Banning Big Ben
Will Roger Goodell and the NFL step up and be the men that they want to be and suspend Ben Roethlisberger for the length of time he deserves? Which in my opinion would be a full year. If they want to straighten things out in the league, then a year would be the correct punishment. They've given long suspensions to others, most notably Pacman Jones, for violating the league's conduct policy. Ben's punishment should be no different, but it probably will.
Its probably going to be at least 4 games, hopefully at least 8. Anything less than 4 games would be a joke. Its not like he is a first time offender. I know he hasn't been found guilty of anything, but where there is smoke, there's fire. [Unless you're the Mighty Boosh, and remind us about the smoke machine.] Even Goddell recognizes this fact "The issue here is respect to a pattern of behavior," he said.
When will the decision finally be made? Not this week. The NFL releases their schedule Tuesday and with the media coverage it will get (especially from ESPN) you'd think it was a national holiday. Then the sporting news world ends and 'The Draft' begins on Thursday with the first round, and finally ends sometime sometime Saturday afternoon with the selecting of the newest Mr. Irrelevant. So no mentioning of Ben until at least next week, as the NFL isn't going to shoot one of their golden geese to suspend someone. Please don't tell me they haven't had time to inspect the evidence. Like any multi-billion dollar industry, the NFL has a mountain of lawyers who've been pouring over the paperwork since they got it.
Will Ben's popularity and race play into the decision? Of course it will, will anyone say so, probably not. Suspending a two-time winning QB is different from a troubled wideout/return man who hasn't won anything. We all know this, you'd be silly to think otherwise. There will be excuses made by those in charge of why his suspension is shorter than others. If the suspension is a full year (and remains that way), I will happily praise Roger Goodell and the NFL for really trying to clean up the league and their thug mentality.
Its probably going to be at least 4 games, hopefully at least 8. Anything less than 4 games would be a joke. Its not like he is a first time offender. I know he hasn't been found guilty of anything, but where there is smoke, there's fire. [Unless you're the Mighty Boosh, and remind us about the smoke machine.] Even Goddell recognizes this fact "The issue here is respect to a pattern of behavior," he said.
When will the decision finally be made? Not this week. The NFL releases their schedule Tuesday and with the media coverage it will get (especially from ESPN) you'd think it was a national holiday. Then the sporting news world ends and 'The Draft' begins on Thursday with the first round, and finally ends sometime sometime Saturday afternoon with the selecting of the newest Mr. Irrelevant. So no mentioning of Ben until at least next week, as the NFL isn't going to shoot one of their golden geese to suspend someone. Please don't tell me they haven't had time to inspect the evidence. Like any multi-billion dollar industry, the NFL has a mountain of lawyers who've been pouring over the paperwork since they got it.
Will Ben's popularity and race play into the decision? Of course it will, will anyone say so, probably not. Suspending a two-time winning QB is different from a troubled wideout/return man who hasn't won anything. We all know this, you'd be silly to think otherwise. There will be excuses made by those in charge of why his suspension is shorter than others. If the suspension is a full year (and remains that way), I will happily praise Roger Goodell and the NFL for really trying to clean up the league and their thug mentality.
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