July 27, 2011
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So Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith are getting all their back pay, are they? I, for one, am stupefied.
Goodell and Smith, the men who yelled at each other until they were tired of yelling, had made great shows of taking only one dollar per month for the duration of the NFL lockout, which ended Monday. Thats how determined they were to endure the same hardships as everyone else.
Now, according to Biz on Football, Goodell will be getting 3.7 million in back pay, and Smith 670K. And they might also get bonuses for getting the deal done.
In short, what they pledged is a massive pay cut. What they got is a raise, and financial planning for retirement. And this, right here, is why the arguments about risk when applied to the guys in the suits is laughable.
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What exactly did Goodell and Smith risk? Nothing, as it turns out. They argued about risks to players for months, but they were home safe and dry the day the lockout began, while making grand displays of their willingness to suffer with their troops.
The problem with this? Not having the money stashed away for safekeeping? No, thats prudence. No, the problem is that they had a chance to shut up about the hardships they were not enduring, and chose instead to act like the general in the rear pretending to lead his troops into battle.
The problem is being willfully disingenuous WHEN YOU DONT HAVE TO BE BECAUSE NOBODY ASKED YOU TO.
It is, frankly, one more reminder that what they say is never what they mean, that they are posers who mastered the art of the pose even when you know theyre posing. If youre going to say youre not going ton take more than a dollar during a lockout, it is implied that you will feel the pain with everyone else. They felt nothing, and in fact feel absolutely fabulous today.
Put another way, they ate fast food for awhile and told you about every crummy bite, knowing theyd be owning a restaurant at the end.
In sum, this was just another tale of oh, shut up that will be ignored in the post-David Baas euphoria of it all. But it deserves a mention. We got played. Again.
Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com