Month: July 2009 (Page 8 of 59)

When talks being about a new collective bargaining agreement begin soon, NFL players union chief executive DeMauirce Smith said he wants to talk about commissioner Roger Goodell’s power to discipline players.

Goodell has presided over a number of high-profile suspensions as commissioner in enforcing the league’s player conduct policy. The latest of those came Monday, when he conditionally reinstated ex-Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, making him eligible to sign with a team and play by Week 6 if Vick’s return goes according to plan.

But the amount of authority Goodell wields under the conduct policy — which was written with the assistance of NFL players and late union executive director Gene Upshaw — has raised concerns among players.

“That’s something that’s very important to the players that we intend to raise,” Smith said, according to the report. “You will increase the understanding of fairness if people are involved in a way that they understand why.

“If you imagined a world where our court systems were not public and people meted out justice and all you heard was what the result was, well, they might even get the decision right — but there would be a sense that it wasn’t fair because you couldn’t see why things were,” Smith said, the newspaper reported. “I think that same underlying philosophy is true here.”

Hey Smith, imagine a world where companies actually discipline employees for their actions by firing them and telling them they’re never welcomed back. Imagine a world were the NFL could fire their “employees” and end their careers for acting up off the field.

In the real world, Pacman Jones, Chris Henry, Marshawn Lynch, Tank Johnson and Brandon Marshall would never be able to “work” for the NFL again. Think about it. Think about what your boss would say if you did even a quarter of the things that these players have done over the course of their careers.

And yet Smith thinks it’s unfair that Goodell is able to rule with an iron fist. These players can go out and tarnish the league’s image, yet heaven forbid they actually face any discipline for their actions.

I have no problem with Goodell wielding the power to suspend players for screwing up. And if the union truly has a problem with it, then maybe it should educate the players more on the consequences they’ll face if they get into trouble off the field.