, the face of child abuse. They have become the symbols of the National Football League.
America will go on and watch Sunday's games because the NFL is our addiction, our release from the everyday stresses of life, our magnificent obsession with a violent, made-for-television sport that appeals to our inner bloodlust and gambling lust that has bookies on speed dial.
But the NFL is playing with the same fire that burned MLB's popularity following its PED scandal.
The NFL is under fire now because of its greed and arrogance. Goodell arrived on his white horse as the law-and-order commissioner with his personal-conduct policy, and everyone cheered him. He began earning what has mushroomed into a $44 million salary with a noble Protect the Shield campaign.
In essence, he was the Mayor Giuliani of the NFL.
But just as the baseball commissioner and his minions looked the other way as their strike-crippled sport needed America's fascination with the home run — Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa — to bring disillusioned spectators back, Goodell has acted as The Ostrich Commissioner, his head in the sand on the issue of domestic violence, eager to hide behind due process for letting too many of his cons remain pros on the field.
Why? Because it has become more about protecting the profit than the shield for him and the men who employ him.
The shameful events of The Week That Was leave us no choice but to trot out National Felon League as the proper moniker for the embattled sport, even if the other major professional sports leagues are not immune to scandalous behavior.
National Fiduciary League works, too. Consider that Goodell's ambition is for the NFL to almost triple its revenue by reaching $25 billion by 2027.
Is it any wonder why, after all the good Goodell has done them in the areas of labor peace and lucrative TV contracts, the owners would carry him on their shoulders down the Canyon of Heroes?
If players such as Ray McDonald and Greg Hardy are allowed to suit up while their domestic-violence charges remain on the legal system's docket, the NFL will run the risk of losing the support of its growing female fan base and those whose moral compasses do not point south.
Unlike Goodell and the Ravens, who fumbled the ball, the Vikings acted swiftly following the appalling news that Peterson, their star running back, had been indicted for employing Dark Ages discipline on his 4-year-old son, deactivating him until more light is shed on the matter.
The NFL released a statement saying the Peterson case will be reviewed under its personal conduct penalty. Assuming that Goodell has learned his lesson, the post-Rice world order mandates another indefinite suspension of one of the NFL's marquee players.
Leonard Little killed a woman while driving drunk. Donté Stallworth killed a man while driving drunk. The NFL, apparently drunk with power, welcomed both back.
It is clearly time for the NFL, Too Big to Fail, to hold itself to a higher standard and with actions more than words. Zero tolerance on domestic violence and on drunken driving would be a good place to start. The days of serving as enablers, even of its stars, must end.
Goodell, besieged with concussion lawsuits, has made the game safer for the players. Tragically, he hasn't, until his feet were held to the fire by public outrage, tried nearly as hard to make it safer for women.
There will, of course, have to be a scapegoat. Trust me when I tell you that Goodell is a good man, a man I have known as an upstanding man of integrity. But when the NFL brand becomes damaged, when corporate sponsors begin pulling their ad dollars, it will have to be him.
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