Collegiate Times

Second, how do you justify hiring people deemed too horrid to referee a sport where spectators only care about ogling girls in bras and garter belts? That’s along the lines of saying, “Hey, you were just an awful SGA president in the fifth grade. Would you like to try being president of the U.S.A.?”

The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry and commissioner Roger Goodell is trying his hardest to ruin it with the fascist rule he has created.

I’ve had several discussions with people over who is the worst commish of the big four sports these days, and it’s an interesting question because all four seem to be trying to take the title.

The NHL’s Gary Bettman has just locked his players out for a third time in his tenure and put this season in jeopardy.

David Stern is also coming off a lockout-shortened season with the NBA and is responsible for the worst conflict of interest in sports history (the NBA’s ownership of a team). He also may shockingly resemble Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious from Star Wars, but that’s neither here nor there.

And Bud Selig of the MLB has pretty much held the title of worst commissioner for a decade since he almost ruined America’s pastime with the strike in 1994 and the policy of ignoring players taking steroids during the Balco era.

But Bettman has also increased the NHL’s annual revenue from $400 million to $3.3 billion since he took over and Stern has overseen the NBA’s expansion into a global entity; meanwhile, Selig gets credit for adding the Wild Card, revolutionizing the game.

What has Goodell done? He has railroaded the Saints for something every team does, contradicted his push for player safety by bringing in scrubs that can’t officiate and enforce the rules, and given himself so much executive power that even Joseph Stalin would be jealous.

The NFL might be too popular to truly ever be in danger of tanking, but Goodell is trying his hardest to see if it’s possible.

Replacement refs are just the injustice of the month, and it looks like the era of incompetency is over — the sides might even agree in time for Ed Hochuli's comically large arms to be on TV sets come sunday.

But this has been a distraction from the bigger problem — Roger Goodell is trying to ruin football.

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A version of this article appeared in the Sep 27 issue of the Collegiate Times.